Rain won’t stop play
AS I WRITE THIS, I feel the familiar fug of winter dissatisfaction descend in waves like the veils of ceaseless rain sweeping past my window. My tent is still drying a er last weekend’s wet, wild and wholly unsuccessful night out. And the forecast isn’t changing any time soon. Frustrated, my eyes fall upon a dog-eared copy of Bothy Tales by John D Burns. A lightbulb moment: there’s another way!
It may seem contradictory to escape the con nes of four walls for four more. But not all walls are made equal. Bothies are not built to keep a person inside. Instead, their function is to keep you safe and sheltered as you venture out further in search of freedom. ey can enable solitude, create camaraderie. However you may nd them – cold and dark, awaiting your company, or already crackling with re and conversation – bothies signify belonging in wild and lonely places. Few people understand this better than Juls Stodel, who packed her worldly possessions into storage and embarked on a Big Bothy Walk to every single shelter cared for by the Mountain Bothies Association. Read her beautiful, thoughtfully written account of this journey on p32.
Shelters like these o er a gateway to the outdoors when the going gets tough, as James Forrest discovered when he watched Storm Babet rage from inside the beloved Warnscale Head Bothy (p24). Bothies are perhaps most necessitated in the Scottish Highlands. In the Cairngorms, as local writer, photographer and TGO commissioning editor David Lintern discovered over the course of a decade, the winters can be as stunning as they are savage. See the rewards of his winter wanderings on p38.
Bothies are safe houses in cold, dark moments but they also become a home in the hills for anyone passing through: a place to hunker down and enjoy some hot food. If that’s your cup of tea, the Fell Foodie shares his tips to elevate your camp stove cooking (p60). If you prefer your hill HQ to have a few more amenities, an adventurous weekend in Malham can be yours (p16). And if you’re on the hunt for winter sun, seek inspiration from Ian Battersby, who traversed Madeira’s subtropical forest paradise with his sons (p50).
Closer to home, our gear experts have put a selection of sleeping bags (p66) and winter gloves (p72) to the test.
When the lure of staying home is strong in winter, we hope this issue proves that comfort and delight can be found in the great outdoors all year round. You just have to know where to look.