Bothys

Fran said:

Quoted message said:

You'd be a braver wee piglet than me if you stayed in one. I am
convinced they are a magnet for axe murderers (and nematodes).

mrs coj was convinced that the shed was also a magnet for axe
murderers before she met any of us. In her honour her first
moot (the second Snowdon night hike) was marked by the hosts
for the weekend leaving an axe rather prominently on the
mantlepiece :-)

My (real, as opposed to Virtual) friends are a little concerned that
not only am I going away for the weekend with a bunch of Axe
Murderers, but that we will all have ready access to (Ice) Axes!

They worry too much. (They have good cause ..... they've known me a
long time!)

Judith

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 22:30:09 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've been reading around, but can't quite manage to get an impression
of what it's generally like to stay in Scottish bothies.

Basic, often cold (although most have either a fireplace or a stove),
but always memorable. ;-)

Quoted message said:

do they tend, on average, to be fairly peaceful, or are they often filled
with drunken, over-excited youths arriving at midnight and noisily
cooking breakfast at 2am? Descriptions seem to vary a lot!

It depends on the ease of access. Highland bothies are generally
pretty well respected as they usually require a long-ish walk to reach
them, but those on well-trodden routes or within easy reach of a road
can prove 'problematic'. You never know what you'll find until you
arrive at the door, which imho is part of the experience.

The MBA web site <www.mountainbothies.org.uk> has recently been
revamped and has a whealth of information (and pictures) of all their
bothies.

Al
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On 4 Jan 2005 16:28:14 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Corrour - best avoided. It's dirty and often crowded. Fireplace, but little
local wood. Polluted environs.

Even gathering of bog wood is discouraged due to it being located in
an SSSI. Nothing worse than a fireplace with nothing to feed it
with....

Quoted message said:

Fords of Avon Refuge - (Not an official bothy - just a shelter). Horrible,
no windows and whenever I've looked in there's been an inch or two of water
on the floor. Again, best avoided except in an emergency.

Definitely for emergencies only. Far better to walk another hour down
the path/track on the far side of the Avon to Faindouran.

Quoted message said:

Huttchison Memorial Hut - Sound and nice and airy. Good location.

It's a stone shed! <g> No fuel and no fireplace to feed with your own.
Beautiful location, true but it's small and _very_ basic.

Quoted message said:

Faindouran - The most remote bothy and consequently not heavily used. Good
bothy with an upstairs and downstairs. Good fireplace, but no local wood!

The building opposite the original bothy has recently been renovated
and now provides additional accomodation. Scouring the banks of the
river nearby sometimes yields decent bits of fire fodder, but it's an
unreliable source.

Quoted message said:

The location is dour - Glen Avon has a wide bulldozed track through most of
its length and the views, except for Ben Avon, are dreary.

Well handy for the Garbh Choire though, and Creag Mhor behind the
bothy is a wonderful place to watch the sun setting.

Quoted message said:

Shelter Stone - (A howff, not a bothy). Wonderful location, but filthy
environs. Every time I've looked under it, I've shuddered at the litter and
hurried on my way.

Agreed. There are another couple of smaller howfs nearby which tend to
remain cleaner but even they make "the Hutchie" seem welcoming. :-)

Quoted message said:

Bob Scott's Bothy - Burnt down a year or so ago.

I believe plans are afoot to rebuild Scott's.

Quoted message said:

Corndavon - I recall seeing a notice some years ago that it's closed owing
to vandalism.

No longer listed by the MBA.

Quoted message said:

Bynack Stable - Nasty, just a rough corrugated shelter with no door, broken
windows and a dirt floor.

Usually full of litter as it's a popular lunch (and toilet!) stop for
day-trippers from Glenmore. There was talk of demolishing it a year or
two back, but I don't know if anything came of this.

Quoted message said:

Ryvoan - When I looked in a year or so ago it had been renvovated and was
quite tidy. Because of its easy accessibility I don't expect it will remain
unvandalised for long.

It was still in very good condition in June.

Other useful ones in the general Central Highland area, especially as
part of a cross-country trek, are Culra/Ben Alder Cottage and Tarf.
All have seen extensive renovation recently and are well-placed in
spectacular surroundings.

Quoted message said:

I know this is going to be contentious, but from what I've seen, the bothies
that suffer the most from vandalism are the ones accessible by mountain bikes!

Ease of access will always attract a rogue element, but I've visited
some that are very accessible by bike that show little or no
ill-treatment. Conversely I've found appalling vandalism in bothies
only reachable by foot.

Al
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On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 02:00:10 +0000, Alan Bremner <[email hidden]>
wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Other useful ones in the general Central Highland area, especially as
part of a cross-country trek, are Culra/Ben Alder Cottage and Tarf.
All have seen extensive renovation recently and are well-placed in
spectacular surroundings.

V. helpful - thanks :-)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 01:21:01 +0000, Alan Bremner <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 22:30:09 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I've been reading around, but can't quite manage to get an impression
of what it's generally like to stay in Scottish bothies.

Basic, often cold (although most have either a fireplace or a stove),
but always memorable. ;-)

Quoted message said:

do they tend, on average, to be fairly peaceful, or are they often filled
with drunken, over-excited youths arriving at midnight and noisily
cooking breakfast at 2am? Descriptions seem to vary a lot!

It depends on the ease of access. Highland bothies are generally
pretty well respected as they usually require a long-ish walk to reach
them, but those on well-trodden routes or within easy reach of a road
can prove 'problematic'. You never know what you'll find until you
arrive at the door, which imho is part of the experience.

The MBA web site <www.mountainbothies.org.uk> has recently been
revamped and has a whealth of information (and pictures) of all their
bothies.

Fantastic news! I'll go and take a look. Thank you :-)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Peewiglet wrote

Quoted message said:

Alan Bremner said:

Other useful ones in the general Central Highland area, especially as
part of a cross-country trek, are Culra/Ben Alder Cottage

Quoted message said:

V. helpful - thanks :-)

<innocent look>

Ben Alder Cottage...that's the supposedly haunted one, isn't it?

</innocent look>

T.

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:35:29 -0000, "Tony Buckley"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Other useful ones in the general Central Highland area, especially as
part of a cross-country trek, are Culra/Ben Alder Cottage

Quoted message said:

V. helpful - thanks :-)

<innocent look>

Ben Alder Cottage...that's the supposedly haunted one, isn't it?

</innocent look>

Yes, it is..... :-)

That occurred to me too....

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

Tony Buckley said:

Peewiglet wrote

Quoted message said:

Alan Bremner said:

Other useful ones in the general Central Highland area, especially as
part of a cross-country trek, are Culra/Ben Alder Cottage

Quoted message said:

V. helpful - thanks :-)

<innocent look>

Ben Alder Cottage...that's the supposedly haunted one, isn't it?

</innocent look>

Mr Buckley, thou art verily a naughty boy! ;-)

SteveO
--
NE Climbers & walkers chat forum;
http://www.thenmc.org.uk/phpBB2/index.php

NMC website: http://www.thenmc.org.uk

SteveO wrote

Quoted message said:

Mr Buckley, thou art verily a naughty boy! ;-)

I told you I wasn't the messiah.

T.
And that piece of halibut *was* good enough for Jehovah...

One of the bothies in the Monadh Ruadh mentioned as being closed was
closed due to a deal with a new shooting tenant.

They wanted the glen sealed off completely. When told that this was
impossible, the deal was to close the buildings in the glen.

Richard Webb

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Alan Bremner <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Faindouran - The most remote bothy and consequently not heavily used. Good
bothy with an upstairs and downstairs. Good fireplace, but no local wood!

The building opposite the original bothy has recently been renovated
and now provides additional accomodation. Scouring the banks of the

I noticed that in summer 2004, and left a note in the log book that I was
looking forward to the toilet and shower block being completed!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The location is dour - Glen Avon has a wide bulldozed track through most of
its length and the views, except for Ben Avon, are dreary.

Well handy for the Garbh Choire though, and Creag Mhor behind the
bothy is a wonderful place to watch the sun setting.

This year I intend to approach the Ben Avon and Beinn A Bhuird region from
the North - I only done it from the South before. As the leg from Bynack
More to Faindouran is boggy and uninteresting, when I get to Choire Odhar,
I'm going to cut the corner by heading SEE to Faindouran and then accross the
Avon footbridge to Garbh Choire.

Glen Avon is truly awefull to the East of Faindouran. I don't know why they
felt it necessary to bulldoze such a wide track and surface it with the
local glacial morraine. When I walked it's length in 2004 I felt I could
drive my car down it with little problem. When I was last there a few years
ago it wasn't so bad! How do the landowners get away with it?

Jim Ford

"Peewiglet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've been reading around, but can't quite manage to get an impression
of what it's generally like to stay in Scottish bothies. Naturally it
all depends on who happens to be there, on any given night, but do
they tend, on average, to be fairly peaceful, or are they often filled
with drunken, over-excited youths arriving at midnight and noisily
cooking breakfast at 2am? Descriptions seem to vary a lot!

Might be a bit of a silly question but where can I find out where these
bothies are? Are they listed anywhere or marked on maps?

Nick

Quoted message said:

Might be a bit of a silly question but where can I find out where these
bothies are? Are they listed anywhere or marked on maps?

Traditionally they were found out by word of mouth and it was fun
finding them, slowly accruing knowledge.

Sadly that has been short circuited. Try the MBA website If you
cannot work them out from that.......

Be warned. They burn down or get closed by estates so any info is
ropey. Criminal behaviour is currently threatening the existance of
several galloway howffs. Lists I have seen do have serious errors on
them.

Richard Webb

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 17:44:35 -0000, "Nick Pedley"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

Might be a bit of a silly question but where can I find out where these
bothies are? Are they listed anywhere or marked on maps?

See the Mountain Bothies Association website at
www.mountainbothies.org.uk. Alan says there are pics there. I'm
joining, and I u/stand that members get a list.

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Nick Pedley said:

Might be a bit of a silly question but where can I find out where these
bothies are? Are they listed anywhere or marked on maps?

The easiest way is to become an MBA member and you'll receive an
annual Handbook whcihincludes a list of all MBA-supported bothies in
the UK (yes, there are bothies in N England and Wales too).

All are marked on maps but not specifically as bothies, only named
buildings so they are indistinguishable from private dwellings or
estate property. In addition, several are shown as uninhabited/ruined
when they are quite the opposite.

Al
--
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On 6 Jan 2005 15:20:12 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Alan Bremner <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Blimey, that makes a change from the perfume of sweaty Dryflo! <g>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Faindouran

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The building opposite the original bothy has recently been renovated
and now provides additional accomodation.

Quoted message said:

I noticed that in summer 2004, and left a note in the log book that I was
looking forward to the toilet and shower block being completed!

I'm hoping to visit this June, as it's one of my favourite bothies.

Quoted message said:

This year I intend to approach the Ben Avon and Beinn A Bhuird region from
the North - I only done it from the South before. As the leg from Bynack
More to Faindouran is boggy and uninteresting, when I get to Choire Odhar,
I'm going to cut the corner by heading SEE to Faindouran and then accross the
Avon footbridge to Garbh Choire.

You must visit the summit tor on Creag Mhor; one of the wind-scoured
pots makes a very comfy seat for contemplating the view across to
Beinn a Bhuird. From there the bothy is less than an hours stroll down
easy slopes.

Garbh Choire is awesome. The scale of the architecture surrounding you
is quite overwhelming, and if there are climbers on Mitre Ridge or the
Squareface buttress the scale is doubly emphasised. One feels
incredibly tiny and insignificant in such a place.

Quoted message said:

Glen Avon is truly awefull to the East of Faindouran. I don't know why they
felt it necessary to bulldoze such a wide track and surface it with the
local glacial morraine.

My guess is to ferry lazy shooting guests in 4x4s. Most have trouble
walking their own length, it seems.

Al
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* The air of uk.rec.walking was filled with the delicate perfume
* of violets, as Alan Bremner <[email hidden]> descended on a shaft
* of golden sunlight, and announced:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>Faindouran

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to visit this June, as it's one of my favourite bothies.

I'll be vsiting about this time - I might see you there!

Quoted message said:

You must visit the summit tor on Creag Mhor; one of the wind-scoured
pots makes a very comfy seat for contemplating the view across to
Beinn a Bhuird. From there the bothy is less than an hours stroll down
easy slopes.

Not been on Greag Mhor. Been a couple of times on Bynack More and the views
are wonderful from there.

Jim Ford

On 6 Jan 2005 15:20:12 GMT, Jim Ford <[email hidden]>
uttered:

Quoted message said:

Glen Avon is truly awefull to the East of Faindouran. I don't know why they
felt it necessary to bulldoze such a wide track and surface it with the
local glacial morraine. When I walked it's length in 2004 I felt I could
drive my car down it with little problem. When I was last there a few years
ago it wasn't so bad! How do the landowners get away with it?

Maybe they're getting ready for the disables 'outdoor pursuits' folk.
They can drive their cars, park where they feel like.

--
Dewi,

(remove spin for email)

Quoted message said:

All are marked on maps but not specifically as bothies, only named
buildings so they are indistinguishable from private dwellings or
estate property. In addition, several are shown as uninhabited/ruined
when they are quite the opposite.

Worth remembering that bothies are private buildings. The MBA has
been granted permission to mainain them.

Richard Webb

(RJ Webb) said:

Quoted message said:

All are marked on maps but not specifically as bothies, only named
buildings so they are indistinguishable from private dwellings or
estate property.

Quoted message said:

Worth remembering that bothies are private buildings. The MBA has
been granted permission to mainain them.

Very true. Perhaps I should have said " indistinguishable from
buildings unavailable for public use" to avoid any confusion.

Al
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