Requiem for the YHA

[blackrat]

I thought I'd see if I could book a room in a Youth Hostel for an upcoming trip in Leominster and this was the response I got upon me questioning availabilty for one traveller:

Dear Ken,

Thank you for your email. Yes, that is correct - currently YHA Leominster is an Exclusive Hire hostel so bookings need to be for the whole hostel.

Kind regards,

YHA Leominster

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I remember in the old days when the point in the YHA was to provide simple cheap hostels where you could turn up and have some dinner and sleep in a shared room

Mainly used by people walking or cycling and similar
and in doing so kept some very remote buildings in good repair and provided people without much money with way to see the country

Then a while ago I found that the shared room concept had gone and it was basically a hotel
but more expensive and more basic that some B&B's that did the same thing

after that I just could not see the point in them - other than as just another hotel chain

 

[blackrat]

Or maybe now to be used only as party houses?

 

[Drago]

They've been doing this since the 80s at selected locations. I think it started to accommodate large school groups, but these says they seem to market them at a wider audience.

 

[raleighnut]

My ex took me hostelling a few times, I must say that sleeping in bunk beds with @20 sweaty blokes with dubious personal hygiene half of whom had been on Lentils is not my idea of a holiday. After the 3-4 trips away I bought a Tent.

 

[PeteXXX]

I remember when it was almost frowned upon to arrive in a car..

 

[Profpointy]

I remember when it was almost frowned upon to arrive in a car..

Wasn't it more than frowned on but not allowed at one point?

 

[Speicher]

The above post is a mess, does anyone know how to edit to get rid of the extraneous rectangles?

I have managed to condense the rectangles, but could not remove them completely.

 

[blackrat]

My ex took me hostelling a few times, I must say that sleeping in bunk beds with @20 sweaty blokes with dubious personal hygiene half of whom had been on Lentils is not my idea of a holiday. After the 3-4 trips away I bought a Tent.

I like to camp when backpacking but not when cycling. Backpacking on trails means one can stop anywhere, set-up the tent and enjoy the quiet. I do not care for organised camp sites.
Me on the Sierra Nevadas John Muir Trail:

I have managed to condense the rectangles, but could not remove them completely.

Thanks.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

The above post is a mess, does anyone know how to edit to get rid of the extraneous rectangles?

I have taken out the rows and column that you must have accidently inserted.

Your post looks fine now.

 

[PeteXXX]

Wasn't it more than frowned on but not allowed at one point?

I can't properly remember.. Too far back in time. I think some hostels I went to didn't have many, if any, car parking spaces.

 

[geocycle]

Do you remember having to do a chore before you leave? I have swept many a bunk room.
i recently stayed in one in Bristol in a great location and a nice coffee shop but the rather tatty facilities and bunk beds left me craving a hotel with single en-suite rooms, I’ve clearly gone soft.

 

[blackrat]

I have taken out the rows and column that you must have accidently inserted.

Your post looks fine now.

It does, thanks

 

[blackrat]

Do you remember having to do a chore before you leave? I have swept many a bunk room.
i recently stayed in one in Bristol in a great location and a nice coffee shop but the rather tatty facilities and bunk beds left me craving a hotel with single en-suite rooms, I’ve clearly gone soft.

I agree it's nice to have a 'Room of one's own', to quote Virginia Woolf, but a room of one's own these days costs at least 100 quid a night which makes any bikepacking journey horrendously expensive. Doing a LeJog over 12 days, for example, is 1,200 pounds just for the room. Add in food and trains and planes and hotels before and after the actual cycling and that's about 4 - 5,000 quids worth gone.
I wonder what happened to the B&B's one used to see dotted along the byways for 30 quid a night?

 

[PeteXXX]

Do you remember having to do a chore before you leave? I have swept many a bunk room.
i recently stayed in one in Bristol in a great location and a nice coffee shop but the rather tatty facilities and bunk beds left me craving a hotel with single en-suite rooms, I’ve clearly gone soft.

I'd forgotten about the chores!