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Carn an Leth-choin probably isn't on many people's hill target lists. It wasn't on mine. Not a walk I'd planned, but I'd done a quick graham (Creag Ruadh) in the morning to tick off a new hill and was regretting just doing a quick up-down route. Just because the weather was wet and cloudy was no reason to completely waste the rest of the day! So I pulled over at Laggan just before getting back on the A86 and had a look at my OS map just to see what low level walk I could do on my way home to give myself an extra few miles of walking; It showed a track going from near Cluny Castle north to Glen Banchory, so I thought I'd give that a go. Turns out I might be tempted to go back here sometime as it has the potential to incorporate a munro traverse...
I parked near the Right of Way sign at the start of the track,near Cluny Castle, room for a couple of cars parked carefully to avoid blocking field access. I then just followed the main track all the way north. A grey, showery, cloudy day, it was quite a bleak walk, but not unpleasant, and the first time I'd walked in to Glen Banchory from this western end rather than from Newtonmore.
- Start of the track, on the east side of Cluny Castle
- A bleak walk along a good track
- Still a bleak walk along a good track
My map showed the track going to a small building at Dalballoch, and it was a nice surprise to find this was actually a bothy. It was also a surprise to see the good estate track didn't end there, but continued over the Allt Madagain and up the steep hillside. I popped into the bothy to examine my map in the dry...
- Slightly less bleak as the wee building came into sight. Carn an Leth Choin on the left, Carn Macoul on the right, the munro of Carn Dearg behind Carn Macoul but in cloud
- Dalballoch bothy, and the estate track continuing behind it, west and then north (wasn't shown on my map continuing there)
- I could see the track zig zagged steeply up the slope on the other side of the Allt Madagain
The hill it was heading up was Carn an Leth-choin. I was pretty certain it wasn't a main summit like a munro, corbett or graham as I'd done all the ones down Glen Banchory, and I didn't know how far the track would extend - but it was an easy way up a hill in miserable weather, with the possibility of good views over to the Monadhliath munros, so I decided to follow it. (I've now discovered it's classified as a Tump, Sim and Corbett top).
Plenty of rocks near the ford across the Allt Madagain made it straightforward to cross with dry feet, and I stuck to the track as it headed up, very steeply in parts. I've no idea whether this track made it across the desk of any planning officer, or whether it's just one of those estate tracks which magically grows further and further into the hills ...but it was there and I decided to use it
- Carn Dearg still hiding in the clag
- The track came to a pretty abrupt halt near the summit of Carn an Leth-choin
It ended up going all the way to the top area of Carn an Leth-choin (different maps have the summit at either 843m or 844m, I think the newer ones say 844m), a few metres from the cairn, though the ground a little to the north of the cairn looked higher and gave the better views across to Carn Dearg, one of the Monadhliath munros, and Loch Dubh in the corrie below it.
- This cairn was a few metres off to the side from the end of the track, but the high point looked to be just a little further away on that grassy ground
- View down to Glen Banchory to the east, towards the graham Creag Liath
- Still couldn't see Carn Dearg's summit above the corrie with Loch Dubh, but in nicer weather, it looked like continuing round the horseshoe could be a nice route
The viewpoint made me think this way in has good potential for a horseshoe route to go up Carn Macoul, along the ridge to Carn Dearg, and then come round over Carn an Leth-choin to descend back to Dalballoch and Cluny Castle (or vice versa). Just the one munro in the route, but I've done all the Monadhliath munros and a new route to an old hill can be interesting. It certainly looked do-able from what I could see.
- Finally! As I was heading back down Carn an Leth-choin the cloud lifted and Carn Dearg's western side was revealed
But it'll wait for another day. I just headed back to the car the same way, happy my unplanned leg stretch had been a decent walk in itself.