Jameshow
Veteran
Yeap locate foot, locate spear, stab foot....
YHA Selling a Third of its Hostels
- Thread starter presta
- Start date
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Yeap locate foot, locate spear, stab foot....
I have many good memories of my time hostelling from, mid '60's around Kent, Wye Valley in St Briavels Castle and quite a few in Germany, Switzerland, Italy (another Castle in Pizxo de Calabria) & Malta (where I was one of the first people to stay at the newly opened hostel. The warden gave me a lift to the port in the morning on his Lambretta) in the mid' 70's.
I'd forgotten about the sheet sleeping bags and doing a task! 😂
Also, cars used to be frowned upon and priority was given to walkers & cyclists.
My more recent hostels were in Scotland, Oban, Lochranza and a few more I forgot where, now,
Happy days, sadly passed now I suppose. 😔
Edit: A mate & I stayed at Pen y Pass YHA when we were cycling Snowdonia. It was a digital detox as there wasn't even enough signal to send/receive a text. T'was fun watching people wandering around waving their phones in the air attempting communication with the outside world
I'd forgotten about the sheet sleeping bags and doing a task! 😂
Also, cars used to be frowned upon and priority was given to walkers & cyclists.
My more recent hostels were in Scotland, Oban, Lochranza and a few more I forgot where, now,
Happy days, sadly passed now I suppose. 😔
Edit: A mate & I stayed at Pen y Pass YHA when we were cycling Snowdonia. It was a digital detox as there wasn't even enough signal to send/receive a text. T'was fun watching people wandering around waving their phones in the air attempting communication with the outside world
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presta
Guru
Preference is given to buyers that will run them as hostels I think, and you need change of use permission, but apart from that quite a few will probably go.
It's amazing how Patterdale has fared, amid some of the finest walking in the country, and yet the last time I was there I almost had the whole place to myself. It used to get chokker in the 1970s when my father and I used it regularly, I still remember Joe Boothroyd, the warden from those days.
Just thinking about some of the memories from those hostels. I sat in the common room at Eyam watching the New Orleans flood unfold on the news, and the Concorde crash when I was at Blaxhall, and I recall sitting on the prom at Wells chatting with a woman whose husband was one of the commandos on the St Nazaire raid.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Clun used to be a first stop for us riding out of the West Midlands. The warden was a rather weird woman who wore Morris dancers bells on her ankles. She introduced us to "little cherub" which was a wood burning stove. She made me feel very uncomfortable and wish I had stayed at home. One morning she was allotting the chores and said to me and my mate "You can clean the lane, between here and the village"
I can't think why they aren't more popular these days. No need to drop acid. Just go to Clun.
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presta
Guru
One of the things I particularly like about hostels is the quaint and unusual buildings with an interesting history. Eg: Perranporth was the top secret radio base that used to communicate with the submarines in the north Atlantic during the war. They also have locations where nobody else would or should get planning permission eg: Black Sail, Skiddaw House, Tanners Hatch.
Indeed. But can be a bit pricey. Ireland 2023
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Tobermory was a hostel I almost stayed at but the booking got confused, either by me or them, and it was full when I got there. I stayed a few doors up the seafront but they let me leave my bike there and use the facilities.
The hostel is one of the colourful buildings featured in Balamory.
The hostel is one of the colourful buildings featured in Balamory.
D
Deleted member 26715
Guest
Sorry completely OT but that image looks weird, it just looks like a facade like they have in films.
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
Many years ago I stayed in the Winchester City Mill YH.
The ablution arrangements were underneath the building, where you threw a bucket on the end of a rope into the River Itchen.
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
Hostels are expensive these days - several times I've tried to book a night at Bath and it's been nearly £100 for a private room. How does that compete with Premier Inn? It can't.
Possibly the angle and wide angle shot on my mobile doesn't help 😂
Here's a stock image 👍
There are some fantastic hostels elsewhere in Europe which makes these old places look as if they should be sold. Stayed in this one for less than £60 in a very expensive country. Garaged the bike too.
https://www.hostelworld.com/st/hostels/p/19790/montreux-youth-hostel/
https://www.hostelworld.com/st/hostels/p/19790/montreux-youth-hostel/
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mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
And yet, stayokay, backpackers and various other hostel chains keep on going, at least as well as anyone is in the face of booking, airbnb and even less ethical players. It really does seem to be YHA who have lost the plot.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
About 15-20 years ago some friends of mine hired a YH in Pembrokeshire for a party, and got loads of friends together for a long weekend and organised lots of activities. It was a bit posher than I remembered hostels being. I seem to remember that at the time the YHA were pushing for this kind of block-booking to be a key thing tha they offered.
Ajax Bay
Guru
- Location
- East Devon
Several of the hostels (SW and Wales) seem to have periods where they're only available as 'whole hostel' hires. I don't think that is really in line with the YHA ethos (as was) but I can see the commercial attraction.
