What is a bothy?

A bothy, is a simple stone or wooden building located in some of the most remote and inhospitable places in Scotland. Staying in a bothy is like camping - you have to bring all your own things, including a sleeping bag, firewood, food and pretty much everything that you would if you were planning to spend the night under canvas. But, unlike camping, there is always a stove, a roof and some kind of platform to sleep on.

Most of the bothies in Scotland are maintained by the MBA (Mountain Bothies Association), and some by the RSPB, or the National Trust for Scotland. I am going to give you information about five bothies all over Scotland, and one that only people in the know would know about.

1. Corrour
Location: Lairig Ghru, Cairngorms
Elevation: 1845ft
Sleeps: 4

Corrour bothy, in the heart of the Cairngorms, is one of the most popular bothies in Scotland. Easily accessible from either Braemar, Lin’o Dee or Glenmore in Speyside, it provides access to three of the five highest Munros in Scotland and the highest mountain in the Cairngorms - Ben Macdui. Although it is one of the busiest, it is also in the avalanche-prone Lairig Ghru, so if you are making a winter expedition be wary.

2. Ryvoan
Location: Ryvoan Pass, Cairngorms
Elevation: 1246ft
Sleeps: 4

Ryvoan bothy is a very easy to access bothy, located at the summit of the Ryvoan pass. The path that runs over the pass was an old thieve’s road that cattle raiders would use to transport cattle into Deeside and Donside. The bothy was once a farm that was abandoned in 1877 due to the harsh weather conditions all year round. The byre of the farm has since fallen down leaving only the out building, which is the bothy we know today.

3. Ben Alder Cottage
Location: Rannoch Moor, West Highlands
Elevation: 1224ft
Sleeps: 4

The MBA think that this remote bothy, around halfway between Corrour Station (the Corrour mentioned earlier in the article is a completely different Corrour) and Rannoch Moor Station on the West Highland line, was last inhabited in around 1918, by a man called Joseph McCook. He had lived there as a deer forester for almost forty years. The bothy sits on two rights of way that both open up many isolated places in the west highlands.

4. Tomsleibhe
Location: Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides
Elevation: 308ft
Sleeps: 10

This island bothy on the Isle of Mull is the island’s only MBA bothy. In the valley of Glen Forsa it is only at 308 feet but as it is next to the Atlantic and in the highest mountain range on Mull it can be prone to some pretty mad weather. This bothy, as with many others, was once used as a hunting refuge for stalkers. Now, most people that come here are just walkers.

5. Allt Scheicheachan
Location: East Highlands
Elevation: 1598 ft
Sleeps: 2 + attic space

A small quiet bothy, situated in the remote mountains of Perthshire is Allt Scheicheachan. Owned by the Atholl Estate, it is accessed from the village of Blair Atholl in the south of the Cairngorms National Park. With a nice open fire and a burn only a few yards away this is an ideal stop for the night. If you are staying there, the chances are you will have a private room.

6. The Secret Bothy
Location: ?
Elevation: ?
Sleeps: ?

The secret bothy is a bothy in Scotland somewhere, most probably the Cairngorms that has no Map reference, no signposts, nothing to suggest that there is a bothy there. Somewhere in the Cairngorms lies this bothy, and only people who have been there know where it is. However, even from those in the know, it seems to appear before your eyes and then can never be found again.

If you are visiting a bothy, always look at the weather conditions - bothies are built in some of the highest and most inhospitable places in the UK
Follow the bothy code
Follow the outdoor access code
IT IS THE LAW