The 3rd Young Professionals Weekender, Inveraray, Scotland

On the weekend of the 7th-9th March 2008, the third Young Professionals Weekender was held at Inveraray Youth Hostel in Scotland. It is hard to believe that this weekend marked a year since the first weekender in Loch Lochy near Fort William and that another weekender had been held since then at Eskdale in the Lake District.

The weekenders are becoming more popular with every one which is held. This time, some unlucky people had to be told that the weekend was fully booked with 20 people in attendance, albeit in a smaller hostel.

The weekender began on the Friday evening when the bulk of the attendees congregated at the hostel in the heart of Inveraray. The weather was a bit depressing however the same could not be said about the night’s activities beginning with dinner consisting of a choice of (or both) home made soups followed by burgers. This of course was washed down by the customary beer or wine provided as part of the price of the weekend. The evening continued with a game of “Chubby Bunnies”. With those of you ‘not in the know’, this involves a lot of marsh mallows and a lot of mess. Those with the biggest mouth usually end up the winners in this; the less said the better. A birthday cake marking the anniversary of the first weekender was also brought out which was quickly consumed.

Saturday morning began at a leisurely pace with breakfast, after which, the usual crew of intrepid hikers set off on their Saturday walk around the local vicinity. Immediately after their departure from the hostel the skies opened unveiling a large rain shower which made those not taking part in the walk glad they had chosen not to do so.

One group chose to spend the day exploring Inverarary itself including the Jail and the Maritime Museum. They became acquainted with Inverarary’s High Street and visited the local Tourist Information. This housed an exhibition of the history of Inverarary, the first planned town in Scotland. It was a fine Georgian Town with at one stage a church, Tolbooth, a school and no less than 43 taverns. Sadly these have disappeared however the local butcher was visited to get some beef for dinner.

A few hours was spent in Scotland’s living prison. We explored the old and new prisons, discovering what day to day life was like for the men, women and children who were once locked up there.

The other party headed off on the 40-mile roundtrip to Oban. The group embarked on mission to locate the local supermarket in order to replenish the fridge of its beer for the Saturday night. The mission suspiciously led the group to outside the gates of the West Coast Motors Bus Depot to the enjoyment of some and the bemusement of others. After some rounding of the herd, we headed back into Oban where a visit to the pub to sample the local ale and grub was in order (and partly to shelter from the heavy rain). When the weather dried up, the group had a look around Oban, visiting the Harbour, Town Centre, a fantastic little coffee shop and, for some a local bus service (again, the less said about that the better).

Back at the hostel in the evening, everyone was looking forward to the evening’s legendary quiz and in doing so were practicing their singing voices on the karaoke machine and revelling in Scotland’s win over England in the rugby. After another excellent dinner, the quiz began with the attendees split into groups answering a variety of general knowledge questions and taking part in a number of interactive sessions trying to gather points for their respective groups including debating the subject of “white van man”, a countdown style maths task and an impressions round. Prizes were handed out to the successful teams.

Sunday morning came around very quickly. After a cooked breakfast, everyone set about cleaning the hostel before vacating at noon. After which the group set off for lunch at an excellent pub on the shores of Loch Lomond before each heading their separate ways back home. Again, the weekender format did not disappoint and we look forward to the fourth event which is scheduled to take place on the 10th – 12th October 2008 at Minnigaff Youth Hostel, Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. To join us, email pgfb1306@hotmail.com