The kettle is rattling on a little camping stove, the wind is testing the bothy door, and outside the cloud is peeling back off the hill you climbed this afternoon. There’s no signal, no booking reference and no check-out time. Just a candle, a dram if you were wise enough to carry one, and the long, slow tick of a Highland evening.
That’s Scotland’s wild side. It isn’t something you see from a car park. It’s something you walk into, sleep inside and wake up surrounded by. And for a great many people, the best way to find it is a mix of three things: Munro bagging, bothy nights and wild camping.
What Is Munro Bagging?
A Munro is a Scottish mountain over 3,000 feet (914.4 metres). There are 282 of them, and “bagging” them simply means setting out to climb the lot.
The list began with Sir Hugh Munro, who published his Tables in 1891. Before then, hillwalkers reckoned Scotland had perhaps 30 hills of that height. Sir Hugh found over 280. And here’s the twist: he never finished them himself. He died in 1919 with a couple still unclimbed. The Reverend A.E. Robertson is credited as the first to complete the full round, in 1901, and thousands have followed him since.
Every Munro has its own personality. Ben Lomond is a friendly first Munro within easy reach of Glasgow. Ben Nevis, at 1,345 metres, is the giant of them all. Out on Skye, the jagged Cuillin ridge is another world entirely, with Sgùrr Alasdair (992 metres) demanding a proper scramble and the Inaccessible Pinnacle the only Munro that needs a rope and real rock-climbing skills.
Before you set out
- Good first Munros include Ben Lomond, Schiehallion and Ben Chonzie.
- Check the Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) forecast the night before and again in the morning. The summit can be a different world from the glen.
- Carry a map and compass and know how to use them. Phones die in the cold.
- Winter conditions can linger on the high tops from autumn to late spring. Snow and ice mean an ice axe, crampons and the skills to use them.
Resting in a Bothy
Scattered through the hills are bothies: simple stone shelters that once housed shepherds, stalkers and estate workers. Many had fallen to ruin until the Mountain Bothies Association was founded in 1965. Today its volunteers look after around 100 bothies across Scotland, northern England and Wales. Almost all of them sit on private land and stay open thanks to the goodwill of the owners.
There’s no booking, no fee, no electricity and no running water. Some have a fireplace and a raised sleeping platform. Others are little more than four walls and a roof. What they all share is an unwritten rule that there’s always room for one more, which is how strangers so often end up sharing stories by candlelight.
Bothy essentials
- Bring everything: sleeping bag, mat, stove, fuel, food, a torch and a tent in case the bothy is full.
- Carry out every scrap of rubbish, and leave dry kindling for the next person if you can.
- Groups of six or more shouldn’t use bothies, and they’re not for commercial groups.
- During the stalking season (roughly August to October), check estate notices before heading into the hills.
- Read the Bothy Code on the Mountain Bothies Association website before your first trip.
The Freedom of Wild Camping
Scotland has some of the most generous access rights in Europe. Under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, you can wild camp on most unenclosed land, as long as you follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. That means a tent in the shadow of a Munro, on a quiet loch shore or at the edge of an old pinewood, and nothing left behind when you go.
Wild camping, the right way
- Keep it small: a few tents, for two or three nights at most in one spot.
- Pitch well away from roads, houses and farmland, and never in enclosed fields.
- Use a stove rather than an open fire. Fires scar the ground and can spread fast in dry spells.
- Toilet waste goes in a hole well away from water, or better still, pack it out.
- Loch Lomond & The Trossachs is the big exception. From 1 March to 30 September, a few busy loch shores (under 4% of the National Park) are Camping Management Zones where you need a permit or a campsite. The rules are under review, so check the National Park website before you go.
- Midges peak from June to August. Pack repellent and a head net, and pick a breezy pitch.
Slow Travel, Scottish Style
Put all three together and you have slow travel in its truest form. It’s choosing to walk instead of drive, to linger instead of rushing on. It’s carrying what you need, taking only photographs and letting the weather, the light and the land decide the pace.
Climb a quiet Munro in the morning, follow a glen to a bothy by evening, pitch your tent beside a loch the next night. No fixed plan, just curiosity and a willingness to let Scotland lead the way.
One last thing: in an emergency, dial 999, ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue. Before you go, register your phone for emergency SMS by texting “register” to 999. It can get through where a call can’t.
“The hills don’t care how fast you climb them. They only ask that you take your time.” — Love Scotland
Over to You
Have you climbed a Munro, spent a night in a bothy or pitched your tent beside a Highland loch? Or is this still sitting on your someday list? Tell us in the comments. We’d love to know which hill or glen is calling you.
When you’re ready to plan, our Scotland trip planning guide is the perfect place to start. And if you’re heading north, start in Inverness, the gateway to the Highlands.