Backtrack Bothies

Three hand-built bothies within a walk of the viaduct

Back Track Bothies are three timber bothies in Glenfinnan, built by hand on a reduce, recycle and reuse principle, and off-grid with it. Composting loos, eco fittings, wood burners, and sheep-wool insulation in the walls, which is why they hold heat as well as they do.

The location is what nobody else here can offer. The Glenfinnan Monument, Loch Shiel, the station museum and the viaduct itself are all five to ten minutes' walk, so you can be at the viewpoint for the morning train without moving the car, and you can leave the car at home entirely, because Glenfinnan is a stop on the West Highland Line.

Outside there is a Swedish-style bath for two, shared between the bothies and usable all year, plus fire pits and sitooteries. Inside they are simpler than a lodge and better than a tent by a wide margin: a proper bed, a kitchenette, a shower with plenty of hot water and the stove.

Good to know

Features

Location

The three bothies

All three have a wood burner with an electric panel heater as backup, a kitchenette with a microwave and plug-in stove, a shower room with a composting loo, and access to the fire pits and the shared outdoor bath.

Where it puts you

The Glenfinnan Monument stands at the head of Loch Shiel where the Jacobite rising began in 1745, and it is a ten minute walk. The viaduct is the same, and the trail up from the station to the viewpoint takes about half an hour there and back.

Beyond that, this is the Road to the Isles. Fort William and Ben Nevis are fifteen miles east; Mallaig, the Silver Sands of Morar and the ferry to Skye are west. Sgùrr nan Coireachan, the ridge above the glen, is a serious day out for anyone who wants one. The Fort William page has the rest of Lochaber.