North West Highland Geopark Roadshow comes to Coigach
Last night Donald Fisher, geologist and Geological Ranger for the North West Highland Geopark gave an enthusiastic and enlightening talk about Geoparks further afield. Travelling to Australasia and North America aided by a Winston Churchill travelling scholarship, Donald was able to bring us first- hand experience of some of the natural geo-wonders of the world and a small, but hefty selection of the world renowned Shelley Collection of rock, mineral and fossil samples. An audience of Coigach people and visitors enjoyed a lively slide show featuring spectacular international Geopark sites – Uluru, Wave Rock, the Apostles – and all sorts of other interesting Australian rock formations, geysers in Yellowstone (USA) and New Zealand, and of course the Grand Canyon: all attracting visitors and admiration from all over the world. Donald was keen to emphasise that important as though these sites are, here in Coigach we are right in the middle of some of the world’s most impressive geology and that the North West Highland Geopark has the potential to be up there with the best of them: bringing the many benefits of geo-tourism to the area. The proposed visitor centre will be in Scourie but with informative displays and appropriate sign-posting we hope many a geo-visitor will be coming to Coigach to enjoy our own slice of geo-paradise in the future.
Thanks to Donald Fisher, Peter Harrison of the North West Highland Geopark, and Councillor George Farlow for an informative evening (and we all appreciated the geo-licious selection of home-baking supplied by Karen Peach, Jill Clooney and Dorothy Miller with Theresa Ross lending a welcome hand on teapot duty).
