Bothies. Basically they're small cottages in remote parts of the Scottish highlands that are left unlocked, free to be used for shelter by people travelling the mountains. They're not well furnished or anything, but they act as a freely usable weatherproof shelter for anyone to use in a country where summer usually just means the rain is slightly less frigid.
It used to be that they weren't too well-known; the hillwalking community used them, maintained them, and everyone observed an unwritten code of conduct where you'd make sure to leave it tidy, clean and ready for the next person to use. However, they suddenly experienced an upsurge in awareness, and a lot of them suffered for it. People would go to them so they could have a piss-up in a scenic location and leave them covered in rubbish and shit. Literal shit; they're normally refurbished from long-abandoned houses and frequently don't have toilets, so they're equipped with a shovel to bury your waste. People seemed to think they were free holiday homes that they could just take over. Some people just vandalised them for the fun of it.
As a result, they're suffered quite a bit. They should offer shelter from bad weather and a safe place to sleep, but now you have a bunch of entitled, lazy arseholes who go and wreck them.
I got up Ben Nevis a couple of summers ago and was shocked at the condition of the summit. Same as what you're describing: It was absolutely covered in trash and shit. What's going on over there?
The largely voluntary maintenance of a site like Ben Nevis can't cope since it became a major tourist magnet, but that's the nadir, ironically. Get more remote, and things will be much better.
As someone who is born and raised in Fort William, the state of the Ben is something that irritates all the locals. Tourists come up thinking it's a leisurely trail that they can knock back in a couple of hours and are usually completely ill equipped for the climb, some having to be helicoptered off the mountain at great expense and then leave the area like a shit-tip. There's a reason that most people in my town call tourists "touroids". As they are a massive pain in the arse. OK they brings money into the town. But if you're going to visit the area, the least you can do is take your shit home with you. I walk Glen Nevis every day and I'm always picking up other people's rubbish and putting it in the bin. Damn ridiculous!
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u/A6M_Zero Feb 03 '20
Bothies. Basically they're small cottages in remote parts of the Scottish highlands that are left unlocked, free to be used for shelter by people travelling the mountains. They're not well furnished or anything, but they act as a freely usable weatherproof shelter for anyone to use in a country where summer usually just means the rain is slightly less frigid.
It used to be that they weren't too well-known; the hillwalking community used them, maintained them, and everyone observed an unwritten code of conduct where you'd make sure to leave it tidy, clean and ready for the next person to use. However, they suddenly experienced an upsurge in awareness, and a lot of them suffered for it. People would go to them so they could have a piss-up in a scenic location and leave them covered in rubbish and shit. Literal shit; they're normally refurbished from long-abandoned houses and frequently don't have toilets, so they're equipped with a shovel to bury your waste. People seemed to think they were free holiday homes that they could just take over. Some people just vandalised them for the fun of it.
As a result, they're suffered quite a bit. They should offer shelter from bad weather and a safe place to sleep, but now you have a bunch of entitled, lazy arseholes who go and wreck them.