Bothies are remote buildings, many of which have lost their original purpose but have been maintained in order to give walkers a ‘stone tent’ to spend the night in. They are widespread in the wilds of Scotland – but can you bothy in God’s Own Country? Seek and you shall find …
The role of the MBA
The Mountain Bothies Association is a remarkable charity. Established in 1965, its mission is to maintain “remote buildings for which the owner has little or no use, yet remain important to walkers and others who make use of the shelter that they provide”. The MBA maintains over 100 bothies – mainly by agreement with the owners. There are simple rules – the bothy code – and their use is free, with no booking needed. Users are encouraged to join the MBA (£25 a year) to support the work of the charity, and many join work parties to carry out essential repairs.
But can you bothy in Yorkshire?
Most bothies, whether MBA maintained or not, are in Scotland, with a few in Northern England and Wales. The nearest MBA bothy to Yorkshire is Mosedale Cottage in the Lake District – a remote and boggy location about a three-mile hike from Haweswater reservoir. However, not all bothies are affiliated with the MBA. A bothy simply needs to be stone building with a roof and preferably (but not always) a door, where you can unroll a camping mat, fire up a stove, sleep soundly and disappear without a trace the following morning. Approval to use them can be overt, or may be tacit. Just do no harm!
Yorkshire’s bothies are not on a list. There’s no website. Finding them requires word of mouth or crafty map reading. It is usually best to ‘do a reccy’ as part of a day walk before planning an overnight stay. A friend and I did just that – he found the bothy on one of his mad long-distance cycle rides. I then tagged along for the two-day B&B&B (Bike, Bothy and Breakfast) trip.
Packing your bothy suitcase
The first thing to take is – not a suitcase. We travelled from home by bike, so our panniers were packed as if for a camping trip – but without a tent. (We did, however, pick up one additional, and very heavy, little extra towards the end of our ride.) So it’s mat, sleeping bag, torch, warm clothes, stove, food, water carrier – the usual camping paraphernalia. And a wee dram.
Off we go
My guide promised me a gently undulating ride along the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales – a mere 46 miles from Otley to our destination. A comfortable day’s cycle ride by any measure. So why didn’t alarm bells start to ring?
A couple of years previously I had walked the Otley Walkers Are Welcome’s new ‘Six Dales Trail’ covering much of the same territory as our proposed bike ride between Middleham and Otley. I’d done it over a mad 24 hours, snatching a brief sleep below Thruscross Reservoir. (No, not underwater!) Somehow, my memory of the walk – and the significance of its name – failed to surface in time. The Yorkshire Dales drain to the east through six major streams, with many smaller ones in between. Our cycle route crossed them all.
‘Undulating’ was definitely too gentle and relaxing a word to describe our route. ‘Cornwalling’ would have been better – if you’ve never cycled the minor roads of Cornwall … er, don’t! Throw in a couple of (allegedly completely necessary) off-road sections – thankfully, we were both on sturdy touring bikes and not skinny road bikes – and by the time we got to Middleham, I was jiggered.
That little extra – and a last push
Luckily, Middleham was a brief scheduled stopping point. We needed to buy firewood. I don’t know about you, but firewood is not something I’ve often transported by bike. Armed with large ‘bags-for-life’ and several bungee cords, we strapped the cumbersome loads aggressively – if precariously – to our rear pannier racks.
We set off again as darkness fell. It was getting colder as we left the final tarmac road, and headed over a mix of gravel tracks and green ‘roads’, and through old mine workings. Then, to cap it all, it began to hail. By the time we reached the lonely bothy high on the moors, the ground was completely white. Not what we had anticipated in May!
Pretty soon though, water had been collected from a nearby stream, a fire lit and a hot meal and drinks prepared. As we gazed out of the bothy window over the white hills at the rising moon it certainly felt a bit special. A dram was drunk.
The ride home was easier – no food or logs to carry – just idle chatter about other places that we’d come across in Yorkshire that would make ideal overnight stops, be they bothy, howff, or bivvy site. There are plenty more nights out to be had in those hills – you just have to find them and, importantly, LEAVE NO TRACE.
