Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Book Review: Beyond the Secret Howff by Ashie Brebner

Post Thumbnail

Ashie was born in the 1930s and grew up in the teeming and tenement-packed east end of Aberdeen, where he started working life as a motor mechanic before getting a job in a large envelope-making factory which – hard to believe nowadays – was situated right beside the rail and bus station.

Aberdeen’s proximity to the Cairngorms enabled him and his mates to escape this life of drudgery at least at weekends when they caught the bus up to Braemar for a day and a half of trekking, climbing and skiing in the hills.

Impoverished as they were, they required a place to sleep every Saturday night – and thus they unwittingly became part of the post-war boom of bothying, when old gamekeepers’ or shepherds’ houses were “recycled” by the young working-class men who were the vanguard of the whole hillwalking and Munro-bagging culture which is now so mainstream.

Ashie is now in his 80s and this is his first book, focusing initially on the escapades enjoyed by these lads, as they constantly dodged the attentions of disapproving landowners to pioneer new climbing routes and ski descents in the Cairngorms and beyond.

The Secret Howff of the title is a bothy that the lads built themselves on Beinn a’Bhuird and which – as Ashie was gratified to discover almost 40 years later – stands there, in pristine condition, to this day.

His horizons widening with each trip away, Ashie put his love of the hills to good use when, aged 28, he set up a business offering nature-loving visitors guided holidays of the Highlands and islands.

It is the people and places he encountered during these four decades, spent mainly in Ross-shire, Sutherland and the islands, that forms the second section of this fascinating memoir.