Friday 4th July - went on a charity trek to Ben Nevis, in aid of the Love Water Love Life campaign run by Muslim Aid.
Despite the long and arduous coach trip to the Scottish Highlands which took over 13 hours each way I was really looking forward to climbing the highest mountain in the United Kingdon. Standing at a mighty 4,406 feet this would surely provide a worthy challenge !
On the coach I started to size up the fellow trekkers, to understand who I needed to look out for. Although it was a charity trek, I am very competitive in nature and wanted to understand the main players.....what worried me initially was the relatively young age of the walkers. With youth on their side, could this trek expose me as the middle aged chacha ji with very dodgy knees - Clearly I needed to find out more about the competitors............
Listening to the youngsters for thirty minutes on the coach, my worries were easily calmed and I knew that this trek was mine for the taking.
Profile of main characters;
# 1 - Commando GPS. Club level swimmer, up at the crack of dawn and eager as a beaver. He was the gadget king, but in the wilderness Duracell batteries don't come in handy - what you need is raw energy like Bear Grylls. That was going to be his weakness and Shere Khan (that's me - the desi version of Bear Grylls) had plently of grit and determination to march on when others would start to fall behind.
#2 - Dark Stallion. This chap was a talkaholic, the only time he shut up was when he was asleep.....oh and when he started walking too. Clearly the strain of walking uphill for several hours sapped his energy reserves and the brain had to divert the energy from his mouth to the legs. With no words coming out of his mouth, his lips never the less kept on motoring like a goldfish....resulting in excess bloating of his stomach as he was swallowing air !
The Dark Stallion ended up being the last farting king of Scotland......pppprrrrrppppp.
#3 - Bollywood star. Camera, Lights & Action.....I was worried about this guy, he was planning a trek to Karakoram in a few months time. Could this chap be the front runner ? Initially I thought this was the case, but slowly when his amateur dramatics started coming out I was pleasantly relieved. I mean Bollywood stars have limited stamina, I've never seen a star perform a dance in one routine......it's all cut, cut & cut and lots of editing with a double often stepping in. Clearly this chap would be too busy posing for the photo shoots and not focussed enough on the long march to the top of the mountain. This was evident at the waterfall, at the start, at the bridge, at 100m, at 200m..............etc etc etc
#4 - Back Packer. This guy was young, lean & fit. He had recently trekked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro which is the highest mountain (19,340 feet) in Africa and dwarfs Ben Nevis. This chap was definitely odds on favorite in my book until I learnt that he had just returned from a traveling holiday in South East Asia. I sensed that the the Bangkok excursion would have affected his CHI energy and his performance would be adversely affected.
Clearly my people watching skills paid handsome dividends as my predictions came true, the march to the peak long but my industrious legs kept pumping away and from a group of nearly forty walkers I was the 2nd to the summit beaten by only by a younger and more energetic Samir. BIG UP to Samir the man, you walked up the mountain a boy and came down a man.
But on a serious note, the trek to Ben Nevis was a wonderful experience. To conquer the highest peak on this Island, to witness the fantastic views and to push myself for a good cause and meet some great characters in the process was a joy. Thrashing all the youngsters made me feel good too and hopefully I inspired some of my fellow walkers to train harder for the next challenge.
Remember the man in front is a chacha.........so be respectful and stay behind him.
