GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 9

At home in the wilderness: a
bothy near Corrour

005 Sleep out iN a Remote bothy

There's no booking system, no room key and no
charge - you simply turn up, sleep the night,
tidy up and move on.
This sense of collective responsibility is at
the heart of the bothy code, which lays out
guidelines for their use - leave no rubbish,
bury any human waste and cut no living wood.
They are only kept in a habitable state through
the conduct of those who use them, and the
Mountain Bothy Association organizes volunteer
groups to spend time repairing and restoring
them. Thanks to their efforts the bothies' future
is safe - and there can be few better ways to
soak up the sense of solitude while out in the
wilds.

The fire crackling in the old hearth provides the
only light against the thick darkness outside,
as the smell of smouldering wood fills the small
stone dwelling where you've broken your hike.
Britain may be one of the most crowded islands
on earth, but it's nevertheless still possible to
trek for days through some truly remote areas,
mainly in the north of Scotland and the Welsh
hills. Scattered across these moors and valleys
are old stone bothies (the word comes from the
Gaelic “bothan”, meaning hut), once lived in
by farm workers and estate staff. Nowadays
they lie empty except for a supply of firewood,
awaiting the next walkers keen to rest and warm
themselves at the end of a long day's ramble.
The Mountain Bothy Association maintains
around a hundred of them across the British
Isles. They are very simple places: no water,
perhaps a wood-burning stove and at best a
platform upon which to roll out a mat to sleep.

Need to know Bothies are only to be used for
short stays and are too small for groups any larger
than six. The Mountain Bothy Association ( W www.
mountainbothies.org.uk) costs £20 to join and
members will be issued with details of where the
various huts are located.