Bailing is not failing - what really happened in the bothy

9 golden lessons from failing to make it through the night 

Two things that really scare the pants off me are: 

1. Wild camping 

1. Sharing a room with people 

And so I decided the best way to get over this was to sleep in a bothy up a mountain in the Lake District with my friend Jane. 

(If you’re not familiar with bothies, they’re basic shelters in remote places, that hikers can rock up and sleep in) 

As we set off, two quad bikes passed us, one with two dead deer slung on the back, one with an intimidating array of guns and ammo. I know this sounds like a set up for a horror film! 

Despite the heaviness of our packs (15kg), we made good time up the mountain, despite some boggy marshland and streams to ford, and the bothy came into view. 

From afar it looked gorgeous, a white stone farmhouse, nestled in a copse of pine trees. 

But when we got inside – gosh! It was damp, dark, oppressive. Colder inside than outside. 

A single sooty handprint was on the wall, like something from the Blair Witch Project. 

After a dip in the waterfall behind the house we ate, then opted to get into our sleeping bags at 7pm, as it was so dark and cold. 

The kind of cold that makes your bones ache. Jane had her back to me, and all I could see was clouds of white smoke rising from her breath, like sleeping next to a dragon. 

We tried putting every item of clothing we had on, but it made no difference.  

I was also on high alert – the whole point of a bothy is that anybody can rock up at any time, and I was listening out for noises. 

Then at 9pm, I realised we had a window to bail. 

And that’s where the real adventure began. 

Night navigating down from that mountain was tough. 

It had been raining steadily, and the path had disappeared. 

I was scared to look outside the pale circle of light my headtorch afforded me, for fear of seeing eyes glinting back at me. 

Jane fell in a bog and started sinking under the weight of her pack (think Atreyu in the Neverending Story), and we had to ford the stream (that was now a raging river) 

I’ve never been so pleased to find the path. 

We made it down, and to Jane’s parents’ house nearby, who gave us a cup of tea and popped us into bed. 

The next day we went to a spa. 

I want to share the lessons I learned with you, because there’s some absolute gold in there: 

1. It’s good to test your boundaries and get comfortable with being uncomfortable 

1. Discernment – knowing whether I was on high alert from the (horror) story I was telling myself OR whether it actually didn’t feel right. For me it was cold, oppressive and grim, and I didn’t feel safe. 

1. You’ve got nothing to prove. It was just my ego keeping me there. Bailing is not failing, it’s an empowered no 

1. Pick your tribe wisely. I trust Jane, she trusts me, I respect her and she me. Together we’re a good team and I had no doubt we’d get down off that mountain safely 

1. Trust yourself to manage a crisis. To make wise decisions, not panic. Out on those fells in pitch black in a storm, was like an out-of-body experience. Adreneline pumping. And yet I didn’t panic. I was able to choose the best course of action, and follow it through 

1. Take the time to integrate experiences. To honour it was scary and was high octane and I needed to take time to process and ground. We chose to do this over a full English at a farm shop 

1. Allow yourself to be supported and mothered. This is a huge one for me, as I always feel the need to be independent and self-sufficient. Seeing Jane’s parents welcome us with open arms and make a cuppa and pop us into bed was huge 

1. Have the right tools for the job. So much easier if trust your kit 

1. To have a safety net, always. It’s so much easier to take risks if there’s a Plan B 

Have you ever had an adventure like this? Have you wild camped? I’d love to know! 

If you like my authentic approach to business, I’d love to make an invitation to you. 

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Have a great weekend 

Claire