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A celebration of 26 of the author's favourite bothies, as she shares her memories of her favourite 'stone tents' all over the UK in remote and wild locations. Packed with expert advice on how to make use of these 'free, old, empty houses', from packing lists to bothy etiquette and the best walks into these remote locations.

Seasons

Bothies are accessible year-round.

Centres

Wales: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, Devil's Bridge. England: Buttermere and Mosedale (Lake District), Dufton (Pennines), Kielder Forest Park (Northumberland). Scotland: Highlands and Isle of Skye, Glenduror Forest, Fort Augustus, Spean Bridge, Rannoch Moor, Cairngorms, Galloway Forest, Fisherfield, Sandwood Bay, Oykel Bridge.

Difficulty

Good level of fitness and ability required. Some of the bothies featured can be reached in a half day's walk, on easy to follow bridleways and paths; others require technical and/or navigation skills, especially in winter, with some river crossings or scrambling.

Must See

Bothies in this book cover some of the UK's wildest spots. Highlights included Sandwood Bay, Fisherfield forest, the Isle of Skye, Mosedale in the Lake District, the Torridon coastline, Rannoch Moor, Ben Alder, the Cairngorms National Park, Galloway Forest and Snowdonia's Carneddau.
ISBN
9781852847562
Availability
Published
Published
14 Aug 2015
Reprinted
10 Jan 2019
Edition
First
Pages
240
Size
17.20 x 11.60 x 1.40cm
Weight
270g
Overview

A guidebook celebrating the bothies of England, Scotland and Wales: a network of huts, cottages and shelters – often in remote mountainous locations – that are completely free to use. The author presents a selection of 26 of her favourite bothies, with notes on access, water, facilities, history and wildlife-spotting opportunities.

  • Includes advice on how to use bothies and bothy etiquette
  • Routes (with mapping) to all of the 26 bothies featured, plus suggestions for what to do when you get there (including nearby hills you might climb)
  • A history of bothies
  • Personal recollections of visits to the 26 bothies
  • Taigh Seumas a' Ghlinne (Glen Coe), Ben Alder Cottage, Ruigh Aiteachain, Ryvoan, Shenavall, Warnscale Head, Greg's Hut and Nant Syddion
  • The majority of bothies are in the Scottish Highlands, but the guide also includes bothies in Dumfries and Galloway, Northumberland, the Pennines, the Lake District, Snowdonia, Mid-Wales and the Brecon Beacons

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Phoebe Smith Cicerone author PHSMITH

By Phoebe Smith

By day Phoebe Smith is an award-winning travel writer, broadcaster and presenter as well as Editor-at-Large of Wanderlust travel magazine. By night she’s an extreme-sleeping outdoors adventurer who thrives on heading to the wildest locations she can find in order to sleep in the strangest places she can seek out. She was the first person to sleep at all the extreme points of mainland Britain – including the centremost location – which she did solo, on consecutive nights in 2014.
Phoebe is the author of 10 books including the bestselling Extreme Sleeps: Adventures of a Wild Camper, Wilderness Weekends: Wild Adventures in Britain's Rugged Corners and the first guidebook to Britain’s free-to-stay mountain shelters, Book of the Bothy. She has been an Ordnance Survey #GetOutside Champion since 2016 in recognition of her work encouraging people to enjoy the great outdoors. She is ambassador for the annual Big Canopy Campout (which helps raise funds for the World Land Trust), as well as Wild Night Out, the UK’s national night of adventure. She is also President of the Long Distance Walkers Association..

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