The mossy mountain

[Bean]

A wee jaunt up Ben Chonzie had been on the cards for a while. Finally the time came, my sister, dad and I were all free for a hill and the sun was shining, we planted the idea at 10pm and were meeting by the golden grouse at 9am the next morning.

We choose to tackle the hill from Glen Turret as it looked like a beautiful way in. Just out of the car park we came across loads of frog spawn in the puddles. Here are two fresh faced hatchlings.

Dad and bon at start

Views of Loch Turret

Past the reservoir and looking at the top of glen turret

Shortly after this photo was taken we struck left off the path and fought our way up the slopes of heather and moss, shown below.

View up hill

As we made progress up the slopes dad was teaching us about the different moss types - I think the star moss is my favourite. We were interested to learn from walkhighlands that Ben Chonzie in Gaelic means - the mossy mountain!

Star moss

Having reached the lower aspect of the broad ridge we found ourselves joining a rough sheep track for a while and then plodded on over uneven peat bogs towards the summit which could now be seen easily.

Dad and bon on the broad ridge

Once up higher the ridge the ground underfoot was a lot drier, rocky and easier going. Having not yet encountered another person here we met crowds of walkers coming up from the other side which I believe is an easier way up.

Walking towards the summit

Up on top we were very lucky with the views.

We descended the same way but intead of making a bee line straight across the boggy plateau we stuck up high on the ridge and then cut down. This particular family combination trio was a first for us, but made for excellent companionship! Thanks doob and bon