Peanmeanach closed

This bothy is now commercial accommodation if you’ve planned a visit and didn’t know.

According to the Facebook mob (a letter from the owners) this is due to unsustainable numbers following book publications.

Without any worthwhile knowledge I’m 100 and twelvty percent blaming the bothy booze brigade…

Lovely spot and still no issues with camping there. This has been the situation for several years now and to be fair, I think the estate have been looking for reasons to restrict access for quite some time, sadly. A better solution would perhaps have been a hut and a composting toilet, but that was never going to happen here.

Without any worthwhile knowledge I’m 100 and twelvty percent blaming the bothy booze brigade…

Who goes to a bothy without booze?

Supposedly due in good part to promotion if bothies by The Bothy Bible.

An Cladach on Islay also recently closed.

https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/bothies-lock-their-doors-and-charge-for-stays-amid-surge-in-visitors-stag-parties-and-publicity-3185696

Historically a few bothies were lost due to misuse. In the late 40s or 50s Ba Cottage was demolished by the estate as poachers were basing themselves there and shooting deer in the surrounding area.

A Loch katrine bothy was demolished in the 70s.

Other non MBA bothies have just quietly changed from open to locked.

There was a blog post by a certain writer a few years ago which was criticised because it publicised a non mba bothy which had until then escaped being published on the Web.

I had heard Peanmeanach was being abused for a while now. Is telling that when I wanted to introduce a couple of friends to the joy of bothying I was thinking of Peanmeanach, easy parking, nice path to the front door, spectacular views etc.

Feels like all the publicity, the staycationing etc. will maybe shake out the ‘low hanging fruit’ bothies e.g. the particularly nice ones or the easy to access ones!

I will admit to being an absolute curmudgeon about that book and all the ensuing articles on the BBC etc. ‘Free holidays homes in the highlands!’ but ultimately I think the state of bothies and bothying maybe 5 years ago was just unsustainable anyway (in a ‘too good to be last’ sort of way).

Maybe it will return to nasty little remote hovels that are just marginally better than camping outside in the rain and midgies 🙄

Maybe it will return to nasty little remote hovels that are just marginally better than camping outside in the rain and midgies

I immediately thought of the Sinclair Memorial Hut. Not too remote but a cold damp hovel.

Is telling that when I wanted to introduce a couple of friends to the joy of bothying I was thinking of Peanmeanach, easy parking, nice path to the front door, spectacular views etc.

I think that is why it and a number of too-easy-to-get-to Howffs have shut. (As well as wanting to make money on the estates part.)

(in a ‘too good to be last’ sort of way).

for what it’s worth that should have read ‘too good to last’.

Too late for sneaky edit.

The bothy at Loch na h-Oidche was closed a couple of years ago so it could be done up and hired out (to anglers?) There was a rumour that one of the other buildings was to become a free bothy. Does anyone know if this happened?

Frankly I’m surprised that Ryvoan is still available as it’s surely one of the easiest to access and yet seems to escape any damage.

I asked Feshie Estate about replacement of the bridge at Carnachuin but I was told they were waiting to see how Ruigh Aitchechean fared post-rebuild before potentially making access to it easier.

Colin, did Ruigh Aitchechean close because of folk using it during the lockdown or were they always refurbing it?

It was refurbed pre-lockdown and remained unlocked throughout. In theory it should only have been used as an emergency shelter but I know that some folk were ignoring this advice. I made it clear that for last year’s Cairngorms Loop, use of the bothy meant a DNF.

It also has an almost-resident bothy keeper. That helps maintain order 😜

Maybe subject to another thread, but maybe shelters make akin to a Finnish Kota or Laavu would be more suitable in certain areas – effectively a wooden ‘tent’. So rudimentary that they’re unlikely to attract the ‘glamping’ brigade, but at least they offer some protection from the elements. Besides, Gives me another excuse to post this:

View post on imgur.com

There’s a cracking one near Arisaig that isn’t in the book and has mostly managed to avoid publicity but apparently even then the landowner is considering taking the roof off due to misuse/litter etc. Would be a great shame.

I think it’s a deadly combo of Instagram and the books tbh, plus lack of foreign travel in the last couple of years.

Have heard the Abysinnia one is having problems also. I see lots of comments about drinkers/partiers’ etc ruining it and ‘not proper hillwalkers’ which I sort of get, but AFAICS there has been a long tradition of having some craic and sharing a bottle of whisky in bothies as well as just a base for hillwalkers or whatever.

I’ve been blind drunk in a bothy but we still cleared up afterwards and left chopped wood/coal etc

It also has an almost-resident bothy keeper. That helps maintain order 😜

Bugger! I was meaning Glas-allt-Shiel… I know the other one well. Our silver group camps over the river; keeper has his own room with a clothes rail!

I asked Feshie Estate about replacement of the bridge at Carnachuin but I was told they were waiting to see how Ruigh Aitchechean fared post-rebuild before potentially making access to it easier.

Last time I was there I think Lindsay, the almost resident bothy keeper, said the estate put plans in for a bridge re-build but the council knocked them back. Now gone to the back of the queue as the estate can get the access they need by fording the river when required.

Other interesting nuggets were – during Covid it was busier during ghe week than weekends as people thought they were going under the radar.

Busiest night post refurb is 42.

The stone for the extention build came from the same quarry the bothy was originally built from.

When I was there in sumer 2021 he said he had only been home for I think 8 days that year.

Glen Feshie has shown how environmental restoration is done. Get rid of the deer. No need for fencing.

Unlike the Brewdog estate which has sacked it’s keepers and is following the failed fence them out strategy.

The state of the western Cairngorms (6) – BrewDog’s “Lost Forest”(1)

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brewdog-is-evicting-gamekeepers-to-make-way-for-forest-xzq8l70qt

@scotroutes

It also has an almost-resident bothy keeper. That helps maintain order 😜

According to the MBA newsletter:

There has also been an issue at Ruigh Aitcheachain where the MO took up residence during the lockdown. Despite a warning that this was unacceptable he still continues to do so and has been removed as MO due to his actions.

Though of course the MBA can’t actually stop him using it.

He is there with the blessing of the estate so I think the MBA are on a hiding to nothing – unless they decide to “unlist” the bothy.

Warned it is unacceptable by the MBA? According to the custodian he is on good terms with the owner of the estate. The owner spent a substantial sum in the renovation. If the owner is happy with the custodian living there much of the time the MBA may as well forget it.

He seems a pleasant guy to me. Given the volume of people now using the place I’d say it’s a plus he is there much of the time.

The bothy may not fit the MBA template but I’d be delighted if more estates were like Glen Feshie.

Had good chat last time we passed the bothy, and indeed Lindsay was hovering about. MBA politics as well I suspect (same old). It’s awfa’ fancy inside after the refurb. Twin wood burning stoves (or at the least one mahoosive one with twin chambers).

Good to hear the other side of the story. I suppose it’s in the estate’s interest to have someone they trust around a lot too. Certainly seems good for the casual, non-radgie visitor too. Everyone’s happy. Apart from some jealous bloke at the MBA.

It’s such a shame. There’s quite a number of bothies I remember going on work parties in the 90’s and noughtie and carrying out repairs, pointing, new stairs building platforms etc. Shame they’ve shut because of too much publicity and abuse.

OTOH the “red house” both near White Bridge must be almost ready for use?

I used to do maybe 30 bothy nights a year, and was MO for Glencoul, and also did a lot of work (new stove, door, lots of smaller jobs) on a non-MBA bothy that someone has unfortunately alluded to above (you’re either part of the solution or part of the problem).

I gave up for three reasons:

1. The breaking of the pre-internet and pre-MBA openly sharing bothy locations (to meet charitable status) tradition of word of mouth bothy location sharing. Breaking this greatly increased the burden on the bothy ‘estate’ but hasn’t led to a big influx of maintainers. For the twenty years I was in the MBA it was the same folk broadly speaking. Everyone makes mistakes when first using bothies, and easy knowledge access means lots of visitors low down on the learning curve. Maybe better put as when you’ve taken more out of bothy culture you’re more likely to put something back. Annual visits out of a book or off an internet page, maybe less so.

2. I’m totally guilty of going to bothies for lash ups. Big change for me was when I realised I wouldn’t trust many bothies as a staging post for actual physical out door activities – early start hills or multi day trips for example. Too much chance of being kept up to 3am by an incompatible party.

3. I bought a house in the highlands.

Lyndsey was telling us in October that it was no longer an MBA bothy.