In an old Singletrack (2006, might be issue 22 or thereabouts) there was an article about bothying (sp?) in Scotland.
Now, a couple of mates and I want to go for a coast to coast/wilderness ride up there to celebrate impending weddings/bit of an adventure and thought three of us going on a trip would be an excellent idea. The only fly in the ointment currently seems to be the fact that all bothy locations are currently the domain of some countryside cult and as such are a closely guarded secret (although, having read some of the issues of them being semi/destroyed by party goers, I can see why).

The question is, how do you become a member of the society/cult/gang in order to find them?
Does anyone know anything about the bothies in that article? Even better, can anyone tip us off about the location of them?

If you can I guess you would not want to post the locations on here or anywhere else, but if anyone can help us out with a suitable location (grid reference, directions, anything) then please drop us a line at
tracker1972athotmaildotcom

Thanks!

Oh, and any other tips/suggestions/warnings/routes would be excellent. Originally thought a bivvy might be the solution, but if there is a bothy seems much more civilised.

how do you become a member of the society/cult/gang in order to find them?
mountain bothy association

Do you know if the handbook you are given contains locations? If it is necessary to spend a little cash (split 3 ways it is still pretty cheap for accommodation, however basic!) then fair enough, I wouldn’t want to then still have to try and find them after that though.
Are you a member or do you happen to know, are there many choices that might be suitable for a Scottish C2C?

You’re given all the locations.

If you want some other simple questions answered, there’s also a forum.

I’m not a member, but, a good friend of mine was before he moved up ‘that neck of the woods’ .. anyway…

AFAIK, its about good etiquette, if its cold and no firewood in the building, and you have some/find/dig some, it would be rude not to leave it behind… keep it clean, tidy and respectful to your surroundings. I know its all common sense, but, as i understand it, thats the situation!

Your idea is very similar to that of me and a few mates, good luck with it!

jt 😉

Thanks druidh, I had clicked the forum link on the MountainBothiesAssociation one and it is offline, due back in the Autumn apparently so the UKbothies one should come in handy.

jt-that was what I understood about the rules, basically don’t be a t*t and leave the place at least as good as you found it if not better so assumed there would be a way to do it without paying to join a club, still, it is cheap accommodation. If you find a location and want to share, feel free 🙂

I have to say I never use bothies – I much prefer to camp. You never know who else will be at the bothy and they vary so much in how comfy they are – the only thing you save taking is a tent – and a tent is generally warmer than a bothy.

You pays yer money and takes yer choice

I have to say I’d always thought it would be warmer in a tent than an old building.

Quite possibly TJ, its just the idea of having a sheltered space indoors that appeals and a proper fire, in a fireplace, making it easier than between a couple of tents. As I had mentioned, a bivvy is not out of the question but sitting around talking b*ll*x will be part of the deal and a roaring fire would help that.

p.s. had I mentioned that a nice fire to have a glass/stainless steel mug of something by might be nice?

bugger, forgot to make it OT

better take some high-% alcohol, most of my mates would have to take 10 cans of beer each, not fun on a bike :).

A good OS map will usually show you if there are any on your chosen route. You cannot be sure of a roaring fire – some no longer have fire places and others are a very long way from anything burnable. Choose your route, see if there are bothies enroute, google the particular bothy and take a tent anyway(the good bothies on the popular routes can bet a bit full) is my advice.

What TJ and sisaac said. They can be great but often a long way from any firewood, other inhabitants may not be to your liking, or could be full, vandalised or locked. Def take tents in case (not bivvi)- you may not have a fire, but you can still sit in the tent to sip drams and talk sh**e

coffeeking- we had already been considering what drinks, a nice red would be an excellent way to spend an evening but clearly not the weight weenies choice.

sisaac- hadn’t actually realised that bothies were marked on a normal OS map, considering their original purpose I guess it is a bit obvious that they should be though.

CaptainM- we could take tents, but we already own them so that would leave no room for shopping for new “essentials” spending an age researching and then buying the Alpkit one 🙂

I guess it is a bit chicken and egg, which route/what bothies. Wonder how many maps the library has…

I quite look forward to the bothy ‘randoms’, sitting round a fire with a few people you’ve never met before and trying to patch together a conversation, the people I’ve met have always been friendly and accommodating.

Never found one to be locked or vandalised and if they are there’s usually up to date news on the MBA site.

There was a post on one of the climbing websites a while ago, some guy went to a bothy with his own idea of a tranquil utopia out in the wilderness, he got there to find it was full of wild drunks, thing is that’s it, that’s how I like bothies to be, take it as you find it, get involved in the place and have a laugh, worst scenario it’ll be full of DofE kids of Munro baggers.

If you really need to be up early the next morning or want some peace then the tents the best bet, if you want some interaction and a different style of night take a chance on a bothy.

Watch your food with the mice though, I recently heard it was the bothies MO’s duty to put mice in if there were non already inhabiting. 😯

T1972 – aah a man after my own heart. But doing bothies won’t allow you that pleasure either. You could do lots of research on lighter, smaller tents, bags etc as you will need to keep weight to a mimimum, plus carriers/panniers for the bikes. Also you will need a shovel as your loo

Also need to research which whiskys to take. IMHO I would suggest one Islay, one Speyside, one lowland/highland

CaptainM only have two hip-flasks at the moment, neither of which may be suitable, between three of us we only have one trailer, suitable water purification equipment would need to be found, a suitably light folding shovel for cat holes. I suppose there will be plenty of opportunity for shopping equipping ourselves. Two of everything between the three of us, nothing repeated to avoid manufacturing/design defects.

The more I think about it, the more I am looking forward to it 😆

Oh, bugger, the weddings we have to pay for, existing tent and turns pulling the trailer it is, still do the research though 🙂

Why do you need to purify water? Scottish stream water is the best you can find – filtered thru bogs.

Because it would be a new toy I could get? Besides, I don’t think advertising it as being filtered through bogs would be a fantastic advertising slogan.

Granted, it probably would be fine though.

As TJ says – no need for water purification. I’ve been drinking Scottish hill water for 50 years….

Yup, not problem drinking the hill water. If you’ve only got two hip flasks you’ll only be able to stop out two nights at a time

Only twice have i been caught out by dead, bloated, infested sheep in the stream i was drinking from, way out of sight of where I took the water… 🙂

5 yds downstream of the sheep the water will be fine – any poison will be diluted

my lack of death confirms your statement, but it still makes you think!

Another one for hill water here. Given the nasty stagnant hill streams i drank out off as a kid, i think a frigid mountain river is going to pretty safe.

I saw TGO magazine (i feel like a spy reading this, looking for new biking trails, haha) advertising wine ‘bags’ so you can ditch the bottle.

I’ve done the whisky thing a few times, but when i’m in the bothies i still hanker for a long cool bottle of ale or something, best example being carron bothy, which i reached after cycling past loch fyne brewery earlier in the day. They might have been heavy and awkward, but those bottles of ‘Highlander’ tasted brilliant.

On the one occasion i shared a bothy the banter was really good, whisky, tea, food and smokes were shared and it really contributed to a great trip.

The firewood issue is a real one in most bothies, the only good way is to take coal and sticks with you, not as daft as it sounds and as said above they can be bluddy cold. The cutting down of local wood is frowned upon in all bothies I have seen.

Using buildings marked on OS is not reliable many can be privately owned and locked up, not the best result. By paying a small membership sub it helps support the existing bothy network.

It is also customary to leave more than you find just in case some poor sould arrives who really needs it. The bothy network is important to hill users.

Tom

>worst scenario it’ll be full of DofE kids of Munro baggers.<

Oh yeah 🙂

Forget the water purification and folding spade bollox you’ll get laughed at mercilessly. For the wine take a wine box then you can burn it on the fire instead of carrying out bottles. Also coal better than logs

Aye – forget the folding shovel. Just get a cheap plastic trowel from a garden centre or B&Q.

Stop trying to stop me buying toys! The contents of a wine box seems like a good plan though, oh, and i can take the laughter 🙂

It ain’t about toys. Think of the weight saving….