by Fragglerocks » Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:34 pm
Munros included on this walk: Ben Chonzie
Date walked: 21/07/2020
Time taken: 4 hours
Distance: 13.7 km
Ascent: 712m
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My first walk report, Ben Chonzie. I tend to leave the popular hills to days off through the week, being a vet mean these are as rare as hens teeth!! Thanks to Corona, this is my first Munro of the year, so I thought I would ease myself in gently. Most route descriptions have Ben Chonzie down as a boring plod, so my expectations were low. Thankfully it turned out to be a great walk, and a less than boring hill.
After a grand drive up the beautiful Glen Lednock, I arrived at the parking area about 8.15am, and was the fifth car there, a couple were just setting off as I booted up. The Munro Mutt and I followed behind, up the track and right at the cottages. It was a gorgeous day, sunshine, blue skies and a gentle breeze.
The track ambles up the hillside, curving round to the right, giving great views of the summit we were heading for. Crossing the ford at the dam, and continuing up the track, gradually getting a little steeper, until we turned off at the cairn, and up a peaty path. After a few minutes the fence posts were in sight, Ben Chonzie isn’t a tricky one in terms of navigation on a sunny day thankfully. The amble along the top follows the line of fence posts on the right, and cairns on the left. There may not be dramatic aretes, or scrambles to explore, but there were countless Mountain Hares, blaeberry bumblebees and a variety of birds (meadow pipits and skylarks??).
The Munro mutt and I sat and watched the hares as we ate our early lunch, cocktail sausages for him, cheese & jam sarnie for me. We headed down a different path initially, further to the left, to continue watching the Hares, before cutting across to the main path, and headed back down the hill. We stopped to chat to a lovely old guy who walks Ben Chonzie in all seasons, we talked about the Hares, our favourite hills, and our plans for future walks. Saying good bye, we were off, tootling down the track and heading home.
Corona virus has taught me a lot this year, it’s taught me never to take our freedom for granted, and to see the different characters of each hill I walk. Sometimes it’s not about knife edge ridges and adrenaline, sometimes mountain hares are enough.....
- Attachments
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- Ready to go
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- Beautiful area
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- The wee dam
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- Munro Mutt
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- Long and winding road
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- Summit
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- Mountain Hare
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- Views for miles
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- Time for an early lunch