By: Blonde Two
I am fairly sure that Lluest Cwm Bach means the ‘Cabin in the Little Valley’. If it does, then this bothy’s name fits its actuality beautifully. If you ever visit (take a compass), you will see that there is a cottage, a tiny but steep sided valley, two trees and not really much else (except a stunningly still reservoir called Craig Goch). Have a look at the map snippet below (thanks to Ordnance Survey’s online mapping for this particular Champions’ gift) and you will see how isolated it is.
Unless you have a boat, the only way into this bothy is to walk in; and despite lots of planning and map perusal, I am not sure I chose the best route. I will tell you more about that another day; but for now, here are the creature comforts my friend ‘Running-Girl’ and I found when we arrived just before dusk (down the steep sided valley!)
There was a snuggly four poster bed (see the posts underneath the bed!) …
There was a glowing fire (RG carried wood and coal in!) …
There was a steak dinner (again thanks to RG) …
There was a (bucket) flushing loo with the most amazing view (yes I did leave the door open!) …
There was a beautiful dining room …
There was a very friendly chambermaid! …
And there was a bench that was very hard to leave on a sunny February morning …
Thanks to the Mountain Bothies Association (you can join for £25 a year) and to all those who worked so hard to restore this beautiful building. It is lovingly cared for and we had a wonderful (if a tad chilly) stay.
Everybody should do a bothy at least once. At the risk of boasting here is one I stayed in on my LEJOG walk, I reckon it is perhaps the most remote of all the MBA bothies. NH 052 359
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8fzr16301prvmvh/MaolBhuide%20copy.jpg?dl=0
That portion of 1:50000 map is a screen shot on my Mac at a scale small enough to see things properly and it covers an area of 19 x 9 kilometres with out any roads – that roadless area actually extends further in both directions, but at any smaller magnification, to get it all in, detail would have been lost.
Here is a photo of Maol Bhuide;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hseijfv4rxlf1q/Slide044%20copy.JPG?dl=0
I hope the Dropbox links work.
It certainly looks remote! I am rather afraid you have issued a challenge there and I am going to have to investigate … one day!
How entertaining!
Fantastic post! Defo got this Bothy on my list.
After some research (I love finding the Welsh meanings of place names…) Cwm is a geographical term for a “glacial erosion”. Bach, basically means small. And I think Lluest is just the name given to it – I couldn’t find much on that.
So I think (like most places in Wales) the name of the cottage is derived from the small land shape/valley rather than the Cabin itself. That pretty cool!
Thank you Rob, glad you enjoyed the post. It is the most amazing place to be. If you go in February, you are likely to get it all to yourself!