The Scottish Bothy Bible

Geoff Allan

This book will generate applause from one group of wilderness lovers, and horror in the other. Bothies were, until fairly recently, a whispered secret. Prior to the internet the list of these free, charitably maintained and largely Scottish shelters was guarded as jealously as you might a slab of gold with Reinhold Messner's hair regime inscribed on it by Da Vinci. Those days ended when the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) beat the clock on the creepingly comprehensive list of bothy locations online with a fine website of its own. And good on them: the old worry that bothies might attract the less desirable sort (often a thinly veiled excuse for exclusivity) is one that is naturally neutered in most cases by how remote most bothies are; and awareness of the need to support them can only be a good thing. This book is everything the bothy lover could want and need, beautifully produced and enormously practical, listing everything from sleeping capacity to good routes to reach all 99 Scottish bothies, which include ‘unofficial‘ ones like the Shelter Stone. There are nice touches such as Top 5 bothies for legends/solitude/ Munros/romance et al, and many fine images. Ten per cent of profits go to the MBA, too. Some might not want these secrets out; but others will hail this as a long overdue, instantly essential addition to the bookshelf. We‘re squarely in the latter camp; cue the applause.