Scottish Independent Hostels Blog

It's been a year since Jenny and I quit our office jobs and took over at Invergarry Lodge and what a great year it's been.

We've made some great friends in and around the village and met lots of interesting guests too: from the young guy running 30 Munros in 24 hours and the French ladies who managed to crash their car on our drive, to one of the hill walkers we liked so much we wanted him to adopt us (but were too scared to ask!).

We've been busy making changes to the hostel as well, loads of modernisation and decoration, bathroom refurbishments plus adding lots of new sofas and making everything nice and comfortable. Outside the hostel just as much work has been going on, we have been busy planting and growing our own fruit and vegetables and building a chicken house for the new Invergarry Lodge brood, and then having to build some fencing to keep the chickens off the new veggies.

It's not all been work, work, work though, we've managed to find a few days off as well. We've been rafting on the local river, bagged a few Munros, done plenty of rock climbing and mountain biking, went skiing and even squeezed in some orienteering. We got really into foraging for berries and mushrooms in the forest during the summer and autumn and even managed to win the Halloween pumpkin carving competition in the local pub!


Anyway, we'd just like to say thanks to everyone who came through our doors and made our first year a really enjoyable one and look forward to seeing you in our second year!

Matt and Jenny
Invergarry Lodge

Check out West Coast Mountain Guides and Calluna Bunkhouse for good mountain adventures and comfortable accommodation beneath Ben Nevis.

A brand new bouldering wall in Fort William at Calluna Bunkhouse. Over the winter and spring of 2008 we have added a small high quality bouldering wall to the facilities at Calluna. Check out what Dave Macleod has to say below.

....."I'm pretty psyched to announce that Fort William has a new indoor bouldering facility at Calluna (Alan Kimber's place). Alan's built a brand new building with accommodation for climbers and excellent bouldering walls. The wall was constructed over the winter by Scott Muir. Since late February, I have been setting the whole wall with over 60 problems from V0 to V11. It's got a main area with a large steep wall (37degrees over) and vertical and slabbed walls with an excellent campus board and fingerboard. Upstairs there is a superb little circuits cave with surprisingly long circuit problems on walls and roofs to get fit on".....

CHECK OUT Dave Macleod at Calluna, Bunkhouse Bouldering

Also in the building are small areas to practice belaying and prussiking and a small lecture room for watching DVD's. Instructors visiting the area can rent the facility for a few hours to offer indoor talks. There is no requirement to actually stay at the accommodation in order to be able to use the facilities. The bouldering area is supplied with a sound system for your own music. Don't forget to bring your iPOD.

Visitors can also buy chalk balls, finger-tape and chalk bags as well as rental of equipment and boots, summer and winter. Harvey Ben Nevis maps are also available.

Hi folks. As a hostel owner in Scotland and currently helping to manage, develop and improve marketing and quality of our independent hostel members, hello from South America. Sue and I are on a backpacking holiday in Chile and Argentina, so I thought it would be good to share our experience of traveling as backpackers in South America. Don't forget to support Scottish Independent Hostels when you visit Scotland.

Please also consider sending in some details of your backpacking adventures, wherever they are in the world. Of most interest to our blog is Scotland, but don't be shy about anything connected with backpacking, wherever you land up. The grapevine is an essential tool for spreading the word, good and bad.

As our trip winds up we are heading north from Patagonia along the Argentinian coast, then inland towards Mendoza, back over the spine of the Andes and Santiago. We stopped off at Puerto Madryn to quickly explore the Valdez Peninsula and were not disappointed.

Many people will have seen film footage of Orca (Killer Whale) taking Seal, Penguin and Sea Lion from off of the beach. This is one of those locations! Fortunately for these Sea Lion and Elephant Seal, the Orca 'Pods' were elsewhere on this occasion.


This will be the last posting on this wonderful journey of ours. I will be going back through the blog and adding some stuff over the next week. So, if you have been following the diary it could be worth checking for some additions on earlier dates.

More nesting Magellan Penguins.

Petrel squabbling over a carcass. They appeared to be top of the 'pecking' order for scavenging amongst the birds at least, although Orca do take Petrel if they are in the mood.


Chepatagonia Hostel was our excellent accommodation in Puerto Madryn and thanks to Gabi for organising our trip onto the Valdez Peninsula.



Elephant Seal lazing in the sun and nearly ready to head of out to sea.





From one of natures most delicate forms to the most huge.


Southern Right Whale in a tail-spin.


This one really loved to put on a show as it breached only a few metres from our boat.

Fire is the one big hazard for the land all over Patagonia. This tree was burnt down by a trekker throwing away a cigarette butt.

Back home in Scotland, we encourage burial or removal of human waste and often burn toilet paper. In Patagonia it is frowned upon, as it can cause fire. We met quite a few situations where trekkers were dumping their plastic food wrappers in the pit toilets, instead of taking it out. If you pack it in heavy, it is no effort to pack out the lighter empty wrappers. Freedom of access is only reliant on acting responsibly


Argentinian roads are long and very straight, in fact it is completely possible not to turn a corner in hours of travel! The world land speed record could be annihilated on these strips of 'black-top'.

This one is approaching El Chalten, a dusty little town, which is the access to the Fitzroy group. We had travelled from El Calafete. That town is a better place to stock up, but suffers from queues for petrol and sometimes the filling stations even run out. Also the banks often have no cash at the ATM's and even when they do they only allow small amounts to be withdrawn.

El Chalten. A dusty little town which is on the verge of big road and infrastructure improvements at the foot of Fitzroy and Cerro Torre. Plenty of good bouldering and low-level cragging in close proximity.

We stayed at the HI Hostel - Marco Polo Which was okay, but the kitchen was pretty small and did not have enough cooking pots. They also should put up a sign saying the water is not drinkable. They sell expensive bottled water 4 pesos more than the supermarket which is 15 minutes walk away, downtown.





Patagonia, Fitzroy & Cerro Torre, names for climber's dreams and high ambitions. Two peaks steeped in history and surrounded by brilliant trekking trails. We both felt that this area was the equal, if not better than Torres del Paine for trekking routes. More compact and drier than farther south and west, this area still suffers the cruel Patagonian winds that sweep down off of the Helio Sur towards the wide monotonous expanse of the Argentinean Steppe, divested of much of their moisture content by the Andes barrier.


As usual the wonderful canopy of Southern Beechwoods provide shelter from the catastrophic winds.

Decaying forest remnants, victims of wind and fire litter the land.


Wind erosion has caused this beach-like feature, some kilometres from the nearest river or lake.


As with Torres del Paine the better views (in my opinion) are gained from a distance, so we rented a car in El Calafete in order to allow flexibility and a chance to select good vantage points not offered by a rigid coach timetable. This paid immense dividends, as I was able to rise early in ElChalten one morning to catch truly evocative glimpses of the sunrise effect over the whole range.

0400 and the sun is rising towards the Andes.





Sue and I managed a couple of good days in the park, following new trails every day and spending one night at Campamento Poincenot, which is the starting point for the trek towards the Fitzroy viewpoint, only an hour or so uphill from the tent sites. The camping site is well sheltered from the rigours of the gales sweeping down from the granite spires. We heard disturbing stories of climbers having their gear stolen from camps whilst either ferrying loads or away climbing. This area is much more approachable to the climbing camps than Torres del Paine, so a good target for thieves on day/night trips from El Chalten , possibly on horseback! Hiding your kit or stashing it in more inaccessible spots might be the answer. Alternatively, put your final camp in a snow-cave away from prying eyes above the snout of the glacier. Whether this also applies to trekking kit I'm not sure, as trekking camps are usually heavily populated and maybe less prone to opportunist thieves.


All you need to view the spectre of an Andean sunrise on the granite towers is an alarm clock, a car to drive to the viewpoint and 'some' patience. This series of pictures were taken about fifteen minutes drive out of El Chalten between 0400 - 0500.


Later in the day the clouds roll in and wash out the sun.


0500


Afternoon

0400

Trekking beneath the soaring spires of Cerro Torre and the famous 'Ice-Mushrooms' on the summit block.


0430 and Cerro Torre

Good transport to high climbing camps with the local Lama team, rented in El Chalten.

No folks, you cannot take a coach to Antarctica, just across the Magellan Straits to Ushuaia, in order to board a vessel of some sort, heading south to the last southerly outposts on earth and the South Pole.

Check out Pueblo Viejo in Ushuaia. A great place to stay and very good at organising tours in advance for you. Thanks Freddy.

Magellan Penguins




This is a Gentoo Penguin and looked distinctly lonely as the only one amongst hundreds of the Magellan species located around the Beagle Channel.

Sea Lions and plenty of Cormorants in the Beagle Channel.

Ushuaia, the last city on earth, at least in southern latitudes. El Fin del Mundo.

We joined an excellent day cruise amongst the islands of the Beagle Channel.







Black-Browed Albatross .

We did not have much luck with our short stay in Punta Arenas We booked on a Trip to the Magellan Straits, which was cancelled due to strong winds. We then tried a typical evening meal at one of the local ranches, which was also cancelled due to strong winds demolishing a power line. The main square has ropes around it to enable visitors to hang on in case strong winds blow them into the street!

We enjoyed our stay in the Hostal Al Fin del Mundo with it's wide screen TV and a huge variety of DVD's, plus all the sports channels from home, including some Champion's League matches to catch up on. Priorities you know!!

Worthy of a short hike up the back of the city to view the rooftops and Magellan Straits. We came across one tour group just heading off to fly into Antarctica and walk to the South Pole. Plenty of other adventurers on tour ships and sailing yachts.


Signposts everywhere, indicating distances to a large variety of global locations.


Another colourful Plaza.


People in these parts certainly know how to brighten up their houses.