I have sat here for the last five minutes trying to come up with a pun related to bothies: "Nobothy's Business", "Getting Bothy (Busy)", "My Both (Boss)"... that was about it. I settled for this pun because I did recently go to Boston, but no, this bothy wasn't even in Boston. I reckon a Bothy is just a UK thing anyway.
I was recently invited to go outdoor climbing by some new friends, along with a couple of their mates I hadn't met before, who duly informed me that we'd be staying the night in a Bothy. But what is a Bothy? I dutifully researched.
According to good ol' Wikipedia, "A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge." The Mountain Bothies Association sees it as "camping without a tent" because you basically have to assume that all your getting is the building to sleep in.
Now these musings posts are supposed to be short, so I'll skip the travel, during which I accidentally spilled a bunch of curry (full of that stain-causing ingredient turmeric) onto my pillow and the attempt at climbing stopped by the blistering wind and heavy rain. Instead, I'll go to the wonder that is the Bothy.
People create these buildings across (mainly) the North of England and Scotland and allow others to use them for free. This particular Bothy (very clean) had a room with bunk beds and a stove, which neighboured an indoor area for chopping up wood. There was even pans and cutlery, as well as cleaning sponges (that were very dirty).
We spent the night in this gorgeous part of the world (close to Bardon Mill), and felt relatively fresh having sheltered from the rain and slept on beds. We got ready in the morning and read the latest entry in the Bothy diary (someone had been there just the night before us) before adding our own.
A short period of cleaning, tidying and sweeping ensued before we finally headed off, having already put some wood indoors to dry off for any newcomers.
Why am I talking about this? I just love that something like this exists. Some beautiful souls put together a building for the good of strangers and trust that people will be respectful and appreciative. And that's exactly what happens.
How wonderful that you can go to beautiful parts of the country and fully appreciate them, experiencing both sunsets and sunrises, without freezing to death? How wonderful that people create these out of the generosity of their hearts? How wonderful that people take care of them so that others can share that same experience?
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