ETHICAL TRAVELLER:IF YOU ARE keen to start a life in independent, ethical travel, then hostels are ideal. Most are run on a community trust basis, something many young people are not given credit for.
However, there are plenty of teenagers who don’t want their first experiences of travelling alone ending up in a pile of vomit on a foreign beach, but who like to live life and look after the planet. The media just doesn’t hone in on these young people who are, after all, our future travellers, and are often quicker to understand the notions of sustainable travel than my generation.
In Ireland, there are many hostels which are not only built with green credentials, but also by the small communities where they are located. The Breesy Centre in Cashelard, Co Donegal (breesycentre.com) was built as a community centre cum hostel to try and encourage young, local people to stay and live in the area. It has worked, and now also offers weekend activity breaks to visitors including surfing, sea kayaking, cycling, or hiking. Get a bus to Ballyshannon and cycle 5km from there, sticking your bikes in the boot of the bus, on a first come first served basis (buseireann.ie). Or hire a bike at the centre.
Another community-run hostel, with stunning location, is the Benwiskin Centre (benwiskincentre.com), a restored old school in Ballintrillick, Co Sligo, with hiking and cycling challenges on the doorstep in the Darty Mountains. It’s a remote spot, so a car helps for shopping trips, the nearest supplies being 5km away. From here, you can head to surf beaches at Mullaghmore or Bundoran for the day; there is a list of local activity providers on Benwiskin’s website, for surfing lessons, horse riding, or canoeing.
The Gyreum in Riverstown, Sligo (gyreum.com), has to be seen to be believed, an eco-lodge which looks more like a spaceship made out of recycled materials. It breaks all conventional rules of accommodation. It is round with a green conical roof sloping down to grass roots level, just begging to be climbed over, sunbathed on, stargazed from and smiled upon. Inside, it is like a giant yurt, with bedrooms and bathrooms slotted into stone walls, giving them a cave-like cosiness. The epicentre is the vast wood-burning stove where people hang out.
Colum Stapleton, its creator, sums it up: “We welcome all well intentioned people to make their imprint. Well intentioned does not mean New Age fluffy or short on humour.”
There were 10 tents erected inside the vast central hall due to overbooking when I was there. If you love the idea of this, then go. If you hate it, don’t even think about it. I’m with the loving group.
IF YOUR PARENTS want you to do something “organised”, then Delphi Mountain Resort summer camps in Co Galway (delphimountainresort.com) are the business.
As friendly as it is eco-friendly, the resort has a seven-day camp with activities to suit all. From archery, rock climbing, high wires, surfing and kayaking, to just chilling out at a beach barbecue in the evenings.
If your parents insist on coming too, they can always stay in the main hotel, while you bunk in the dorms. Or you can go as a family, with you heading off to activities while they toast in the spa, or lounge in the bar.
Last, if you really want to go wild in the wilderness, tell your parents you want therapy. Lough Allen’s Wilderness Therapy Weekend (loughallenadventure.com), is led by experienced outdoors pursuits leader Kevin Currid, who takes groups camping on one of Lough Allen’s islands, in Co Leitrim, where you make rafts by tying canoes together with barrels, shelters out of ponchos, build fires and forage, cook outdoors, sleep in hammocks, and laugh a lot.
Kevin’s love of the outdoors is infectious. These weekends are so good, middle-aged mums like me are now taking them over.
So, put a stop to those notions of us seeking eternal youth, and book them all out for yourselves.
Ethicaltraveller.net, twitter.com/catherinemack