Bothies - good if you know where they are
One of the main failings of North to the Cape, reviewed in the last post, is its omission on all but one occasion to include details of the many bothies found along the Cape Wrath Trail.
The authors stated rationale is as follows “As members and supporters of the Outdoor Writer’s Guild (OWG) and in accordance with the agreement between the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) and the OWG we have refrained from identifying bothies on the route”.
However, they appear conflicted as they later add “whilst we undersatnd the dilemma the MBA is in, we feel that knowledge of the precise whereabouts of bothies would be a decided advantage”. Classic English understament methinks.
I came to bothies late. In fact, despite many years on the Scottish hills it was only during a trip to Knoydart in April that I discovered the incomparable Sourlies bothy. During the trip I stayed at another bothy at A’Chuil and on my return contacted the MBA and paid to become a member.
The dilemma the authors refer to concerns the location of bothies. Bothies work on trust. They are shelters in wild places, maintained by volunteers, for the use of everyone. There have been some instances, particularly in recent years, of bothies being vandalised. For this reason the MBA tries to keep bothy locations out of general circulation. A list is only provided when you join.
I’m not sure if the situation with the Outdoor Writer Guild has changed in recent years (for instance I regularly see bothies mentioned in magazines like Trail), but the omission of bothies from North to the Cape seriously detracts from an otherwise excellent book. In several instances the authors suggest camping when their are bothies within a few kilometres. To not mention these is ridiculous.
Balancing the need to protect bothies with the needs of those who would use (and potentially abuse) them is difficult. But you’d have to hope that the sort of person who buys a guide to the Cape Wrath Trail is not going to fall into the abusive category.
In the same way, I’d like to think that anyone reading this blog will treat bothies with the respect they deserve. I personally feel that if you use bothies it is only right to support those who work so hard to maintain them and join the MBA.
All of which is a rather long winded plea for bothies to be included in future editions of North to the Cape and my personal justification for revealing some locations in this blog.
As I’ve discovered, there are very few alternatives.
