MOUNTAIN LIVES
ROBERT BARTON knows Strabeg bothy in the Northern Highlands as well as anyone, having looked after it for more than 20 years. So what is it really like to be the custodian of one of these essential mountain shelters?
“ I can judge by the level of the rivers on the way up the road if it’s worth attempting the walk-in,” says Robert Barton. “You can walk all the way up through the bog to get there and then, 100 yards away, find you can’t cross the river to get to the bothy. On occasion, we’ve not even bothered getting out of the car.”
Strabeg is a 130-year-old shepherd’s cottage and 35-year-old bothy, maintained as such since 1989. A simple two up, three down homestead with slate roof and twin gable end chimneys. It was built on a knoll above the shining curves of the Amhainn an t-Stratha Bhig, which flows north through the strath to Loch Eriboll, in the far north-west wedge of the Scottish mainland. To the west, the glen is walled in by 801m Cranstackie and 773m Beinn Spionnaidh, two Corbetts with grassy slopes, broken quartzite summits and superlative views of the north. To the east, low rough hills separate Strabeg from 927m Ben Hope. There, between the northernmost Corbett (Spionnaidh) and the northernmost Munro (Ben Hope), sits this little stone house.
“It was the location of the bothy that charmed me,” says Robert. “If you know where to look, and you look really hard, you can see Strabeg from the road. You can get up there in 20 minutes sometimes, depending on the bog. Yet it’s very quiet.” One Google maps review actually reports ‘Waders would be perfect for this walk!’ before giving the place five stars for rooms and service.
“I remember thinking that if it or Achnanclach, another Northern Highlands bothy, became available, then I’d see if they wanted me,” recalls Robert. “Around the year 2000, the MBA put out a notice for a joint maintenance officer at Strabeg and I’ve been there ever since.” Now 70 years old, Robert is almost the longest serving MO in the Northern Highlands.
The MBA, for those not already in the know, is the Mountain Bothies Association. A charitable organisation that maintains a network of remote mountain shelters for the free use of those who need them. A bothy isn’t a holiday cottage and can’t be booked. Most are old buildings that have been made watertight and roughly fitted out with benches for sleeping, a spade for digging your toilet and (if you’re lucky) some kind of stove that chilled inhabitants can gather around.
