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| Location | Travel | Facilities | Weather | Books and papers | Excursions |
| Glasgow Airport and arrival by train | Arrival by car | Library |
The workshop is being held at the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, Sabhal Mor Ostaig. The College is on the Sleat peninsula, the southernmost part of Skye, lying 2 miles NE of Armadale, at the junction of the main A851 road with the minor road to Tarskavaig; the entrance is a few metres along the minor road, on the right.
From the south, the college is reached by the Mallaig-Armadale car ferry, which runs 5 to 6 times a day. Since the recommended train from Glasgow arrives too late for the last ferry, we have chartered Bruce Watt's `Western Isles' for a special sailing at 18.15 on the arrival day, Mon 31st March; note that the `Western Isles' does not carry cars.
Details on the main arrival options are given on the following two separate pages; if you have questions about any other options (e.g. later arrival, or connections from England), please ask.
| Glasgow Airport and arrival by train | Arrival by car |
The college is well equipped for such a small academic establishment. It has a variety of public rooms of various sizes, overhead and slide projectors, fax and photocopying facilities, and a computer PC network connected to the Internet (64K line).
The computers are mostly PCs running Windows95, with Netscape, Word6 and Excel, but not any mathematical/scientific software. [We hope to have some scientific and data-handling software available - enquiries to Denis.]
The study bedrooms contain fridges, microwave ovens - and ethernet connections for the computer network (twisted-pair ethernet, needing an RJ45 connector). There are two washing machines and a tumble dryer.
Meals will be provided in the college; they are used to catering for special diets, e.g. vegetarians of various kinds.
Local shops are strictly limited: they include an outdoor clothing and 2nd hand bookshop in Armadale, a grocery, two craft businesses, and the Clan Donald Centre between Armadale and the college which has a tourist shop. But (for instance), for a chemist you would have to go to Broadford (12 miles) or take the ferry to Mallaig.
The one definite gap in the college's facilities is the absence of library material relevant to this workshop. To offset this deficiency:
| Library |
The weather at this time of year can be highly variable -- anything from near zero (Centigrade!) with strong winds and rain or snow, to perfect Spring weather (10-20 degrees with sun and no wind) -- quite possibly one of these one day and the other the next! Depending on recent weather, conditions underfoot can be very wet.
It is of course possible to stay indoors in doubtful weather, and to stick to walks along the roads and main paths. But if you want to enjoy this very beautiful island fully, you should bring a selection of clothes, including warm and waterproof ones, and some boots suitable for walking in wet and rough country.
We will arrange a tour of the island on the rest day, Sunday 6th April, and shorter excursions for walks, depending on weather (see below!) for other days.
Buses are infrequent, but it is possible to use them to visit the main villages on Skye - Portree, Broadford and Kyleakin (next to the bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland). Also, there will be several participants/accompanying people with cars, and the college has its own minibuses, so we should be able to help partners who wish to see more of the island.
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Please send any comments or corrections to Denis Mollison
22nd March 1997