Julia in France: Near death experience on Ben Nevis

Although the weather was iffy, we decided to hike up Ben Nevis, which is the tallest mountain in Scotland, at a not particularly high 4400 feet. I have definitely been higher than that on mountains out west. But although we were going, we hadn't exactly decided how far up we would go. Along the path there were lots of people, and the further up we went, the more it seemed to make sense to get all the way to the top. So we kept chugging along.

This was the view before we began to ascend into a cloud.

Conditions were not ideal, as it drizzled on and off.

When we were up around 4000 feet, my hiking boot started falling apart. The sole was coming loose from the rest. At the time, it was freezing outside, the wind was blowing, a light rain was falling, and we were in a cloud. Not a good situation.

This was just the beginning. Soon after the whole sole was flapping in the breeze.

I sat down on a rock and we began to talk with a passing older British couple about what to do. Then B pulled a MacGyver, taking a string off of his rain slicker and wrapping it around my shoe. Much to our surprise, it worked nearly the entire way down. I was almost at the bottom when the entire sole came off completely; by that time I was able to walk on what was left, which was pretty much equivalent to a moccasin.

Now I know the exact lifespan of Asolo boots: circa 15 years. They certainly chose an inopportune time to fall apart.

You know, it would never cross my mind to carry extra boots while hiking. I don't even own another pair of hiking boots! As of this writing, I have nothing, zip, nada. This all just makes me realize that I tend to go out hiking grossly underprepared. Not enough food and water, and I don't even own a waterproof slicker anymore, since I wore it to Yankee stadium and it got stolen. Well, I think I may have learned a lesson. B, for one, has become a believer in extra shoelaces. He insisted on taking these ones off my boots before I threw them into the trash once we reached the bottom of the mountain.

This was as far up as we got before we turned back.