A weaving string of twinkling blue light is cascading down Ben Nevis, reflected in the waters of the loch below like a river of light. The drone camera catching the whole scene at nightfall sweeps in close – and suddenly the true nature of the “river” is revealed. This tumble of light is being created by a very long line of people swaying from side to side, each holding a lantern above their head. Even more surprisingly, one of those furiously swaying people is me.
If it all looks beautiful in the film, it certainly didn’t feel beautiful in the moment. I’d spent two and a half hours on the ascent and was standing in a muddy mulch, freezing cold, painfully aware that I had to get back down Britain’s tallest mountain in the dark. When the director shouted, “Let’s do it again”, I desperately wanted to shout, “Let’s not!” Instead, I swung my eco-friendly light for all I was worth, joking with the young medical students beside me that we thought we’d signed up for a gentle evening stroll, not a through-the-night marathon.
