Kinship and camaraderie

The SYHA is growing its network of affordable accommodation so more families and friends can enjoy Scotland’s great outdoors

The Scottish Youth Hostel Association hosts more than 350,000 guests each year and that number continues to grow as more people experience the camaraderie of staying and playing together.

Keith Legge has been the man at the helm of the Scottish Youth Hostel Association for the past 10 years. It’s a job that involves lots of travelling around Scotland. And that suits him down to the ground. ‘In my first year of taking charge, I stayed at least one night in each of our hostels, it was a very busy year,’ he laughs.

The company is a not-for-profit charity and currently has 36 hostels to its name, as well as 26 affiliate hostels. With new hostels opened this year in Oban and Portree on the Isle of Skye, there’s plenty of expansion going on. And although SYHA has always been about providing great value accommodation for young travellers, it has many other strings to its bow.

‘Families are probably our biggest growth area at the moment,’ says Keith. ‘It’s been this way for five or six years. We’re doing more to encourage families because it allows t hem precious time in the great outdoors or to experience the heritage and culture of cities, such as Edinburgh and Stirling.’

The rent a hostel scheme allows groups or families to take over an entire hostel. ‘I’m taking over the whole of Glenbrittle hostel for a short period this summer for a group of family and friends to walk the Cuillin Ridge,’ says Keith. ‘It’s great fun cooking and staying together. We’ve had families from as far afield as America and Canada come over to do this. It’s what we’re all about – kinship and getting together.’

SYHA are committed to providing more and more private rooms for travellers. This is in response to feedback from their guests. So, a stay in a hostel need not always involve sharing a room with strangers. That said, there are places where the traditional hostel model still exists and works. Loch Ossian is a traditional mountain hut in the middle of Rannoch Moor. It has 10 beds for ladies at one end and 10 for gents at the other, with a kitchen in between. This provides a dry bed for the night, which is all that hikers want and need.

Upgrading, acquiring and building new hostels is always on the agenda for Keith. ‘We’re looking for sites in St Andrews, Dundee, Thurso and possibly Glentress in the Scottish Borders. Building new hostels allows us to be more eco-friendly by generating our own electricity and put in composting loos. That’s important to us.’