Gaelic in the Landscape

**This course is now fully-booked.  Please contact us to be added to our waiting-list.**

**Please note our accommodation options have changed.  We now offer accommodation on a FULL-BOARD basis only.  Please see our accommodation page for further details.**

Gaelic place names cover very large areas of Scotland – this course aims to provide non-Gaelic speakers with tools that will allow them to interpret the Gaelic landscape for themselves.

The course is suitable for those who have little or no Gaelic but who have a desire to learn the language in the context of its relationship to environment and place-names; it is particularly suitable for mountain and outdoor guides and rangers. Fluent speakers and Gaelic learners at all stages are also welcome. The main language of class instruction will be English, with both languages used on excursions.

Participants must be capable of walking up to 5 miles on a well-constructed track (with little climbing).

The course will centre around reading and interpreting Ordnance Survey maps, but will include exercises and daily excursions to look at landscape features in Skye and Lochalsh. Participants should bring suitable clothing, for example walking boots, waterproofs (and midge nets!)

The course will be led by Ruairidh MacIlleathain (Roddy Maclean), a Highland-based Gaelic broadcaster, writer and educator, and author of several publications on Highland place names.

Students are encouraged to bring the following:

• OS maps (Landranger/Explorer) of your favourite areas in the Highlands.
• Gaelic-English dictionary. The best is Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic-English dictionary.
• Laptop computer with internet connectivity.
• Notebook and pen.
• Some participants may wish to bring an audio recorder to make some recordings of names or words in order to assist their pronunciation afterwards.
• Outdoor clothes.

The week’s itinerary is expected to consist of classroom-based learning in the mornings, with local area excursions in the afternoon (weather permitting). The course will finish by lunchtime on Friday.