Strewn across the wild Highland landscape like glowing fireflies, Hebridean bothies have been welcoming weary travellers for centuries. But these humble dwellings have experienced something of an ongoing renaissance since the 1930s, when ‘bothying’ became a popular pastime. What better place to feel a sense of grand solitude than a stone shack surrounded by seaweed-festooned rocks or sweeping glens?
Always unlocked, and usually sans electricity or bathroom, they come with an almost Hitchcockian suspense as to who else might be bedding down for the night with you. Bothying offers shared splendour for a community of wandering spirits. One finds solace in the fleeting meeting of woolly-jumpered strangers, sharing drams of Western Isles whisky and tales of the mountains by the light of a smoky peat fire. As whisky is a pillar of bothy culture, and peat covers a quarter of Scotland, they are essential ingredients for this sort of peculiar adventure – another one being a working knowledge of ‘bothy ballads’, whose notes float up into the inky-black sky outside. Many of the Hebridean bothies have been rescued from decay by the worthy Mountain Bothies Association, whose mission is ‘To maintain simple shelters in remote country for the use and benefit of all who love wild and lonely places.’
King Charles III stayed at Shenavall Bothy near Ullapool while a student at Gordonstoun – with more than a sleeping bag in tow, one imagines – while the beguiling Ben Alder Cottage on the shores of Loch Ericht is said to be haunted by a mournful ghillie.
Strictly part of the mainland, Oban Bothy stands at the gateway to the Hebrides, and has been a place of hushed pilgrimage for seasoned bothy hunters for decades. Reached by boat or by walking through Glen Pean, it is hard to describe the sense of awe found at its setting, perched high above the remote chasm of Loch Morar, the deepest freshwater lake in Britain. Some nine miles from Lochailort railway station, it is a challenging but rewarding trek, one that partly follows in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Hillbaggers can rejoice in scaling the remote Grahams – Meith Bheinn and An Stac – found here. Light an evening fire in the stone-clad fireplace and watch the flickering flames on the wood-panelled walls. Note: the bothy is closed from September to February for the deer-stalking season.
Peerless views are found at the Lookout Bothy, a former coastguard’s hut on the Rubha Hunish headland at the northern tip of the Isle of Skye. Do bring sleeping and eating paraphernalia: as one visitor briskly noted, ‘There are binoculars and whale charts, a shovel for a biff, but not much else.’ A deep-blue panelled bedroom houses bunk beds, while the sitting area offers a 180-degree seagull’s vista of the foaming waves and salmon-pink sunsets. Walk through a nearby basalt rock passage to visit the ruins of the MacDonald fortress Duntulm Castle on a small languet and look out to the snow peaks of the Isle of Lewis beyond.
Camasunary Bothy is set on the west coast of Skye (‘the most beautiful place on earth’, according to Isabella Macdonald, chatelaine of nearby Kinloch Lodge). Maintained by Black Shed Projects, which oversees creative projects across the island, the tiny cottage is nestled, like a hatchling chick, under the mighty Black Cullin mountain range on the Skye Trail. It’s free to sleep here; the pitch-pine bunk beds look out onto the mysterious waters of Camasunary Bay. Bring your own wood for the fire pit outside and soak in the restrained majesty of the scenery.
If you’re lucky, you may get to watch otters gambolling on the sands at An Cladach, a diminutive hideaway on the Sound of Islay. A sky-blue bench provides the sunset perch, offering sublime views across to Jura and the Kintyre Peninsula. Four people can sleep here, with native facilities including a fishing rod and board games – the bothy equivalent of the Ritz. Local folklore has it that the last permanent inhabitant was Baldy Cladach, who was transported across the Atlantic in the mid-19th century for running an illegal still. Raise a glass to him as the eagles and oystercatchers fly overhead. A ferry sails past twice a day and the twinkling lights across the bay feel companionable. Run by the Dunlossit Estate, which is owned by the Schroder family of financiers, the bothy is revered by those who have discovered its potent magic.
Delve into your inner troglodyte – or hermit – at the small ‘beehive’ bothy of Eagle’s Nest on the Isle of Lewis. Less than 30 years old, this compact dwelling looks down onto wild waves, skerries (rocky outcrops) and zawns (deep, narrow inlets). It sleeps two, with a wigwam of beams as a frame for the rock walls, and its modest windows offer marvellous sea views. On a sunny day, look across to St Kilda and the Flannan Isles; as night falls, the lighthouse on Eilean Molach sends out a soothing ember of light.
Glengarrisdale on the Isle of Jura is a red-roofed crofter’s cottage deeply set on a dramatic bay. The surrounding valley was once the fiefdom of the Jacobite Clan Maclean and a sense of wild skulduggery is palpable here; tales of the region’s feuds and legends can be discovered in Archibald Campbell’s riveting Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition (1889). A turquoise-painted fireplace surrounds a hearth; open the door in the early morning and let the peacefulness imbue your soul. Curious deer often wander past; indeed, the island’s name is said to derive from the Old Norse dýr-ey (‘deer island’). You may see wild goats foraging for salty sea kelp, which also gives the local venison its distinct flavour, and white-tailed sea eagles nest in the nearby rocks. Annabel Astor also keeps a bothy on the island, which is one of the last remaining places in Britain where one may experience an untrammelled sense of nature utterly undisturbed. Glengarrisdale stands on the Ardlussa Estate, owned by the Fletcher family, who also welcome guests at their family home for stalking and fishing on the Lussa River.
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A pale-pink thatched cottage brimming with isolated romance, Fisherman’s Bothy overlooks Kilfinichen Bay on the Isle of Mull. The dove-grey beamed interior offers comfortable simplicity, with a wood-burning stove and a sofa that converts into a double bed. Take the foot passenger ferries to explore the volcanic Treshnish Isles and Iona, watch the sociable puffins, spot minke whales and porpoise, and explore the remnants of a rich monastic tradition dotted around these remote islands.
The island speck of Ulva is community-owned and accessible by the summer ferry across the narrow Sound of Ulva from Mull. Sir Walter Scott was inspired by the place to write his poem The Lord of the Isles. A stronghold of the clan praised as ‘the fierce, fearless, great-feated MacQuarries’ for centuries until their scions fell at the battles of Waterloo and Malda, the island now sports few locals. Here, sitting alone on a gauntly magnificent bay, is Bearnus Bothy. Reached by walking five miles along a track from the ferry, it has been restored sustainably by means of repurposing and using materials washed up by the sea. Serenaded by the gurgling Bearnus Burn stream, the white-washed bothy is a study in picturesque isolation. Watch for grey seals and red deer – they are your only neighbours.
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