 |  | | | youth hostels...S.Y.H.A. | There are 6 messages in this section. |
Jock Fraser from Darwin, Australia. Posted 20 Jan 2003.
come on people, write to me about your youth hostel holidays in Alba. romance? cooking? friendships, remember all the wee jobs you used to do in the a.m.? Singing
round a campfire and those beautiful Scandanavian broads! | | |
|  | Andy Waugh from Dalkeith Midlothian. Posted 15 Feb 2003.
Just how much would you like me to write. I am now 51 and a life member of the SYHA.
Memories -
Canoeing on Loch Tummel and going to the shore below the hostel (which is now a hotel) before it was open. On a nice sunny day all the groups that had arrived early went down to the shore for a walk, that's where my pal and I would pick the nicest girls to chat to before canoeing back over the loch to where we camped.
Gairloch YH - Having a sing song in the hostel. Two old guys were there, one Scottish and one Canadian. They turned out to be brothers and were travelling Scotland on a budget having been apart for many years. One could play the fiddle and the other the accordian. There was also a girl with a guitar and me with my moothie! It also turned out that a Greek guy could play classical guitar and took a spell from the girl. We all sang and when it came time for lights out the warden said we didn't need to go to bed until the first person wanted to sleep. We were up half the night and finished up with a round of coffee and wee nip before bed - including the warden!
Rasaay YH. I went for a week to this one and went fishing for trout every day. I always had enough to feed all the residents (up to 10). Most of them had never tasted fresh wild Scottish trout fried in oatmeal and butter with brown bread to go with it. What a treat.
Many more to come
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| | Jo Perry from Melbourne, Australia. Posted 17 Jan 2005.
I travelled Scotland on the back of a motor bike in 1976. I stayed at hostels in Loch Morar, Skye, where it rained! soaked through and riding for 8 hours in rain, reached the Kyle; stopped for a dram. Fingers so cold we couldn't roll our own cigarettes. Someone kindly offered us tailor-mades. That night the warden of the hostel turned off the heating at 10pm and we had to ride next day in wet clothes. Still have rheumatism and outstanding memories of wild and beautiful countryside. Ullapool, Inverness, Glencoe and Culloden. Could not be repeated.
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| | Ian Thomson from Newcastle, Australia. Posted 3 Jun 2005.
Great memories in the 40s & 50s in the youth hostels where walkers & cyclist made up the
members. I remember my pal & I leaving for glendevon, fife, in the late 40s from Edinburgh -
cloudless sky in January.
When we reached there the snow was pelting down. The warden refused to take us in, it was
so crowded they were sleeping on the verandah. Down to the local police station, where the local bobby took pity on 2 beragled 14yr olds, taking us down to a local farmer who put us up for the night. I have many memories of friendly farmers who would send you on your way with a dozen eggs or a cheery word. Even as boys we knew to respect the countryside.
I still have my youth hostel card filled to the guddle with stampmarks all over Scotland and a picture of an ugly kid with buck teeth!
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| | Neil Pendreich from Strathaven, Lanarkshire. Posted 28 Nov 2005.
Great memories of hostelling in the late 50's - knowing central Scotland well my pal and i once took the train to Inverness and started our hike from there - first stop Carbisdale Castle near the falls of shin, an amazing place.
Our job was dusting the many statues in the great hall before retrieving card. In the morning we had a 3 day hike due west across the hills to Ullapool where we slept on the kitchen floor - off down towards Loch Maree in the morning - great days!
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| | Bill Kerr from Midcalder. Posted 16 Jan 2006.
Happy days indeed! My first experience of a Youth Hostel was down the Clyde coast-near Seamills, cannot for the life of me remember the name of the hostel but is really was an experience. We went with my pal and his Mum & Dad on a motor bike with a sidecar! That one visit gave me a great future enjoyment of travelling about Scotland and staying in the SYHH. If I rememember it cost about a shilling a night in the '50's with extra for a cotton inner for the bed!
I subsequently stayed at Garth in Perthshire, Strone round from Dunoon - met a great lass there - Aberdeen, Oban, Fort William, Rowardennan and lots of others inbetween. My mother,a widow by this time, did not really approve of her young son going off to mix with "who know what" in the hostels and never really understood that we were all of a kind... Youngsters seeing our country, enjoying like company and all for coppers. I would welcome any comments it is really great to remember the good old days when life was so much simpler.
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