The UK's network of free hiking 'hotels'

You can’t book them and you don't know who else will be there, but they're an excellent way to explore Britain's most remote corners – for free. Hiking up to the top of a valley in Wales' Cambrian Mountains , I was struck by the silence. The noise of the modern world that we've trained ourselves to filter out becomes conspicuous by its absence.

This is probably the best indication that you've entered one of Britain's remote places, and a good sign if you're trying to find a bothy, one of the free-to-use shelters that dot the country's wild areas. Founded in 1965, the Mountain Bothy Association (MBA) is a registered charity that maintains "simple shelters in remote country for the use of all who love wild and lonely places". The organisation manages more than 100 bothies in Scotland, Wales and Northern England.

The system is simple. Bothies are free to use and open to anyone. They can't be booked in advance, and there's an unwritten rule that the bothy is never full (although groups of six or more and commercial groups are asked not to use them).

As long as you follow the MBA's Bothy Code , which is based on respect for other users, the bothy and the surroundings, you're welcome. That is if you can find them. Although the grid references are available online , don't count on phone signal when looking for them, and even with a well-marked map, they can prove elusive.

I was hiking a network of trails in an area known as the "Green Desert of Wales" because of its lack of sett.