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In pictures: Torridon Youth Hostel marks 50 years

News imageTorridon Youth Hostel A black and white archive photograph of Torridon Youth Hostel. It is a complex made up of low white-walled buildings with grey roofs. The hostel is in a landscape of rugged mountains.Torridon Youth Hostel
Torridon Youth Hostel was opened in September 1975.

Staff at Torridon Youth Hostel have celebrated the site's 50th anniversary with one of its first guests.

Rick Worrell, 68, was 18 when he turned up at the hostel's opening ceremony with a handwritten booking slip in September 1975.

He was on a solo cycle tour of the Highlands when he stayed at the accommodation in the village of Torridon in Wester Ross.

News imageRick Worrell Rick Worrell is wearing a cap, sunglasses, a blue t-shirt, shorts and sturdy walking boots as stands at the top of a rocky slope with the mountain of Liathach stretched out behind him. It is a bright, sunny day.Rick Worrell
Rick Worrell, pictured on the Torridon mountain Liathach, was one of the hostel's first guests 50 years ago.
News imageTorridon Youth Hostel A view of Torridon on a sunny day. The small community is a scattering of houses along the shores of a sea loch and with large mountains rising behind it.Torridon Youth Hostel
The hostel is in the Highland village of Torridon.

Mr Worrell, who returned for the anniversary celebrations, said: "When I first stayed here as a teenager, it felt like such an adventure, and coming back now has brought all of that flooding back.

"The hostel has aged so gracefully and remains a really special place."

Torridon Youth Hostel manager Debbie Maskill said: "It's been wonderful to hear Rick's story and to welcome him back.

"For half a century this hostel has offered a warm Highland welcome to walkers, climbers, cyclists and families from across the world, it's really special to celebrate that."

News imageTorridon Youth Hostel A man with a bald head and a woman with short dark hair stand next to each other with the cake outside the youth hostel. The cake has white and blue icing. The youth hostel is made up of a number of white-walled, grey roofed buildings. A mountain rises behind the hostel.Torridon Youth Hostel
Youth hostel staff with a cake made to mark the site's 50th anniversary.
News imageTorridon Youth Hostel A view from a mountain over the Torridon area's rugged landscape of hills, mountains and lochs.Torridon Youth Hostel
Many of the hostel's guests are visitors to the Torridon area's hills and mountains.

Torridon is one of 29 youth hostels run by Hostelling Scotland, a not-for-profit charity set up in 1931.

Its network also includes 24 affiliated hostels.

Margo Paterson, chief executive of Hostelling Scotland, added: "Torridon has been one of our most popular hostels over the last 50 years and it continues to inspire new generations to discover and enjoy this extraordinary part of Scotland.

"It's amazing to meet this milestone, just to think of how many adventures we've been a part of over the last 50 years."

News imageTorridon Youth Hostel An aerial view of Torridon Youth Hostel. It is a complex made up of low white-walled buildings with grey roofs. The hostel is in a landscape of rugged mountains.Torridon Youth Hostel
Torridon Youth Hostel as it is today.
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