51. Ben Chonzie (250) (P600 15) 21/04/2008

Being a little bit weary from our previous day of walking and with Jo needing to get the sleeper in the evening, we opted for the shorter walk up Ben Chonzie. We had heard an American describing it as 'Ben Chon-zee' in the pub the previous night. Heh - a ridiculous guess, everyone knows it is pronounced in the much more sensible way: 'Ben-ee-Hoan'. Most of the climb was along a nice farm track, with the last 200m or so across gentle slopes on the summit ridge. It was relatively easy going and there wasn't as much snow as on Ben Lawers, so we were at the summit cairn within 2 hours. We had a clear top, but the cloud wasn't much above us, so we could only catch glimpses of the Lawers ridge to the north. There was also a lot of wildlife on the hill. On our descent we saw dozens of mountain hares (which grow to nearly 3ft long) and lots of grouse making strange noises. A jolly nice stroll.

The top of Ben Chonzie

Jo looking south at the top