Hike to a mountain bothy
Possibly the style of accommodation most synonymous with mountains, spending the night in a remote bothy is an unforgettable and slightly terrifying experience.
Bothy is a lovely word – and it just gets better from there. A bothy is a free-to-use mountain shelter that you’ll find in the hills of Scotland, England and Wales. They tend to be ex-agricultural cottages which have been converted for use by walkers and mountaineers. Some lie just a short walk from the roadside, while others may require a full day of hiking to access. They differ from mountain huts in other countries (eg the Alpine nations) in that they aren’t staffed, you cannot buy a meal there and you will not be charged or even have to register your name to use them. Consequently, they vary from simple shacks with a cold stone floor to well set-up shelters with sealed windows, working stoves, lines of bunks and quad-biked-in supplies of fuel. Many are maintained by the Mountain Bothies Association (mountainbothies.org.uk), while others are managed by private estates. Most are marked on OS maps and have become hillwalking institutions, but some are more secretive affairs. They’re also primarily a Scottish creation, with the MBA listing eight in Wales, 10 in England and more than 80 north of the border.
WHERE TO DO IT There are some great bothies in England and Wales (like Dubs Hut in the Lakes, pictured, and Dulyn Bothy in Snowdonia), but to do this properly it has to be the Highlands. Shenavall Bothy, located in an area known as the Great Wilderness at the foot of the mighty mountain of An Teallach, is the stuff of legend. T