SEGS weekends away

Each year SEGS walkers enjoy the opportunity of walking and socialising over one or two weekends in spring and autumn. The weekends away typically go further afield in areas of outstanding natural beauty. Accommodation is booked in advance, usually in a youth hostel or bed and breakfast. Members make their own way on a Friday evening, enjoy a meal at their leisure and then congregate after breakfast on the Saturday for a good days walk.

The walks are relaxed affairs with no time pressure. The children and teenagers regularly begin games such a football and rounders at every opportunity, often forgetting they are on a walk. One year there was a lively game of football on the summit of Pen-y-Ghent!

Walking Weekend Spring 2020

Eden Valley - 24th-26th April 2020

Liz, Sharon and Lorna have organised a group booking at Strickland Manor in the Eden Valley, which is now fully subscribed. However, everyone is welcome to join us for the weekend in other local accommodation, or for the walks organised each day. If you need more details email info@segs.org.uk

Put the date in your dairies and make a booking for a great weekend.

A list of the Youth Hostels visited by SEGS over the past 21 years

Ambleside 4th to 5th July 1985

First YH visited by SEGS. Large hostel in former hotel on Lake Windermere.

Aysgarth 27th to 29th March 1992

A basic hostel with a very grumpy elderly fellow hosteller, who complained about there being children in the hostel! Food very indifferent. Hostel closed permanently in 2004.

Bridges 19th September 1992

Homely basic hostel owned by a local businessman. Fantastic welcome for our party. Walked here from Wilderhope Manor. Close to a very good pub, The Horseshoe Inn. Could not get any water out of the men's showers.

Bryn Gwynant 27th to 29th September 1990

The second hostel visited by SEGS. Good, friendly standard hostel. A long way to the nearest pub (4 miles). Location very nice, close by Llyn Gwynant.

Buttermere 15th to 17th April 2005

In a stunning location above the shore of Buttermere and about 400 yards from two good pubs (Fish Hotel and The Bridge Hotel). Good quality rooms. Excellent showers and toilets. Views from smallish first floor lounge magnificent. Food very good especially the evening meal Steak and Ale Pie, Borrodale Trout, Sticky Toffee Pudding. We could not find anything to mend at this hostel. Highly recommended.

Capel Curig 27th to 29th March 1998

On the A5 in the centre of the "village" of Capel Curig. Not great. Food indifferent.

Castleton 14th to 16th March 1997 and 3/4th May 2013

We had exclusive use of the annex, then recently acquired and fitted out - former rectory. En-suite rooms et al. Fantastic accommodation in the annex. Very poor food in the main hostel with concomitant service. Overall not a good experience. Weather did not help though.

Losehill Hall May 2013 saw our visit to this impressive old hall that replaced the YHA in the centre of the village. This one is a short distance away and offers excellent accomodation and a very nice dining room if you can persuade the staff to open it.

Coniston Holly How 14th to 16th October 2005

A very friendly and efficiently run hostel about 1/2 mile from the centre of Coniston village. Good setting, nice rooms, hot showers with lots of water. Helpful friendly staff. Excellent homemade evening meal. Good quality breakfasts served very efficently. Plenty of room in the dinning room. All in all a very good experience.

Dentdale 26th to 28th March 2004

A homely hostel miles from anywhere at the head of Dentdale. Beautiful setting, very friendly and helpful manager in Aidan. Excellent homemade tomato and lentil soup. An eccentric stove in the very comfortable lounge. The main men's dormitory was rather lacking in working lights, one out of five! We mended one light fitting and a shower head at this hostel.

Dufton 21st to 23rd September 1991

A small homely hostel in the centre of the village opposite The Stag Inn (which is now in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide). Excellent home-made meat and potato pie produced by the volunteer warden the weekend we were there. The girls held a s?ance in their dormitory.

Elterwater 14th to 16th May 2010

Nice hostel in this picturesque Lakeland village. Good food and service from the staff at the hostel. Handy location for lots of varied walking with plenty of alternative accommodation nearby and food and drink in the Brittania Inn and a number of other local hostelries. Walks on the Saturday included a leisurely stroll around the 'Quarrymen's Quest and a long walk from the hostel taking in the north side of the Langdale valley and the pikes. The Sunday walk moved over to Underbarrow for a lowland walk through woods and limestone escarpments.

Eskdale 20th to 22rd March 2009

Excellent hostel just up the valley from Boot. Great food and service from the friendly warden. Large dining room with armchairs and open fire in an impressive fireplace with oilpainting of Scafell above it. Walking straight from the door. Three high walks on the Saturday and a leisurely stroll around the Eskdale valley on the Sunday. The 'local' (Woolpack) extended into gasto-resaurant and 'walker's bar' - not conducive to either on our visit although the beers were good.

Eyam 8th to 10th October 2004

Well sited hostel on hill behind the plague village of Eyam. Accommodation very good, especially in the Coach House annex. Food excellent and service likewise. Lounge far too small for the size of hostel and not really suited to our style of group. Lots of efficient YHA staff but who seemed somewhat distant and not ouvertly welcoming.

Grasmere Butterlyp How 15th to 17th March 2002 and 29th April to 1st May 2011

A few of us stayed in the smart annex of this extremely smart hostel on our first trip there. Had evening meal with the rest of the group up the lane at Thorney How. Met some strange folk in one of the local pubs later in the evening!

The 2011 trip was well received by all those that stayed there. Excellent accomodation with 'twin' rooms available for those wishing a quieter night. Pimms on the lawn to celebrate the royal wedding. (The warden keeps a well stocked bar now).

Grasmere Thorney How 15th to 17th March 2002

The majority of our party had sole use of this former farm house - the first property actually bought by the YHA in the early 1930s - but not their first hostel (Idwal Cottage). A bit basic but good food, great welcome. A nice place

Grinton Lodge 18th to 20th March 1994 and 12th to 13th October 2002

A former shooting lodge on the moors above the village of the same name in Swaledale. Definitely our favourite hostel. Was big and rambling, homely and a bit scruffy. Lots of money has been spent to refurbish this hostel, which now has 4 stars, but is still delightfully rambling and none of its character has been lost. The extremely warm welcome from the managers has remained the same throughout. Excellent food, especially the sticky toffee pudding. Highly recommended.

Hartington Hall 4th to 6th May 2012

Beautiful old manor farm on the outskirts of Hartington a small town with ample facilities and interesting architectural features. The hostel is top-grade and is a popular wedding venue. It has a large restaurant and coffee shop cum bar serving real-ale and Pimms. The annex buildings provide a variety of accommodation choices to suit all. Great walks and rides from the doorstep.

Hawes 21th to 23rd September 2001

A 1960s purpose-built hostel on Pennine Way. We went there just after the foot and mouth outbreak. Very friendly. Sufficiently comfortable. Three reasonable pubs in the village close by.

Helvellyn 6th to 8th October 2006

A building in the former Greenside Lead Mine reached by a one mile drive up a bumpy track from Glenridding. Lots of small rooms. Good comfy hostel but rather hot! Not very well equipped self catering kitchen.

Ingleton 28th to 30th March 2003

A large house in the centre of the village of Ingleton. Recently refurbished to 4 star standard. Very friendly welcome. Good food. 90 seconds walk from The Wheatsheaf.

Kettlewell 26th to 28th March 1993, 19th to 21st March 1999 and 23rd to 25th March 2007

A large stone-built house in the centre of Kettlewell, close to all three pubs. Parking rather awkward, no car park at the hostel itself. Food on first trip much better than on the second.

Kirkby Stephen 24th to 26th March 2006

A former methodist chapel that was imaginatively converted in 1981. A great welcome from Clare (aka Sybil) and Rich (aka Manuel). Very efficient catering by the two of them. Very good kippers for breakfast.

Patterdale 31th March to 2nd Apr 2000

A purpose-built 1960s building of imaginative design. Loads of space in the rooms, but strangely no wash hand basins. Great lounge area with high wooden ceiling. Very good food. Manager an amateur magician.

Wasdale Hall 17th to 19th September 1993, 13th to 15th October 1995 and 9th to 11th October 2003

A Victorian Manor House on the shore of Wastwater. Possibly the best sited of all Youth Hostels. Food good. Lounge excellent. The fact that we have been here three times says something! However, it is beginning to need a coat of paint. Got one of the wash-hand basins working properly by getting a plug of hair and soap the size of a rat out of the wastepipe!

Wilderhope Manor 18th September 1992

Should be a great place. Tudor manor house. Cock-eyed floors, lots of wood, spiral staircases. Not a good place for children, however, too much of architectural value. Walked from here to Bridges