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Friday, June 19, 2009
At Gerry's Hostel
The A835 winds it's way southwesterly from Achnasheen to Strathcarron, following the path of the Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh railway line. With the great peaks of Torridon to the North and a vast wilderness stretching all the way to Glen Affric on it's south side, it is a road ringed by great mountains, and very little else.
Very little else that is except Gerry's Hostel (Scotland's Oldest Independent Hostel) says the blurb, which is located at the hamlet of Craig at the start of one of the major footpaths penetrating the great upland ranges on the south side of the road (map here).
Gerry's is basic, comfortable and equipped with a reasonable kitchen, good beds, hot showers and a good drying room. It is also a little quaint, and rather eccentric - a characteristic it shares with its eponymous owner!
I spent four nights here with 2 great friends this week, during which time we managed to explore many of the surrounding hills and glens. We had Gerry's to ourselves for virtually the whole time which was an added bonus too. Gerry's own website is here. The unusual nature of this little hostel, (well actually of the owner) has led to a plethora of legends amongst hill-folk, most of which are undoubtedly untrue. Nevertheless, a Google search on "Gerry's Hostel" still produces a few tales today. My memories however are all good - of great hills, good friends, big meals in the common room, fine pints of ale and good books, wide-ranging conversation, maps and mountain guide-books being spread out across the table, and the infrequent trains rattling past on the adjacent Kyle line.
love the old record. we have a 1918 Victrola that I used to play. I have some of BingCrosby's first albums etc. The kiddies would bounce and jump around to the various foxtrots. It's out of service now to a sprung spring...will have to see about getting it fixed.
The hostel sounds interesting. You never know completely what you're getting with some of those places. :)
The owner Gerry is the rudest man I have ever meet, it is said when he was drinking he would mellow out in the evening but now he has stopped the drink he stays his abusive, arrogant, self. I would say stay there are your peril, if you like to have abuse thrown at you for no good reason then go for it, TGO challengers you talk to who have stay there once never want to stay again would rather walk that bit further and camp I can see why now
The building is a dive, Gerry goes bananas if you bring an ice axe into the place, he is ignorant and abusive and my mate was confronted by him in nothing but his y-front's (Gerry, not my mate) but you know what?????............the place is magic!!! and I mean awesome!!!
If you like Fawlty Towers then definitely arrange a stay.
When I say ignorant and abusive, I mean wonderfully ignorant and abusive....likes it's an art form!!
You get abuse when you ask if the water's ok, you get abuse if you ask about the shower, you get abuse for not turning over the records but mostly you get abuse if you muck about with his fire!!
It's a place with much character and a character. I would imagine that anyone who really doesn't appreciate it are the same sort of people who sometimes don't climb mountains because it's too cold or wet
I hope Gerry never changes and I will be back, as will the rest ogf the team!
And as a final point....the drying room is stoked by Satan himself, we and a few others were soaked right through and in the morning even my boots were dry
Two hill men ! We had the miss fortune to stay at GERRY'S he is without doubt the most ignorant offensive arrogant and dismisive man we have had the miss fortune to meet . The hot showers menshond earlier no longer work and we were told how very expensive the drying room is ! ! ! We also made the mistake of bringing a sharp items into the house, being grown men not a problem you would think but at GERRY'S its a crime punished by a tirade of abuse.We tried to cook in what can only be called a filthy dirty kitchen if that's not bad enough again GERRY rushed in turned the gas down telling us off like little children,strange as we have five children between us so can proberly manage four gas rings ! ! ! We staid late in the year so a little cilly and that nasty damp non to clean smell you get everywhere in this hostel but best of all we asked could we pleas have a heater on in our room and of cours told NO just NO the fact we were paying guests seems to escape this man on every occasion.The report of GERRY not drinking is sadly not true he gets worse as the booz goes down and any news of him wearing clean cloths or washing are equally un true. Just a last note heaven help you if you put a log no his fire or worse sit in the big mans chair you may as well pack up and leave as you have just become a outcast in GERRY'S hostel. So to sum up our recommendation is retirement for the GERRY and don't stay there at any price camp instead .
Recently stayed at Gerry's for the first time - loved the place and the man. Go and make your own mind up. The location is stunning, the common room is my ideal of what hostel's CR should be. Thanks be to god for places like this
we stayed a night at gerrys, Feb 2014 en route to Maol Bhuide bothy. Gerry is the sort of man I would be if I hadn't had a wife to knock me into line for the last 24 years! Wonderfully eccentric. Don't let his abrupt manner perturb you. Gerry must be well in his eighties. Places like this wont exist for much longer. Stay there while you have the chance. Oh and he's definately not off the ale!
I stayed there in 1998 with a geology field trip. We were warned it would be bad before arrival, told it was just for one night. Shortly after arrival, Gerry started riffling though people's bags to check we had pillow cases. One student had to be held back by a lecturer to stop him from punching Gerry. Gerry left that evening to meet a friend to arrange a game of golf the next day. An old homeless looking guy unexpectedly entered the backdoor and asked if Gerry was around, Gerry wasn't there so he left. A student then found a diary written by a geology student who mapped there a few years before, we read the diary that began as a geology diary but increasingly dwelt on Gerry's creepy antics over several weeks. The diary ended abruptly, was the student murdered? Then someone shouted to look in the bathroom, the bathroom was decorated with animal bones and teeth set into plaster, presumably from local road kill, the bones and teeth were arranged in a clearly phallic arrangement, some simulating fellatio. Some students considered to sleeping in the Vans at this point, but decided against it because they were worried the creepy homeless guy was still outside. Also remember the record collection, ~100 records of only one classical composer, hardly anything else.
The A835 winds it's way southwesterly from Achnasheen to Strathcarron, following the path of the Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh railway line. With the great peaks of Torridon to the North and a vast wilderness stretching all the way to Glen Affric on it's south side, it is a road ringed by great mountains, and very little else.
Very little else that is except Gerry's Hostel (Scotland's Oldest Independent Hostel) says the blurb, which is located at the hamlet of Craig at the start of one of the major footpaths penetrating the great upland ranges on the south side of the road (map here).
Gerry's is basic, comfortable and equipped with a reasonable kitchen, good beds, hot showers and a good drying room. It is also a little quaint, and rather eccentric - a characteristic it shares with its eponymous owner!
I spent four nights here with 2 great friends this week, during which time we managed to explore many of the surrounding hills and glens. We had Gerry's to ourselves for virtually the whole time which was an added bonus too. Gerry's own website is here. The unusual nature of this little hostel, (well actually of the owner) has led to a plethora of legends amongst hill-folk, most of which are undoubtedly untrue. Nevertheless, a Google search on "Gerry's Hostel" still produces a few tales today. My memories however are all good - of great hills, good friends, big meals in the common room, fine pints of ale and good books, wide-ranging conversation, maps and mountain guide-books being spread out across the table, and the infrequent trains rattling past on the adjacent Kyle line.
10 comments:
love the old record. we have a 1918 Victrola that I used to play. I have some of BingCrosby's first albums etc. The kiddies would bounce and jump around to the various foxtrots.
It's out of service now to a sprung spring...will have to see about getting it fixed.
The hostel sounds interesting. You never know completely what you're getting with some of those places. :)
I want to go stay there!
You have made Gerry's hostel sound so appealing!
Do they accept people with weans?
The owner Gerry is the rudest man I have ever meet, it is said when he was drinking he would mellow out in the evening but now he has stopped the drink he stays his abusive, arrogant, self. I would say stay there are your peril, if you like to have abuse thrown at you for no good reason then go for it, TGO challengers you talk to who have stay there once never want to stay again would rather walk that bit further and camp I can see why now
The building is a dive, Gerry goes bananas if you bring an ice axe into the place, he is ignorant and abusive and my mate was confronted by him in nothing but his y-front's (Gerry, not my mate) but you know what?????............the place is magic!!! and I mean awesome!!!
If you like Fawlty Towers then definitely arrange a stay.
When I say ignorant and abusive, I mean wonderfully ignorant and abusive....likes it's an art form!!
You get abuse when you ask if the water's ok, you get abuse if you ask about the shower, you get abuse for not turning over the records but mostly you get abuse if you muck about with his fire!!
It's a place with much character and a character. I would imagine that anyone who really doesn't appreciate it are the same sort of people who sometimes don't climb mountains because it's too cold or wet
I hope Gerry never changes and I will be back, as will the rest ogf the team!
And as a final point....the drying room is stoked by Satan himself, we and a few others were soaked right through and in the morning even my boots were dry
Two hill men !
We had the miss fortune to stay at GERRY'S he is without doubt the most ignorant offensive arrogant and dismisive man we have had the miss fortune to meet . The hot showers menshond earlier no longer work and we were told how very expensive the drying room is ! ! ! We also made the mistake of bringing a sharp items into the house, being grown men not a problem you would think but at GERRY'S its a crime punished by a tirade of abuse.We tried to cook in what can only be called a filthy dirty kitchen if that's not bad enough again GERRY rushed in turned the gas down telling us off like little children,strange as we have five children between us so can proberly manage four gas rings ! ! ! We staid late in the year so a little cilly and that nasty damp non to clean smell you get everywhere in this hostel but best of all we asked could we pleas have a heater on in our room and of cours told NO just NO the fact we were paying guests seems to escape this man on every occasion.The report of GERRY not drinking is sadly not true he gets worse as the booz goes down and any news of him wearing clean cloths or washing are equally un true. Just a last note heaven help you if you put a log no his fire or worse sit in the big mans chair you may as well pack up and leave as you have just become a outcast in GERRY'S hostel.
So to sum up our recommendation is retirement for the GERRY and don't stay there at any price camp instead .
Recently stayed at Gerry's for the first time - loved the place and the man. Go and make your own mind up. The location is stunning, the common room is my ideal of what hostel's CR should be. Thanks be to god for places like this
we stayed a night at gerrys, Feb 2014 en route to Maol Bhuide bothy. Gerry is the sort of man I would be if I hadn't had a wife to knock me into line for the last 24 years! Wonderfully eccentric. Don't let his abrupt manner perturb you. Gerry must be well in his eighties. Places like this wont exist for much longer. Stay there while you have the chance. Oh and he's definately not off the ale!
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my blog www.mark-yell.blogspot.co.uk
features Gerrys
I stayed there in 1998 with a geology field trip. We were warned it would be bad before arrival, told it was just for one night. Shortly after arrival, Gerry started riffling though people's bags to check we had pillow cases. One student had to be held back by a lecturer to stop him from punching Gerry. Gerry left that evening to meet a friend to arrange a game of golf the next day. An old homeless looking guy unexpectedly entered the backdoor and asked if Gerry was around, Gerry wasn't there so he left. A student then found a diary written by a geology student who mapped there a few years before, we read the diary that began as a geology diary but increasingly dwelt on Gerry's creepy antics over several weeks. The diary ended abruptly, was the student murdered? Then someone shouted to look in the bathroom, the bathroom was decorated with animal bones and teeth set into plaster, presumably from local road kill, the bones and teeth were arranged in a clearly phallic arrangement, some simulating fellatio. Some students considered to sleeping in the Vans at this point, but decided against it because they were worried the creepy homeless guy was still outside. Also remember the record collection, ~100 records of only one classical composer, hardly anything else.
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