Our Day Trekking Ben Chonzie (931m, 3054 ft)
Decided to go away for the weekend to Crieff and walk to Ben Chonzie. If you want a quick no hassle ascent then choose the approach from the south west by parking at Coishavachan in Glen Lednock where there is space for a few cars. From here a track rises steadily all the way to the broad ridge leading to the summit. It's not particularly exciting but there again navigation is not a problem. From the top the east side drops away more steeply and gives good views towards Loch Turret.
But we decide on a more interesting but significantly longer approach from Loch Turret dam. A track follows the NE shore of Loch Turret and then a mile or so beyond to Loch Uaine and from here you can work your way round the crags and steeply onto Chonzie’s NE ridge.
But as Rabbie used to say, "the best laid plans of mice and men". Driving up the single track road to the car park at the dam a car was partially blocking the road and we couldn't get past.
Parked up and tried to get the car out of the way to no avail, so ended up reversing about three quarters of a mile down the road and parked at the waterworks. This put us behind schedule by about an hour but decided to go anyway and it was really worth it, air was really clear and the views "awesome" as they say, but you can look for yourselves at the days images. (For more images check out the previous blog post!)
After leaving the dam we followed the track onlong side Loch Turret, paths are quite snowy and the mountain reflections in the loch fabulous!
We continued past the end of Loch Turret to a smaller Loch Uaine, this is when track ends, so we stop for a coffee, and decide what route we will go...
....ok, we then decide on heading up this way and over to the left at top!
This is a continous uphill walk, then the hill becomes steeper with hard packed snow which is icy and hard on the feet, sometimes not the best place to try stay still to take photos.
Loch Turret is down below.
Time to dig in the feet and poles!
As we walk towards Chonzie we need to follow the fence posts to the summit, with the packed snow/ ice its hard going and that summit seemed to never appear.
It's cold, but neither of us feel it, cause our bodies are generating loads of heat, but at last we reach the top of Ben Chonzie. We only saw one person ahead of us when walking along Turret, but when we got to the top there was quite a few people. They had used the Glen Lednock route.
After a couple of photos we decide not to stop for lunch as its breezy and weather starting to close in. We head off towards the Glen Lednock path, for a short time before heading off the other way towards Carn Chois ridge. This is a pleasant walk, though snow is deep in places.
Going down hill at times proved to be challenging, with many slips and falls due to the icy snow.
Eventually we join the track alongside the loch, we continue on that until we reach the dam, which by then we were very tired and needing a bite to eat and hot drink.
This is what we did, sitting by the dam we had a roll and a cup of hot mulled wine, so warming and gave us that extra boost of energy we needed to finish our trek to car.
While we were treking, someone had built this snowman near the carpark, heehee, "nice hair"!
The trek took us 6 hours in total. So back at the car it was a 10 minute drive to Crieff and our B&B James Cottage where we were met by a cheery guy, Micheal. The rooms are comfy and clean and all with a jolly old Scottish theme, and for a good price and a great cooked Scottish breakfast. We were in the Robert Burns room, which was perfect as it was just after Burns night!
We had a hot soak in the bath and headed out for something to eat and drink, we felt we deserved it!
All in all, we had a super weekend and would highly recommend it! :)
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