I have no idea how I heard about the Fisherman’s bothy. Even now, as I’m writing this, I’ve been searching and searching online for information about it but I can find nothing. As far as I can piece together, it’s refurbished (it does look very smart, nice new roof, well looked after) and it’s probably now a privately owned holiday home. If anything, the lack of information just adds a nice bit of mystery to the adventure.
So I’d heard snippets of a red tin roof bothy on a beach near Nairn, but no definite information about where it was. My trick is to scour google maps for car parks that are off the beaten track, and then just walk and hope for the best.
On a warm, breezy morning we walked through gorse bushes along grassy tracks until we emerged at a long stretch of very quiet beach, which felt like it went on for miles and miles. We picked a direction and started walking, and not too long later a tiny pin prick of a white building with a red roof was visible all the way along the coast. When you’re there, it feels like the bothy is a million miles away, but the backpack was filled with rolls of film, snacks and a flask of coffee so I felt invincible.
The walk is mostly on the beach, unless the tide forces you to scale the pebbly bank and back into the gorse tracks. You eventually reach a strange sparse area, which leads right up to the building. It really does just sit by itself, a bit of a beacon in a sandy, grassy desert.
The bothy is locked tight, they mean business. It’s most certainly not intended for public use (inside, at least) but there are benches at either end so you can pick the most sheltered and rest your feet before heading back.
We set ourselves up on a bench and unpacked everything onto a stump and had a good little hangout while chatting about what could be inside. The only open windows are up high, and whilst they’re absolutely adorable, they’re not ideal for nosey buggers like myself.
A good walk, a good amount of steps on my health app and a tired dog later, the day was successful. It always feels good to get a roll of film back when you’ve been excited to see the results, and they’re just as good as you expected.
