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Howburn Digger wrote: tiompan wrote: Howburn Digger wrote: tiompan wrote: Ah still hae mind o' pitchin' oor tent in the larach o' a clearance hoose. We kipped at Sourlie's the next nicht.
Strathan ?
Youv'e gien me itchy feet .
Aye that'll be the place. Either that or Carnoch. Or A Chuil. Ah hae mind o' aince stummlin alang a FC track an pitchin the tent oan it, we were that scunnert , it was pitch black and we couldnae fin' the bothy - we woke the next mornin an there wiz smoke comin oot the chimney fae A Chuil, we'd missed it by aboot a hunner yairds! Next day we louped up Sgurr Na Ciche (baith taps). Ah still hae aislings o' thone trips. The happiest days.
That's (although I havnae visited in years ) the great thing aboot A Chuil , availability of wood .
Astonishing how Bothy days are often seen as the happiest ones .
They were very carefree days. I didn't even have a car back then (nor did my pal). We got buses and hitched everywhere. And walked. Boy did we walk! No mobile phones. Wet boots, stinky feet, hard boards to sleep on. Olympic snorers. Arduous trans-Knyoydart treks with ratty and mousey bothies to kip in. Meeting decent fellow travellers as well as the odd psychopath and weirdo.
On one epic trek in beautiful Highland weather we climbed Ladhar Bheinn en-route to the bothy at Barrisdale and came down off a shoulder to this wee bay.
http://binged.it/1K40e2t
It was a scorcher of a day and we were paddling our feet at the wee jutty-out point. A pod of dolphins came into the bay and put on a synchronised swimming and high leaping show for about half an hour. The Milky Way was incredible that night, we sat sipping Malt taking it all in. Kipped at the bothy. Tramped out to Kinlochhourn the following morning, no lift so we had to walk all the way to Loch Garry. Picked up a lift there and the driver dropped us at our front doors in Edinburgh!
I think of those Knoydart Bothy Days in a very different way to all the regular hillwalking days in Scotland I've had throughout my life. Really magical. Like another world.[/quote]
Same here , couldn't drive , hitched everywhere .
Still don't have a mobile .
The walk to Kinlochhourn is fine but no the tarmac from there to Loch Garry .
I remember the Barrissdale bothy having a bath .
At one time the Ring o' Tarff "hotel " may have had one too but it was never going to anything but cold water .
Yep Knoydart is very special even in blizzards and rain .
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