Bothy adventures: What they are and where to find them
Originally published in Intrepid magazine online for subscribers and in print in September 2019. Disclaimer: Please refer to the Mountain Bothies Association website for advice on visiting Bothies safely whilst covid-19 is a risk. Always take alternative sleeping arrangements (a bivvy bag or a tent, or a Plan B of nearby accommodation) and consider a Plan B. If you want the wild feel of camping but don’t want to sleep on the ground, battling wind and rain overnight, you’ll want some walls and a door. A bothy can provide that. What is a Bothy? But what’s one of them? A bothy is a building, usually in the middle of a beautiful glen or near a loch, or river, or tucked away in a forest. It might look abandoned, but it is definitely loved. The structure is likely to have been part of a working farm or estate, perhaps used as a feeding house for livestock, or it was once a home to family living away from more densely populated areas in simpler times. It almost certainly won’t have electric