Saddle Mountain Hostel is 9 years old today. Happy birthday to us!
This year we’ll be celebrating our birthday with a school group from Edinburgh. In a pleasingly symmetrical way, it’s the same school that came to stay with us on our opening night in 2015. Back then running a hostel was completely new to us and it would be fair to say we didn’t know quite what to expect. We were certainly back down to earth with a bump the following day, having to do a full hostel changeover! These days we’ve got the full hostel turnarounds down to a fine art. Luckily for us, there’s no checkout tomorrow on our anniversary, just some regular cleaning.
May 2015 seems a very long time ago when viewed from 2024. It feels as though we have been through everything during that time, from building up the business and its reputation to three years of massive disruption, followed by building it up again.
Last year was the busiest it’s been since the COVID years, mainly due to an increase in the volume of overseas visitors. It felt like a “normal” year. We welcomed the usual mix of hillwalkers, long distance hikers, cyclists and paddlers along with people touring the Scottish Highlands. We enjoyed meeting our guests and hearing about their adventures and hopefully inspired some great days out!
As usual, we’d like to thank everyone who stayed with us over the last year, both loyal repeat guests and first time visitors. We also want to say thank you to our family and friends for your continued help and support.
We look forward to welcoming you to Saddle Mountain Hostel in the coming year. Based on the first couple of months of the season, it looks like it will be a busy one.
