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John had an alternative way to tackle Carn Dearg which sounded interesting so we set of from the usual point at the end of the Glen Banchor road around 9am. A beautiful glen so close to Newtonmore. We followed the path sign posted which leads to Laggan. This is a farm track until it reaches the deserted farm house Glenballoch, follow the track in front of the farm house then left through a forestry gate and follow the path down towards the river turning right up the glen before it reaches the river Calder.
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- John heads off towards Carn Dearg.
Follow on this path for another 2-3 kilometres before heading up the right hand side of the Alt an Lochain Dubh. The path is not always clear so do not worry too much if you lose it for a while. Keeping Carn Macoul on your right follow the burn as it sweeps round and the path gets steeper until you reach the very picturesque Loch Dubh. You will see the remnants of a bothy sadly no longer standing although if you take a hammer and nails you may be able to work a miracle and put it together most of it is in the burn.
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- Both in the burn
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- Storm what storm?
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- Loch Dubh
After a bite to eat we set of round the right hand side of the loch and made our way up grassy banks where ever possible soon reach the ridge of Carn Dearg then turning left were soon at the top. The views north and south were spectacular with clear sky’s all round.
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- Top of Carn Dearg
It was about 1pm and with the weather so good we decided instead of heading back to the car we would head for Carn Sgulain. We set off and had a stop after Carn Balloch
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- Looking back towards Carn Dearg
then headed off again under foot was dry but stoney in place I was relieved when we good eventually see the summit of Carn Sgulain but by the time we had reach it I was bushed and decided I would leave A’ Chailleach and tackle it another day on its own. Even at that it was a long walk out following John down Allt Bruthach an Easain staying high above the burn on the left hand side it was boggy and hard to find any path in places, eventually meeting the Land rover track taking us back to the car for just after 5pm. It was a long day and I look forward to coming back another day but not next week.
