Barefooted Hiker

[Lastofthesummerwine]

Since we're on the subject while cycling along to the Bynack Ford/Stable area on 11th June we met a group who told us they had just seen a man with a large beard and walking barefoot apparently on his way to Aviemore to resupply with vegan stuff. He was well equipped apart from the foot department and he said he had given up motorised transport of any sort 10 years ago. He was well spoken and not overkeen on bothies, calling them the slums of the highlands. Has anyone else seen this guy?

[mrssanta]

this must be the man we saw on the top of Braeriach on the 5th June. he had bare feet, shorts, a big beard and a good jacket and rucksack. when we asked where he had come from he pointed in a vaguely southerly direction and said "over there somewhere"

[Luke88]

Did we pass you speaking to him close to the corrour bothy? He sounds like an educated man and you could relate to a lot of his philosophies. Brave man though. I would love to meet him again!!

[basscadet]

Last year I was sitting in Culra when a chap whirlwinded in - big beard, decent gear, but he had sandals... He hated bothies as well, and was well spoken, which is what made me think it might be the same chap. He said he worked in forrestry a couple of months of the year, and thats about all I can remember of our brief conversation.

[Luke88]

Last year I was sitting in Culra when a chap whirlwinded in - big beard, decent gear, but he had sandals... He hated bothies as well, and was well spoken, which is what made me think it might be the same chap. He said he worked in forrestry a couple of months of the year, and thats about all I can remember of our brief conversation.

Likely our man...we had a roaring fire going in Corrour bothy, could probably be seen from Venus, yet he stayed outside in his tent A posh London accent

[Graeme D]

Since we're on the subject while cycling along to the Bynack Ford/Stable area on 11th June we met a group who told us they had just seen a man with a large beard and walking barefoot apparently on his way to Aviemore to resupply with vegan stuff. He was well equipped apart from the foot department and he said he had given up motorised transport of any sort 10 years ago. He was well spoken and not overkeen on bothies, calling them the slums of the highlands. Has anyone else seen this guy?

It may well have been some of our Duke of Edinburgh lot that you spoke to - we walked out from White Bridge to Linn of Dee that morning. Earlier in the day myself and a colleague had been in the field beyond the old wooden hut supervising the girls clearing their camping site, when we saw what I initially took to be a woman walking towards us from the direction of the Bynack Ford/Carn Geldie e.t.c. I thought it was a woman on account of the long hair and the fact that the person appeared to be wearing a skirt and sandals. It was only when he was close enough for me to shout over "good morning" that I saw it was a bloke with a big bushy beard and that he was wearing baggy, tattered shorts and was barefoot. He waved before continuing to the bridge, where he started talking to my two other colleagues before Dougie and myself joined them.

He basically told us what has already been said on this thread, that he was heading on a very loose timescale and route towards Aviemore to buy vegan-friendly provisions. One of my colleagues asked how long he had been walking, to which he replied that he really didn't know, but he had "given up mechanical transport in 1998". He also said that he had spent one night under a roof in the past year, and that was because he claimed he had met a fellow walker who insisted on taking him home for a meal! We all shook hands with him and offered our names, but he pointedly didn't offer his. Clearly views a name as something employed by western civilisation to tie people down with! He certainly had a good set of hooves on him!

[fowlersworld]

Could this have been the same man who lived in my local woods for six months plus in the borders . exchanged a few good stories he lived around loch osian for a while and glen nevis even done the ring of steal bare foot and camped out on some hills around that area when caught out in bad weather. well spoken to asked where he came from and if he had any family answer. every one is my friend and he came from the universe . Last i seen of him he was rebuilding a dyke next to his tent. dogs loved him espesialy with his bag of chips. always follows his heart to next destination . told him about torridon lovely place??

[Slogger]

i wonder if this was the guy (same discription) we saw a few years ago running down Glen Nevis with what looked like a big improvised walking pole cut from a tree.

[SMRussell]

I'm not sure whether this person sounds mental or amazing but I am sure that I have to see him! I'm going to assume he'll be camera shy though.

[tony.cee]

i met the guy on the 10th or 11th i think, we were staying over night at corrour and me met him the following day. he was staying in his tent over night outside and we didnt bother to disturb him, however we cought up with him later on, on his way to aviemore for supplies. he was the most polite and humble person i have ever met, completely barefoot apart from a narrow starp around 1 foot which i presume was covering a wound. he was reluctantly heading to aviemore after spending the last week on ''low rations'', when i say low rations i mean when he did eat, and he didnt every day, he ate 12 peanuts on the sunday. i wonder if it was ourslves you bumped into.
anyway, the guy was inspiring and i wish i had his mindset and was that content.

[brodiedillon303]

Since we're on the subject while cycling along to the Bynack Ford/Stable area on 11th June we met a group who told us they had just seen a man with a large beard and walking barefoot apparently on his way to Aviemore to resupply with vegan stuff. He was well equipped apart from the foot department and he said he had given up motorised transport of any sort 10 years ago. He was well spoken and not overkeen on bothies, calling them the slums of the highlands. Has anyone else seen this guy?

yeah i saw him yesterday in Lochee High Street. Big bushy beard ; london accent eating peanuts. I bowed and asked 'art though the bushy bearded shoeless man' he said: 'i am my son i have been sent to you from the west to save you for the universal brotherhood.' well i'm no kiddin, you dont get many guys like that in lochee high street anymore (well not since the new wet hostel opened its doors and the polis keep moving them on) and i thought what shall i do. well as a sign of good will i took out my camera ........................ very slowly........... as he did jump back at the sight of it made strange hissing noises and tapped his nose with his left thumb four times and said something like 'the master will protect me' cant say for sure if it was that but it is the best i can recall. i then took out the battery and put it back on the ground so he could see it was not a threat. His demeanour and general body signs relaxed. I then said to him that his feet were looking very sore. he related how he had been on a piligrimage for some years now and had taken a solemn oath not to wear shoes ever again until there was world peace. I tell you i was gobsmacked. As it was i had a bottle of water on me and asked if I could bathe his feet to ease his discomfort. he smiled knowingly and said 'if it is your wish my son, lets find a place of healing.' we eventually sat down in the shade of a mountain ash tree(we were both in the lotus position initially)then he stretched out his legs and presented his heavy duty size 12s i then bathed his feet. whilst i attended to his poor feet he related his story. Apparently he had been a gifted musician and composer brought up in london. After a life time of concerts and musical therapy for the needy ( a voluntary service he provided for homeless people) he woke up early on a spring morn to a white light hovering over his bed. A message had been sent to him from the universal brotherhood. he would not detail the message only that he had to go barefoot until there was world peace. Once I had bathed his feet he quickly rose adjusted his sack cloth robe and asked me to kneel. i thought aye aye whats up here. Anyway he placed his long sinewy hand on my head and muttered the words: 'I shirdamnambi save this good man for the universal brotherhood. Just at that moment i was distracted by a white moth fluttering around me. When I turned around he was gone................not a trace. I have been thinking about that bearded man and wonder where will he be now. Am i supposed to be like him. What was the message. Im not sure if it even happened. strangely enough though as i looked down on the ground there was a pile of husks, the remains of monkey nuts lying on the ground. There was also a little smiley man yellow badge left beside it......................... obviously a holy man is now amongst us with a message of great importance. In order to survive and reach our full spiritual potential we must try and understand why the holy man has been sent to help us. can anyone suggest a way to help the holy man or should we tell the goverment. they may wish to hear his message. what i do know is that we must do something to help him.............. for the sake of the universe.

[killy9999]

I wonder how does he earn money and what does he do in winter.

[fowlersworld]

He seems to get by in some how must have money as he was trying to collect a parcel at the local post office.
Well he spent the winter down here his feet looked a bit pink during the winter and he used to wash in the burn even when it was cold ..
As for his foot last i seen of him his foot was giving him a bit of bother.
As for winter he told me he was snowed in for ten days or so as he couldn't get far from his tent and had to cut back on rations think this was near corrour a couple of years ago? during that bad winter. He also spent some time abroad traveling.

[Mikebr]

We met this chap on a path near Loch Etchachan on the 22nd July. The weather was pretty bad - low visibility and fairly high winds. He told us that he was on his way back to his tent after climbing Ben Macdui. We told him we were heading up Derry Cairngorm on our way from Beinn Mheadhoin. He asked if he could follow us up (he didn't seem to have a map or compass). We said OK and he followed us up always keeping us just in sight but because of the conditions we had to stop a couple of times so that he could catch up - visibiltiy was only around 50m.
Near the summit we were getting fairly cold and because we hadn't seen him for a while we decided he must have turned back so we pushed on and stopped a few minutes to take a quick photo. Just as we were leaving he appeared thru the mist and came over to thank us for showing him the way, he was very grateful and when we asked him if he was OK to find his way back he said it was no problem and he would just follow the ridge back down to the loch. I have to say this was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had hillwalking and I hope he found his tent again!

[mitchell1982]

I strangely want to meet this man