Have you ever sat at work and dreamed of doing something more interesting? We did, so in November last year we decided to do something about it. We both worked at desk based jobs in Inverness, and although we love the Highlands and didn’t want to leave we wanted to make a change to the way we lived. What could we do instead? We have a shared love of the outdoors, walking and cycling, and so the task was to find a new life which would combine all of this, give us an income, and make us feel more fulfilled.
When trekking in the mountains of Europe we had stayed in a lot of mountain refuges, and had often wondered what it would be like to run one. Sadly there are no refuges in Scotland (hello National Park Authorities) but after searching around we found the nearest thing in Invergarry. So we packed in our jobs, sold our house and we bought a hostel.
We want Saddle Mountain Hostel to be a combination of a mountain refuge and the type of backpackers’ hostel we have stayed in when travelling in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the USA and South America. We have a lot of ideas about how to improve what’s here already and turn our dream into reality. Now the hard work starts.