UPDATE: two spaces available in the hostel due to a cancellation (in a male room, or for anyone who’s okay with a mixed room), or you can still find your own accommodation and join in – either way, please complete the form here.

For this trip, we will be heading to the northen edge of the Cairngorms National Park. The trip will be based at the Aviemore Youth Hostel enabling both challenging (Munro bagger) hikes as well as less strenuous low land walks (TBC). For this trip the organiser will be responsible for the administration while a number of walk leaders (we are aiming for 2–3) will be attending to coordinate each days hiking.

If you are thinking of attending its worth bearing in mind that the mountain walks will be considerably more strenuous than most normal Berkshire Walkers hikes. Previous mountain experience is not necessary as long as you bring suitable level of equipment (hiking coat and boots etc.) and reasonable level of fitness.

The current intention is to have 2-3 walk leaders enabling a good range of hikes for most days. This should ensure that there is a suitable walk for everybody’s abilities. All participants are very welcome on the trip whatever your level of experience and however long you’ve been a member!.

Spaces in the hostel with the group are now fully booked, but if you’d like to either join the waiting list or find alternative accommodation (either yourself or shared with others) please complete the form linked here. As with all our trips away, you do need to be a Ramblers member to take part, but members of other groups are welcome to join us.

Accommodation

We have booked a set of rooms in Aviemore Youth Hostel for the group, with a total of 22 beds (four rooms of four plus an additional room of six). The split of these rooms has not yet been agreed and the intention is to keep them as single sex rooms as possible. These are now fully booked.

You are also welcome to book your own accommodation – there is plenty of accommodation in Aviemore. Please do still complete the sign up form though, so that the organiser knows you’re coming.

For those staying in the hostel, the eating arrangements will be in a similar manner to last years trip in Crianlarich. The intention is to cook and eat together (volunteers will be very welcome for this!) and costs will be shared amongst those involved (likely to be around £15–£20 each for a trip of this length). We’ll try to have at least one evening out during the trip as well if we can find a suitable venue, giving an opportunity for those at the hostel and elsewhere to eat and socialise together.

Travel

Journey time from Reading is circa 9.5 hours by train (fastest route via London), or a 525-mile drive (Google estimates about 9 hours but that may be optimistic!) Despite being in close proximity to the Cairngorms national park it is likely that we will need car transport for the majority of walks. Some flexibility in travel arrangements may therefore be needed to ensure we can get around as a group.

Walks and other activities

As usual for trips of this nature, specific walks for each day will be decided nearer the time depending on the group’s preferences, available transport, and the weather (which can vary widely and rapidly in the highlands). In particular, we will not be tackling mountains in conditions that would be unsafe for the group.

For those who’d like to spend a day doing non-walking activities, there are a variety of activities and tourist attractions nearby, these include (but not limited to):

• Tomatin distillery
• Cairngorm mountain railway (and MTB centre)
• Night zip adventure (prebooking needed)

Expected costs

We are aiming to fill all 16 places so we are expecting the cost for the full week to be approximately:

• Accommodation: £150–£215 per person (hopefully at the lower end, but may be higher in that range if we have unfilled places)
• Shared food: £15–25 per person

Deposit and timing

The trip is arranged for the last week in May (25th May for 7 nights). As Youth hostels in Scotland tend to be get booked up well in advance a deposit is needed to retain the accommodation. In addition to the Google form we will need a deposit to confirm your place at a cost of £35 per person.