Scottish Bothy Walks - 28 best bothy adventures
Scottish Bothy Walks describes 28 sensational walking adventures, visiting Scotland’s finest bothies. Choosing his favourite bothies as the focal point, Geoff Allan guides the reader on a mix of day walks and multi-day excursions, highlighting the incredible mountains, wildlife, geography and history that you will find along the way. Combining beautiful photos, detailed route descriptions, points of interest and downloadable instructions, this is the ultimate companion for bothy-lovers and those exploring Scotland’s wilds, written by Scotland’s premier bothy expert.
Scottish Bothy Walks describes 28 sensational walking adventures, visiting Scotland’s finest bothies. Choosing his favourite bothies as the focal point, Geoff Allan guides the reader on a mix of day walks and multi-day excursions, highlighting the incredible mountains, wildlife, geography and history that you will find along the way. Combining beautiful photos, detailed route descriptions, points of interest and downloadable instructions, this is the ultimate companion for bothy-lovers and those exploring Scotland’s wilds, written by Scotland’s premier bothy expert.
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WALK 2<br />
BEINN LEÒID FROM KYLESTROME<br />
VISITING GLENDHU & GLENCOUL<br />
A three-day voyage of discovery through backcountry<br />
east of Inchnadamph and Unapool,<br />
with an ascent of the remote Corbett, Beinn<br />
Leòid, from a lochside <strong>bothy</strong> base.<br />
I<br />
have a long-held fascination with the remote territory that lies<br />
beyond the closely linked bothies at Glendhu and Glencoul – a<br />
raw, ice-scoured hinterland of gnarly Lewisian gneiss, peat<br />
bog, and rugged moor, dotted with innumerable tiny lochans.<br />
I have heard said that within its lonely confines there is a<br />
remarkable gathering of red deer during the yearly rut, listened<br />
to enthusiastic anglers wax lyrical about the quality of the<br />
fishing (streams supposedly full to bursting with brown trout!)<br />
and also stumbled upon an intriguing tale of wild-cat footprints<br />
in the snow. Climbing Beinn Leòid (Macleod’s Hill), gives you<br />
an opportunity to venture into this rarely visited corner of the<br />
Highlands. Excellent stalkers’ paths transport you towards the<br />
peak, but the final approach crosses wild, trackless terrain. And,<br />
as soon as you step away from the recognised waypoints, you<br />
become immersed in a world of your own.<br />
The rock configuration underlying the topography in this<br />
region is hugely significant, forensically detailed in geological<br />
textbooks the world over. Older rocks, in this case the ancient<br />
metamorphic gneiss, were shifted over the comparatively<br />
younger Cambrian quartzite, over 400 million years ago. Over<br />
millions of years, this colossal movement – the ‘Moine Thrust’<br />
which occurred across the whole of north-west Scotland –<br />
gradually pushed rocks between 50 and 70 miles from their<br />
original home. The alignment caused controversy among<br />
geologists of the Victorian era, who subscribed to the theory<br />
that newer rocks were always laid on top of older ones.<br />
INFORMATION<br />
MAPS: LR15 Loch Assynt,<br />
Lochinver & Kylesku, Explorer<br />
442 Assynt & Lochinver<br />
(recommended).<br />
START/END GRID REF: NC 218<br />
345. Car park at Kylestrome<br />
just off the A894, 1 mile from<br />
Kylesku Bridge. Not signposted.<br />
DAY 1: 7km/4.5 miles<br />
TIME: 2–2.5 hours<br />
DAY 2: 22km/13.5 miles<br />
TIME: 7–9 hours<br />
DAY 3: 7km/4.5 miles<br />
TIME: 2–2.5 hours<br />
SUMMIT: Beinn Leòid (Corbett),<br />
792m<br />
TOTAL ASCENT: 1200m<br />
NAVIGATION: Challenging.<br />
TERRAIN: Challenging. Tracks,<br />
open hillside and steep<br />
boulder field.<br />
DIFFICULTY: Challenging.<br />
Requires confident hillcraft.<br />
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: <strong>Scottish</strong><br />
Citylink service 961/Stagecoach<br />
Highland service 61 Inverness-<br />
Ullapool. Durness Bike Bus<br />
(01463 419160) and The Durness<br />
Bus (01971 511223) Group<br />
booking bus services. North West<br />
Community Bus Association’s<br />
service 890 Ullapool to<br />
Kinlochbervie (01971 521054).<br />
SPECIAL NOTES: Bothies open<br />
all year. Phone Reay Forest<br />
Estate (01971 500221) if<br />
visiting during the stalking<br />
season, August 12–October 20.<br />
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