Mountain Bothies Association trustee Juls Stodel invites one reader for story time around the fire in TGO’s new advice column, supported by Highlander Outdoor. Every month, one reader who writes to Juls with an Uphill Struggle will win an £100 voucher to spend with Highlander.
Dear Juls,
As someone with an interest in stories and folklore, are there any modern legends and stories about the people and places in our hills?“Future Raconteur”, December 2025
Dear Future Raconteur,
It is the season of storytelling now that Beara, the Cailleach (‘old woman’ or less charmingly ‘hag’ in Scottish Gaelic) has washed her plaid in the whirlpool of Corryvreckan and brought in the cold.
Our islands have an incredible history of oral tradition, but first, what constitutes as modern? Considering our sheer longevity, I’m counting one hundred years. It’s a nice, round number and it has the benefit of bringing me exactly to the first uneasy record of Am Fear Liath Mòr – ‘The Grey Man’ – from the cairn of Ben Macdui.
In 1925, J Norman Collie fled from the summit. after hearing the sound of heavy, bipedal footsteps behind him, a stride far longer than his own; but when he turned, there was nothing there. As the footsteps gained he was ‘seized with terror’ and took to his heels, ‘staggering blindly’ all the way to Rothiemurchus.
Sightings of The Grey Man have continued. Those who see him report a tall, thin character, accompanied by an ominous sense of doom compelling them to run. Who haunts the hill? Are sightings just those of a Brocken Spectre, or have victims simply found themselves in the orbit of our own mysterious mountain man, Chris Townsend?
Some ancient folktales endure. Horseshoes over doorways of some homes still serve to ward off malevolent fairies who, for all their powers, are repelled by iron. Don’t believe in fairies anymore? Just go to the Isle of Man and tell them you crossed the Santon Burn bridge without greeting the mooinjer veggey (Manx for little people, a term used to describe fairies in Gaelic lore). Even the bikers know better if they want to keep their organs intact.
Rowan trees can be found growing outside many bothies in the Highlands – protection against the devil originally planted by occupants two hundred years ago. Not so modern? Well, the devil hasn’t bothered me since I had a branch tattooed on my arm.
Speaking of bothies, they are a modern treasure trove of legend – though be careful what you believe. The tale behind the MBA’s supposedly most haunted bothy, Benalder Cottage, that tells of a gamekeeper’s suicide is not just a fallacy, but a harmful lie about a real man which causes those that knew him great distress. He in fact died peacefully, happy and loved, of old age in his bed in Newtonmore ten years after retiring his post.
One tale that is true, however, concerns the painting above the fireplace in A’chuil bothy. It shows a vibrant and glorious Highland landscape but is only visible to those pure of heart. Rogues, liars and thieves will only see a blank space.
Finally, there’s one bothy fable that many still chase; a story of missed connection that haunts all these wild and lonely shelters. Many a bothy visitor will tell a lamenting tale of having missed the departure of the Swedish Ladies Mountainbike Team by just one night. The hills are apparently full of Swedish women – but they’re always just one day ahead of everybody. Maybe, just maybe, the fairies have adapted.
Every month, one reader who writes to Juls with an Uphill Struggle will win an £100 voucher to spend with Highlander Outdoor.
