Friday I left work a bit earlier and made my way up by train to Manchester to Si and Suzie's place. Will had arrived up their by bus earlier that evening so they were already down at The Gateway pub just near to where they live. I headed straight there, met up with them and settled for a beer before heading back to theirs. Was good to see and catch up with both Sizi and Big Will again.

Saturday morning wasn't a particularly early start, and Will cooked us one of his famous fry ups which was a good start to the long weekend. It would normally be the late May bank holiday, but they've incorporated it with the Queen's jubilee so we all have a nice long four day weekend. After breakfast, we got going at around 10am and headed north. The traffic around the Lake District was awful and got into Oban early evening only, a long day in the car.

After checking in and dropping the bags we took a walk down to the harbour and decided in fish and chips to eat, right there overlooking the harbour. After eating we took a stroll (more like a hike with the incline of that hill) up to the amphitheatre McCaig's Tower which overlooked most of Oban and was beautiful with the approaching sunset.

Once down from there, we went for a couple of post sundown beers at the Irish bar just up the road from the hostel which has a live band. No more than a couple with our big mission the next day, so after not that long there it was back to the hostel to chill out.

Sunday we were up early, already packed and amped for our hike up the highest mountain in the British Isles. Since we weren't staying all that near the base of the mountain, we jumped in the car and headed for Fort William, the closest main town to the mountain. After a quick stop at the shops for some basic supplies like water, food and chocolates, we were ready and set by just after 10am for the start of our ascent. The walk itself up the mountain was spectacular, it took us around three and a half hours to get up and the views from the base to the summit were incredible, especially towards the top where the snow had recently fallen. The whole trek up the mountain was via a decently marked out walking path, except one section towards the top where the snow had recently fallen and we had to wade through the ankle deep snow. Otherwise, fairly easy walking the whole way.

Being at the summit was freezing cold, and the longer we spent up there the colder it got. I suppose when we initially arrived we were fairly hot and sweaty from the walk so we didn't notice, but once we began to cool we really felt the sub zero temperatures up there. So we hardly wasted time eating our lunch, drinking our tea and finishing our snacks before making our way back down towards the bottom. Getting down was obviously a lot quicker, it took us around two and a half hours and really was rather tough on the old knees. Will and I decided no a shortcut back which was a lot more vertical than the actual path, but reckon that didn't help the knees at all, especially with the steep steps down on the rocky path. Oh well, that'll teach you to try and take shortcuts.

Since we were all talking at different paces, Will landed up a bit ahead of me and Si & Suzie behind me, and in the confusion of the plans I ended up back at the visitors centre where I thought we'd be meeting, without realising they had detoured to the the Ben Nevis Inn for a post hike beer. Unfortunately by the time I realised this and missioned all the way back to meet them, it was too late. So I missed out on that celebratory drink. Needless to say I wasn't impressed. I guess I got the plans mixed up... oh well. Once back at the car, we headed to the hostel for a well deserved shower and chance into something more comfortable.

That evening, to celebrate, we decided on one of the locally recommended restauratants, and settled on the Waterfront Fishouse Seafood Fish Restaurant and Bar. We started off with oysters and for mains all had the surf 'n turf which was amazing - both the prawns and the steak. With a combination of some beers and wine, it really was the perfect meal to conclude the day's activities. No compaints for me at all :)

After dinner we took a walk to the harbour and chilled there by the water for sometime, just admiring the view and taking it all in. The sunset was absolutely amazing - the most amazing red sky forming a back drop to the calm water of the harbour. Once the sun had disappeared, we headed back to the car to grab some beers and then down to the beach and sat there for sometime just talking absolute rubbish and having a laugh. After a few on the beach, it was back to the hostel to get a decent night's sleep that was well deserved.

On Monday morning we checked out of the hostel and caught the passenger ferry across to Craignure on the Isle of Mull which is the second largest island off the west coast of Scotland. At Craignure, we hopped on a bus up to Tobermory, the capital of the island, which is also home to Mull's only single malt Scotch whisky distillery. Once at Tobermory, we settled down at the nearest pub we could find which was MacGochans. The sun was beating down, the weather was perfect, it really made no sense to do anything else :) We were all pretty knackered from the day before, so no one had any complaints about sitting down in the sun with a few decent ciders.

After sometime there, we took a walk around the village, stopped in at a few places, soaked up a bit more of the early June sun and then made our way back to the sun and back down to Craignure. We had a bit of time to kill in Craignure before the next ferry, so thought we'd do a bit of tourist sightseeing and go and visit Duart Castle. The castle stands on a crag at the end of the peninsular jutting out into the Sound of Mull, and dates back to the 13th century. We took a brief walk around there, ready up on some of the history and then headed down to the cafe for some coffee and cake afterwards. You got to mix up the cultural sightseeing with some tasty treats too. After the castle, it was back on the ferry and back over to Oban.

Once back at the car, we headed down to Loch Lomond, about an hour and a half away. On the way there, we decided to stay in at The Drovers Inn, located on the top end of the beautiful Loch Lomond and was an old inn used by the Highland drovers who used to drive their cattle down the side of the loch to the markets. Now it's frequented by walkers as well as other various outdoor activities around the loch. We stopped in there for lunch as well as a bit of a break from the driving. It would've been quite nice to have sat outside, however the midges were absolutely awful and out in full swarm, so there was very little chance of us enjoying the outside air.

After a bite of eat and a bit of a mental break, we continued our drive to the hostel, which was located in a beautiful old castle offset a few hundred meters from Loch Lomond. It really was quite a sight on arrival, it's not everyday you get to check into a castle for a night. That night none of us were too keen to do anything, so we decided to just keep it local around the hostel, but with the midges as bad as they were, it wasn't going to involve being anywhere outdoors!

Then yesterday morning, we were up early for a decent breakfast, checked out and planned to leave ahead of the traffic which no doubt would be manic as the day moved on. We got back to Manchester in good time and ahead of the rush hour, so a lot better than the trip up there. Back at theirs, Sizi fired up the bbq and sat down to burgers for lunch. The Queen's jubilee was showing on TV, so we caught bits and pieces of the highlights from the weekend. As much as it would've been quite good to have been in London, I think I much prefer a bit of outdoors and hiking, so don't really feel like I missed out on much. After lunch and a bit of the jubilee watching, it was over to the trains and straight down to London, getting in a bit before dark, after an amazing weekend out and up in the highlands of Scotland. And that ticks off the highest mountain in England, Wales and Scotland! Up next... the highest in Ireland :)