Bothies in the time of Covid

I know the MBA is saying they’re all off limits, but has anyone been in one lately? Are they locked up? Getting traffic? Being maintained? What about non-MBA ones? No plans for a visit, just curious how it’s playing out.

It depends. Some are actually locked, many are not, some have just a part open for emergency use. People are definitely still using them, I’ve popped into a few lately whilst out running and seen kit/recent overnight entries in the book. I ain’t judgin’.

If I was planning an overnight I might still consider using a bothy at this point but only if I had it to myself. I’d take the tent as back up, something I often do anyway when going solo.

Anyone using bothys should be taking a tent/plan b anyway .

wether you use them or not right now I guess it depends if you feel you can justify just doing as you feel by mental health or other wise as many folk do to fit their own agenda.

I used the toilet at Corrour bothy earlier this year. The Bothy was not locked either, dunno if people had been staying but it had definitely had people in it.

wether you use them or not right now I guess it depends if you feel you can justify just doing as you feel by mental health or other wise as many folk do to fit their own agenda.

More important is whether you feel you can do it safely. If there’s no one else there and you have a tent in case there is then there isn’t much Covid risk. That’s not an agenda, just common sense and depending on the tier your area/the bothy are in not against the recommendations.

I’d (as ever) take a tent. I’d avoid any popular ones too.

That’s not my point. That’s a very different equation to what’s playing out on various bothy groups where people are setting out their own justification just use them .

Thankfully the mods are quite hot on it.

If you are going to use one please also bear in mind the fact that estates have recently locked two up( that I know of) because people are using them, thus potentially depriving folk of a emergency shelter.

I thought MBA announced they were all shut, but I went past Warnscale Bothy Honister/Haystacks way a couple of weeks back and people were using it

Most bothies I know of are “well ventilated” so that reduces some of the risk, even if there is someone else using the bothy .I would prefer to have the bothy to myself. I would, as usual take the tent.
I’d also think very carefully about using any bothy at the moment,don’t want to give the landowners any excuse to lock it up. Once locked many will never open again.

I was at Charr last weekend (just an out and back ride with the kids). There were folk parked up at it with an E-pace and a Disco Sport; the door was ajar and there was a gas cylinder hooked up outside, I’m assuming this was estate use rather than the great unwashed? Nobody came out for a chat and we stayed out of the way.

Sorry that annecdote doesn’t really help anything does it!

I stayed in one in mid Wales last month. Just me and one other bloke from Glasgow. We kept a respectful distance. No masks, but I used some hand gel. Felt quite safe (other than the rat!) but I wouldn’t want to stay in a busy one, so always pack a tent.

The Haughtongreen bothy (Northumberland) that I pass regularly on my camping expeditions is still open.

More important is whether you feel you can do it safely. If there’s no one else there and you have a tent in case there is then there isn’t much Covid risk.

So as long as you get there first – you get dibs on the bothy? what if I turn up with a different set of criteria and decide to stay? are you going to move out.

That’s not an agenda, just common sense and depending on the tier your area/the bothy are in not against the recommendations.

proper accommodation providers have had to put in place extra hygiene measures in order to stay open – and you are going to stay in a facility with no hygiene measures at all, no record of who has been there before, during or after etc – its clearly not in line with any areas recommendations. The more people take the piss the more likely governments are to say – well we can’t trust people to use common sense so we need to lock down properly.

I stayed in one in mid Wales last month. Just me and one other bloke from Glasgow. We kept a respectful distance. No masks, but I used some hand gel. Felt quite safe (other than the rat!) but I wouldn’t want to stay in a busy one, so always pack a tent.

So you met a stranger from one of Scotland’s covid hotspots, in one of the UK’s covid hotspots, with no handwashing facilities, indoors for several hours without face coverings, and with no idea who had coughed on the surfaces you were touching an hour before you were there, probably eating food with those hands and you felt “quite safe”. No wonder estates are locking them.

and you are going to stay in a facility with no hygiene measures at all, no record of who has been there before, during or after etc – its clearly not in line with any areas recommendations. The more people take the piss the more likely governments are to say – well we can’t trust people to use common sense so we need to lock down properly.

I’m surprised and frankly appalled by your blind faith in the government. The “eat out to help out”
Get back to work
Go to university
Bung £12 billion to their mates to piss up against the wall and completely fail to produce track and trace.
Give Dildo a job to do, which she comprehensively **** up.
So give her another even more important job, which she also **** up.
Bail out Cummings when he breaks the law.

Etc etc

I can’t believe you’re dissing someone for going to a bothy. Get a grip.

So as long as you get there first – you get dibs on the bothy? what if I turn up with a different set of criteria and decide to stay? are you going to move out.

proper accommodation providers have had to put in place extra hygiene measures in order to stay open – and you are going to stay in a facility with no hygiene measures at all, no record of who has been there before, during or after etc – its clearly not in line with any areas recommendations. The more people take the piss the more likely governments are to say – well we can’t trust people to use common sense so we need to lock down properly.

So you met a stranger from one of Scotland’s covid hotspots, in one of the UK’s covid hotspots, with no handwashing facilities, indoors for several hours without face coverings, and with no idea who had coughed on the surfaces you were touching an hour before you were there, probably eating food with those hands and you felt “quite safe”. No wonder estates

Out come the self appointed Covid police once again.

You make your decisions and let other people make theirs and come down off your high horse.

Etc etc

I can’t believe you’re dissing someone for going to a bothy. Get a grip.

I don’t have to support any of those things to think that sleeping in bothy with total strangers in the middle of a pandemic which can be spread by assymptomatic people is a bloody stupid idea. I’d suggest you join the MBA and lobby them to re-open bothies if you think its a great idea.

You make your decisions and let other people make theirs and come down off your high horse.

Ah, a well structured argument; almost as sensible as “so long as you feel its safe” – presumably very few people intentionally participated in things they felt were unsafe to get/spread the virus in the first place.

sleeping in bothy with total strangers in the middle of a pandemic which can be spread by assymptomatic people is a bloody stupid idea

Dude, it’s coming for us regardless.

is a bloody stupid idea

Well, possibly ‘not the lowest risk scenario’ would be how I’d put it. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

So you met a stranger from one of Scotland’s covid hotspots, in one of the UK’s covid hotspots, with no handwashing facilities, indoors for several hours without face coverings, and with no idea who had coughed on the surfaces you were touching an hour before you were there, probably eating food with those hands and you felt “quite safe”. No wonder estates are locking them.

I made my own assessment of the risk and deemed it acceptable, which is what we have to be able to do to live our lives as best we can. This was 6 weeks ago, before any Scottish or Welsh lockdown and mid Wales has never been a hotspot (there are more sheep than people!). I didn’t get Covid.

The risk in a bothy is much less from surface contamination which can be mitigated if you’re careful it’s more risk from aerosol, so a busy bothy would see me sleeping in the tent.

I made my own assessment of the risk and deemed it acceptable,

I for one am quite happy to accept that it was your decision and you did what you thought was right in the circumstances. Unfortunately there are a few people about who seem to think they know better than others and are quick to condemn even though they only know the bare bones of the detail.

People risk assess in very different ways and with very different levels of knowledge.

In the current climate what colour would an unregulated bothy be on the chart?

Anyone want to try it?

Things to consider :-

When was the place last occupied?

When was the place last cleaned?

How long does the highly contagious Covid 19 live on surfaces?

How can you tell if someone was asymptomatic?

That’s just for starters.

But you know what, most of the demographic using bothies will be the fit outdoor types, so crack on, after all ,it’s not any worse than the flu.

I made my own assessment of the risk and deemed it acceptable,

Yep, fine with me.

I made my own assessment of the risk and deemed it acceptable,

Yep, fine with me.

There isn’t really another option here, that’s what everyone’s doing and we just need to have a bit of trust that most people are being sensible rather than getting wound up by people doing things a little bit differently from what you’d do. Most people are, I think being pretty sensible about it without the need to apply multi coloured risk matrix tables.

rather than getting wound up by people doing things a little bit differently from what you’d do

That way lies madness….

It’s also completely counter productive, you don’t change people’s minds by telling them they’re wrong / stupid / selfish etc.

without the need to apply multi coloured risk matrix tables.

I don’t think there is ever a situation which needs one of those.

Like all of this it’s about respecting the wishes of those that ‘own’ the spaces. the MBA was very clear and the whole essence of a Bothy, as an emergency shelter, is at odds with locking them. Therefore the respectful request was to not use them i.e. they are close EXCEPT for emergency use. Seems clear to me. Anyone using them is disrespecting the very essence of trust that the Bothy network is built on and it will, definitely, result in closures.

I agree if MBA bothies are closed that should be respected, as respect and trust is what the whole system is built upon.
Not all bothies are part of the MBA.

Seems clear to me. Anyone using them is disrespecting the very essence of trust that the Bothy network is built on and it will, definitely, result in closures.

But that gets risk assessed away when you apply a risk assessment to it. …….

….doesn’t it ? 😉 😉 😉 (Just incase folk think I really care)

Bothies don’t belong to the MBA, they belong to the landowner

The MBA have asked folk to avoid using them at the moment, unless a genuine emergency.

The landowner is just as likely to require emergency use as recreational visitors.

If the landowners see the current guidance being ignored then it makes the MBAs job more difficult and could result in more bothies being permanently unavailable.

If it’s not an emergency then using one is just being a selfish ****.

If it’s not an emergency then using one is just being a selfish ****.

But it’s ok if I arrive and it’s empty right ? Or what if it’s an emergency emergency *

* A bit like an emergency eye test where the emergency is fabricated to suit my agenda ?*

* If your gonna do it and have justified it to your self in your own way…at least don’t go about shouting that your doing it. Your only encouraging others to follow suit.

I made my own assessment of the risk and deemed it acceptable, which is what we have to be able to do to live our lives as best we can. This was 6 weeks ago, before any Scottish or Welsh lockdown

Glasgow was in local lockdown 6 weeks ago (it entered local lockdown about the 2nd of Sept)

I didn’t get Covid.

I presume you mean you didn’t get covid symptoms – unless you’ve been getting tested every few days for some bizarre reason you have no idea that you didn’t have covid and give it to the weegie; nor did you get covid from him and pass it on to others.

But you know what, most of the demographic using bothies will be the fit outdoor types, so crack on, after all ,it’s not any worse than the flu.

mmm… not sure thats true – but even if it was the point of all the restriction is not to stop YOU from getting sick as an individual but to stop you passing it on to others who then pass it on – because the healthcare system can’t cope with that sort of surge.