Weekends
Sunset Weekends are the best way to get out into the hills. They are also the best way of getting to know people in the club. They offer excellent value for money compared to public transport, which may be £30 alone, added to two nights in a youth hostel for around £13 per night. We are able to offer such a good deal because most of our Sports Union funding goes on subsidising trip costs. Also bear in mind that if a trip is not full, the club has to bear the cost of the unused hostel beds - and that cost is eventually passed onto members.
We charge £45 for weekend trips including a Saturday night meal, long weekends usually cost £55.
Pick Up
Weekend trips leave from the bottom drive below the Pleasance gym at 5:30pm on Fridays. Students based at Kings Buildings may be picked up from outside KB House at 5:00pm - please ask for this when you sign up for the trip. Try and be as prompt as possible as often we have a long drive ahead of us. If you are running late then let us know by calling the club mobile phone. We can't always accommodate stragglers though and people have been left behind in the past.
Friday Nights
On the way up, minibuses will stop at a chip shop and a supermarket for an evening meal. When we arrive at the hostel, you'll find a bed and settle in, then we all normally meet in the common room and make plans for the following day. Once walk organisers have decided on walks, you will need to sign up. You may also need to borrow gear: in the winter this will include crampons and an ice axe. Experienced members will be happy to show you how to fit crampons - please try this in the hostel rather than struggling on the hill!
Ullapool Youth Hostel
Accommodation
We stay in youth hostels and bunkhouses and occasionally club huts. Hostels are great - the accommodation is of a high standard: there are hot showers, a drying room, a well-equipped kitchen and usually a lounge (where all the socialising happens). The social aspects range from group meals, trips to local pubs, drinking games and, of course, the full Burns Night Extravaganza on our Burns Weekend Trip!
What To Bring
The hostel will provide all bedding and clean sheets which you must use; sleeping bags are banned for hygiene reasons. Cooking facilities, cutlery, crockery and utensils are all provided by the hostel though sometimes bottle openers are missing! You will need:
- Hillwalking gear, as explained in the Equipment section.
- Clothes. As well as your hill clothes you should bring a change to wear around the hostel.
- Food:
- Saturday and Sunday breakfasts.
- Hill food for two days.
- Evening meals: we will be travelling both Friday and Sunday evenings and we'll stop at a chip shop and supermarket. On Saturday evening there will usually be a group meal (an extra two pounds or so) or you may wish to cook for yourself or in a group. Bear in mind that not all hostels have large kitchens however and you may find yourself having to wait.
- The club will provide sufficient semi-skimmed milk for everyone's hot drinks and cereal.
- Things that people often forget are tea/coffee, breakfast, and margarine/butter.
Banter at Loch LochyEntertainment - socialising is a big part of weekend trips so you really shouldn't need to bring anything, however sometimes walks finish early so consider packing a book or some (gulp) university work. Music can make the minibus journey a lot less tedious (especially for the driver) so please bring some tapes or an MP3 player to share. The club owns some compilation tapes from 1996, which presumably you want to avoid at all costs!- Alcohol. If you are like most of the committee and enjoy the occasional tipple (ahem) then you may want to bring along some alcohol. Most of the time we are a long way from the nearest pub and at any rate it is much more sociable to stay around the hostel in the evening, so if you want a drink then please do bring one along. Drink responsibly, for your own sake - walking up a mountain is a great hangover cure but not a comfortable one.
Please remember that if you are unsure about anything before leaving Edinburgh then you should contact the meet organiser by email or on the club mobile.
Map showing the location of the meeting point at Pleasance: