Scotland: Beinn Chabhair & Ben Chonzie (Munros 14 & 15)

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted any photos from my hillwalks to Scotland's Munros, those peaks over 3,000 feet. My last post, I realise, was about 6 months ago, and it was shortly thereafter that my friend, Hazel, and I did our last hillwalk of the summer (yes, this post is a long-time coming!).

Beinn Chabhair
21 September 2014

It was a Sunday in  September, and we weren't really looking to do anything big, but we wanted to get out into the hills before winter kicked in, and before I headed back to the US for the month of October. We decided that a short walk was in order, and according the Walk Highlands website, Beinn Chabhair should only be 5-6 hours, and that was about right. The walk is pretty much in three stages. The first stage is a walk up a steep, shrubby hill with nice passages of the Ben Glas Burn waterfall. On the way up, an elderly couple was on their way down, and they made a point of stopping to tell us to watch out for ticks, because they were, "jumping out of the bushes," and, "have four sets of jaws!!" Hazel looked a bit ill at that news and wondered if we should stop and go back. I wasn't planning on turning back, even though I only had shorts. Hazel at least had the option of covering up, which she did until we got high enough to feel that we'd gotten through the worst of it without seeing a single damn tick!

A bit more than halfway up the trail from Lochan Beinn Chabhair
to the summit.

The second stage of the walk is across mostly flat ground, but mucky, marshy ground in a landscape that was really disorienting, even with a map in clear weather. I definitely was happy we weren't doing this walk in the fog, rain, or snow. It was a long traverse up the valley to Lochan Beinn Chabhair where the third stage started up the rocky track to the exposed ridgeline up to the summit. The day was perfect for this type of scenery and we had amazing views back over Loch Lomond to the Arrochar Alps and to the Munros around Crianlarich, and we spent a lot of time taking photos! After chatting to a few sheep along the trail, we eventually made it to the summit of Beinn Chabhair at 933 m (3,061 ft) where we had a bit of lunch before turning around and heading back down. The walk back down didn't take too long, and since it was just going back up the same way we came, there wasn't any new scenery, but the haze had picked up making the sunlight and views a bit more mystical. Overall, a great walk for a quick day out!

This post continues for Ben Chonzie below the Beinn Chabhair slideshow, so keep scrolling!




Ben Chonzie
08 February 2015

It took about five months to get back out into the hills, but just last weekend a small group of friends and I took advantage of a clear, but cold, day to do some hillwalking in the southeast highlands, choosing Ben Chonzie, a gradual and easy walk up to a broad summit. The drive from Glasgow to the parking area for the walk, north of Comrie, took well more than an hour, and along some narrow country roads where you could see the sheen of ice over the road in places, but we eventually all made it and joined a host of other hillwalkers taking advantage of the nice weather.

Up along Ben Chonzie's summit ridge, with the snow-covered
Ben Lawyers range in the distance.

The walk up the hill was only clear of snow for the first little bit, but the trail quickly became snow covered, making for some slick moments and little falls, but luckily the trail followed a car track for most of the way up the Munro, but then the trail deviated up a few hundred metres of snowy patches and bare rock, and I was glad to have bought some slip-on YakTrax for my boots for a bit of extra traction. The last stretch of the walk is along a long flat ridge, totally exposed to the cold and the wind, which was really brisk, but the cold air gave us crisp views over to the Ben Lawyers Range and further on to the foothills of the Cairngorms! We were buffeted by the wind on the final approach to the summit at 931 m (3,054 ft) but got there just to find that the one wind-proof side of the summit cairn was occupied by another group of walkers, so we didn't stay long. The area around Ben Chonzie is known for being a suitable habitat for the Scottish mountain hare, and indeed, at the summit cairn, we spooked one and it took off running and was about halfway down the mountain in a few seconds! Pretty cool to see some of the more rare Scottish wildlife, though!

We definitely did not linger long at the summit, but quickly dropped back down into the valley with the car track to get out of the wind, but being winter, we couldn't leave without doing a bit of sledding (or sledging as they call it here...) on the big snow patches. Hazel had a plastic bag she used as a sled, which worked out pretty well, though I preferred my method of sliding down on my front, like a penguin! We slowly made it back to the cars, but before dispersing in our cars back to Glasgow, we stopped in to the Comrie Royal Hotel for a wee pint (not the drivers, of course), where I tried out the local Earthquake Ale, named so because Comrie lies right on the Highland Boundary Fault and experiences more earthquakes than any other part of the UK! Definitely worth a little stop after a long cold hike.