Sure to be a controversial subject, but a lonely night in Camasunary had me counting and jotting down all the bothies I'd stayed in.
Later on the same trip someone else brought the subject up and we briefly discussed what constituted a 'bag' with bothies, just a visit? A ceremonial cup of tea? Or a full on overnight stay?
I feel the overnight stay is a bit tricky, what if you get there and it's full so you have to camp outside? Although staying overnight is the truest experience, I feel summit rules should apply and simply setting foot inside should count. Obviously I have a personal agenda here, there's a few bothies I've passed numerous times (Coire Fionnaraich comes to mind) that I've had no need to stay in but have stopped by anyway.
Also, what about sub-categories, are the MBA bothies like the Munros (popular, obvious, most well used) and the lesser known estate bothies like the Corbetts (less popular, less well known, less well used, often just as good if not better than the MBAs?). Where do the famous howffs fit in? How about 'locked' bothies you have to pay to stay in?
More importantly, how many actually are there? MBA puts it at 'around 100', but that isn't counting howffs/non MBA bothies, and that does include English and Welsh bothies too.
Anyway, before I get accused of taking it all too seriously I'm not, it's just that the process of trying to recall and write down all the ones I'd stayed in brought back some good memories!
(32, by the way, inc one famous howff and some non-MBA but not including 'just popping in' visits which brings it up to probably 40ish
).
