Hiking Scotland s Inner & Outer Hebrides

Transcription

1 Maximum of just 15 participants Hiking Scotland s Inner & Outer Hebrides June 15-25, 2019 (11 days) with Professor of Geology Eric Leonard Blackhouse village, Isle of Lewis

2 Join Professor of Geology Eric Leonard on this 11-day, summertime hiking adventure amid the wealth of geological features and archaeological sites in Scotland s rugged western islands. The rocks tell the whole story, going back 2.7 million years, as you travel from the Isle of Mull in the south, along the western edge of highland Scotland, to the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, sometimes along the mainland coast, but more often across incomparably beautiful, fascinating islands. Walk or hike up to six miles per day, admiring spectacular high cliffs, sea lochs and fjords, sandy and rocky bays, caves, and arches. Along the way, visit famous Iona Abbey, Isle of Lewis s prehistoric Standing Stones of Callanish and Iron Age Dun Carloway, Talisker Distillery (including a taste of their single malt whisky), and more. All meals are included, and you will enjoy charming, comfortable accommodations throughout. This program is limited to only fifteen travelers, plus Eric and two expert local guides. Itinerary B= Breakfast L= Lunch D= Dinner # Gearrannan ISLE OF HARRIS Tarbert Rodel ISLE OF SKYE 3 Talisker Distillery Loch Coruisk Fingal s Cave ISLE OF STAFFA ISLE OF IONA = Hotel nights 3 Dun Carloway ISLE OF LEWIS Elgol Callanish Uig 3 ISLE OF MULL Stornoway WESTERN SCOTLAND Mallaig Kilchoan Oban Glasgow Saturday, June 15, DEPART HOME Sunday, June 16 - Glasgow, SCOTLAND Oban Isle of Mull Arrive in Glasgow, Scotland, at no later than 12:00 p.m., and you will be met at the Holiday Inn Hotel at Glasgow Airport. From here we will travel to Oban and take the ferry to the Isle of Mull. Overnight at The Western Isles Hotel for three nights. (L,D) Monday, June 17 - Isle of Mull: Calgary Bay Crater Loch Distance: 5 miles. Ascent: 670ft. Many of the residents of Mull left from this beautiful sandy bay for a new and uncertain life in North America. Our walk will take us through a woodland in which the trees are sculpted by the wind and by people. We continue to a deserted village and the pier from which the people living in this village left for North America during the clearances in the early 1800s. Of geological interest are two volcanic dykes leading into the bay. Our second walk will take us to Lochan s Airde Beinn, or Crater Loch, an extinct volcanic vent. We will hike up to the lochan and around the rim of the loch with stunning views in all directions, on a clear day. (B,L,D) Tuesday, June 18 - Isle of Mull Isles of Staffa and Iona Isle of Mull Short walks on both islands. Today we will visit two islands off the coast of Mull: Staffa and Iona. The beautiful, uninhabited island of Staffa is our first stop, and best known for its magnificent basalt columns. Their effect is most overwhelming at An Uamh Binn (musical cave) or, as it is more commonly known, Fingal s Cave, which is scientifically among the lowest strata of Mull s stepped landscape of lava flows and was artistically the inspiration for Mendelssohn s Hebrides Overture. From Staffa we cruise to Iona, an enduring symbol of Christianity in Scotland. St. Columba and his followers came here from Ireland in A.D. 563 and founded a monastery that became the heart of the early Scottish Church. St. Columba s fame attracted pilgrims to Iona from the 7 th century onward. The island also served as a burial ground for important and holy people, including kings of Scotland (among them Macbeth, who died in A.D. 1057). Iona s rocks are mainly ancient Lewisian gneisses of igneous origin, but there is also an important band of marble from which the Abbey s communion table was carved. The Sound of Iona hides the southern extension of the Moine thrust fault, itself explaining Iona s difference from Mull. (B,L,D) Above, view from Lochan s Airde Beinn (Crater Loch). Below, honeycomb weathering on the coast of Elgol. Jason Pierce Stephen Millington

3 Wednesday, June 19 - Isle of Mull Kilchoan Glendrian Mallaig Isle of Skye Distance: 2.5 miles. Ascent: 150ft. Take the ferry to Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, where we will walk to Glendrian, an abandoned crofting township in the center of the Ardnamurchan caldera. Travel north through Lochaber (along the Road to the Isles ) to Mallaig, where we catch the ferry to Skye. This is a peaceful and remote part of the west Highlands, with high mountains and narrow lochs. Overnight at Sligachan Hotel for three nights. (B,L,D) Thursday, June 20 - Isle of Skye: Oronsay Talisker Distillery Distance: 4 miles. Ascent: 300ft. Today s walk will take us along a shingle tombolo to the tidal island of Oronsay, from where we have an excellent view to the MacLeod s Tables in Duirinish. They are an excellent example of the lava flows from the volcanoes of Tertiary age, which became active around 60 million years ago. These lava flows are horizontal or gently sloping, and form distinctive flat-topped hills with stepped sides. This afternoon we tour the famous Talisker Distillery and Visitor Centre, where we can enjoy a dram of Skye s only single malt whisky. (B,L,D) Above, Cuillin mountain ridge view from Elgol. Below, Loch Coruisk. Bottom, Fingal s Cave, Isle of Staffa Friday, June 21 - Isle of Skye: Loch Coruisk and The Cuillin Distance: 3 miles. Ascent: 300ft. Take a boat from Elgol across the sea-loch Scavaig. Along the way we should see many seabirds, seals, and (if we are lucky) dolphins. Disembark and walk to Loch Coruisk, Britain s finest glacially-scoured basin, in the heart of the beautiful, jagged-peaked Cuillin mountains. The Cuillin are carved from a gabbro intrusion, the eroded core of yet another of western Scotland s Tertiary volcanoes. After our walk, return by boat to Elgol, where the shore has good exposures of honeycomb weathering in Jurassic sandstones. (B,L,D) Saturday, June 22 - Isle of Skye Trotternish Landslips Isle of Harris Distance: 3 miles. Ascent: 950ft. Before catching the ferry from Uig to Tarbert, we will pass through the north of Skye to visit Britain s most spectacular landslips at the Storr and the Quiraing, on the Trotternish peninsula. This peninsula largely consists of a long, west-dipping escarpment of massive, immensely thick, Tertiary lava flows overlying relatively incompetent beds of Copyright 2017 Eos. All rights reserved. Photos courtesy of: AAWH, commons.wikimedia.org, vela4568.co.uk.

4 Jurassic clays and limestones. Over time, the instability of this arrangement has resulted in enormous landslips from the scarp face and created a spectacularly unusual landscape. Most of the better-defined landslides have slipped since glacial times, but glacial till on top of some of the more smoothed-over masses shows that the process has actually been continuing for a much longer time. We will take a walk to the Old Man of Storr, where the landforms are especially labyrinthine, yet accessible. Then board the ferry for Tarbert, on the Isle of Harris, in the late afternoon. Overnight at the Harris Hotel for three nights. (B,L,D) Sunday, June 23 - Isle of Harris Distance: up to 6 miles. Ascent: negligible. The rocks of South Harris, as with most of the Outer Hebrides, largely consist of Lewisian gneisses, the ancient basement or Caledonian foreland dating from as many as 3 billion years ago, and the attractive west coast is a good place to see a variety of gneisses. We visit the 14 th -century church of St. Clement at Roghadal (Rodel), an architectural and historical jewel built on and beside outcrops of metamorphosed sediments, including marble. Garnet, kyanite, and graphite crystals can all be found in nearby rocks. Farther west is a good exposure of a spectacular pegmatite, near Taobh Tuath (Northton Bay), plus the ruins of an ancient chapel. To round off the day, we take a walk across the sands and machair (fertile, well-drained grassland formed by sand blown over peat) of Losgaintir (Luskentyre), which exhibits as good a transition from a coastal sedimentary environment, across calcareous grassland to acid moorland, as exists in western Scotland. (B,L,D) Monday, June 24 - Isle of Harris Isle of Lewis: Callanish, Dun Carloway, Gearrannan Isle of Harris Distance: 2.5 miles. Ascent: negligible. Begin the day with a visit to the magnificent, 5,000-year-old Standing Stones of Callanish (Calanais in Gaelic). The main stone complex contains around 50 stones. A ring of large stones about 12 meters in diameter surround a huge monolith at its center and the remains of a chambered cairn. There are lines of stones running north, south, east, and west from the stone circle, and two other stone circles are nearby. Continue on to Dun Carloway, one of the best-preserved Iron Age brochs in western Scotland. The broch was probably built in the 1 st century B.C., and radiocarbon dating shows that it was last occupied around A.D End the day with a visit to the blackhouse village of Gearrannan, which dates back to the 1600s. The houses were still inhabited until the second half of the 20 th century. The double drystone walls, low profile, and insulating thatch made blackhouses well suited to the Hebridean climate. We visit the museum, which provides insights into life in the village in the mid-1900s, including demonstrations of Harris Tweed weaving. (B,L,D) Nessy-pic Above, Dun Carloway Broch, Isle of Lewis. Below, Standing Stones of Callanish, Isle of Lewis. Bottom, travelers enjoying the western Scotland landscape. Tuesday, June 25 - Isle of Harris Glasgow FLY HOME In the morning we travel to Stornoway for a one-hour group flight to Glasgow to connect with independent flights homeward (which should depart Glasgow no earlier than 3:15 p.m.). (B) Colorado College Faculty Leader Marli Miller Eric Leonard has taught geology at Colorado College since the 1980s, having spent his undergraduate and graduate student days at Cal-Berkeley, Simon Fraser University in Canada, and CU-Boulder. His specialties are glacial geology, paleoclimate, and geomorphology (the study of landforms and earth-surface processes). Eric s own research work has focused on the U.S. and Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Washington Cascades, and the Andes and coastal areas of Chile. He has also done geological fieldwork and led geology field courses in Scotland, Argentina, Costa Rica, New Zealand, western Canada, and throughout the American West. He is currently developing a course in Iceland. Eric previously co-led a CC alumni hiking, geology, and photography trip to the Canadian Rockies. In addition to his geological expertise, he has strong interests in history, skiing, photography, and all kinds of exotic foods. He recently finished a three-year stint as director of the Southwest Studies Program at CC.

5 What to Expect To fully enjoy and visit all the sites on this itinerary, you must be reasonably fit and enjoy hiking. The daily hikes will be easy to moderate in difficulty, and their duration (and elevation gained) for each day is estimated within the itinerary. Daily walking distances will not exceed six miles, with varying amounts of ascent, and we do not expect to hike for longer than four hours at a time. Most hiking will be on paths, tracks, or quiet roads, although the surfaces can be wet and/or uneven. There will be some steep sections along the way but, on most days, no climbs greater than 1,000 feet, even in total. The actual itinerary is subject to variables such as the abilities and interests of the group and the weather conditions. Minibuses, each with an expert local driver/guide, will accompany the group. Your guides will explain in advance the difficulty of each day s walk(s) and, if you prefer, you can opt out of any excursion and be driven to the next stop (but bear in mind that some sites can only be visited if you walk to them). Lunches will be packed and eaten (mostly outside) at appropriate points during excursions/hikes. The weather in June can vary from proper summer conditions to something much cooler, windier, and wetter, then back again within a week (or within a day). We can expect an average daytime maximum of approximately F, and nighttime temperatures will usually drop to around 50 F. It is usually mild, but even in June we may have chilly weather on exposed and breezy coasts. You need to be prepared with clothes to cover cool and warm weather, not to mention rain. The high latitude of Scotland means that the days will be long, with an extended twilight. Complete pre-departure details will be sent to participants. Prices Do Not Include: Airfare from/to home; passport and visa fees; inoculation fees; all airport fees and departure taxes; cost of personal, trip cancellation, and baggage insurance; transportation of excess baggage; personal tips; items of a personal nature, such as laundry; alcoholic or other beverages (except as noted above); taxi, telephone, and fax charges; optional excursions or deviations from scheduled tour. Passenger Cancellation Fees: All requests by passengers for cancellations Tour Prices Per Person (9 nights) Double Occupancy (13-15 participants) $5,945 Double Occupancy (10-12 participants) $6,245 Single Supplement $845 Single room supplement will be charged when requested or required (limited availability). Prices based on a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15 participants. Your Trip Includes: Leadership of Colorado College faculty leader Eric Leonard; Arrival transfer on June 16 th from the city center to the Holiday Inn Hotel at Glasgow Airport (if required) and group flight on June 25 th from Stornoway to Glasgow; Nine nights accommodations in finest available hotels, as per the itinerary; All meals (including water, and welcome and farewell dinners with drinks); Surface transportation by air-conditioned minibuses, with filtered water provided; All boat and ferry transportation as indicated throughout the itinerary; All excursions and entrance fees as per the itinerary; Services of two professional, English-speaking guides/tour Manager; Gratuities to hotel and restaurant staff and porters, Tour Manager/Guides, and drivers; Baggage handling at hotels (one bag per person); Comprehensive pre-departure information, including a suggested reading guide, travel guide, and packing list. View from the Isle of Skye must be received in writing. Cancellations received at least 90 days prior to departure are fully refunded less an administrative fee of three hundred dollars ($300) Berit per person. Cancellations received between 89 and 60 days prior to departure are fully refunded less an administrative fee of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per person. Cancellations received within 59 days of departure are subject to 100% of the tour cost. For this and other reasons, participants are strongly encouraged to purchase trip cancellation insurance. An application will be sent with confirmation of receipt of your deposit. Air Arrangements & Transfers: Round-trip airfare from/to home is not included. If required, an arrival transfer on June 16 th from the city center to the Holiday Inn Hotel at Glasgow Airport is provided. Also provided is a group flight on June 25 th from Stornoway to Glasgow to connect with independent flights home. Your flights must arrive in Glasgow no later than 12:00 p.m. on June 16 th and depart Glasgow no earlier than 3:15 p.m. on June 25 th. Once you have received your final payment invoice, you should book your flights. If you are considering booking your flights before this time, please contact our office first. We do not accept any liability for cancellation penalties related to domestic or international airline tickets. Payments: A deposit of $1,000 per person is required to reserve your space on the tour and is payable by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or check made payable to EOS-Passenger Account-CTS WestScotland6/19. Final payment is due 90 days prior to departure and must be by personal check only; credit cards are not accepted for final payment. By submitting your deposit you are bound by the terms and conditions delineated throughout this brochure or elsewhere published. Prices, itinerary, and leader are subject to change. Prices quoted are based on group participation and no refunds will be made for any part of the program in which you choose not to participate. It is understood that refunds cannot be made to passengers who do not complete the tour for whatever reason. Berit 2017 Eos Study Tours. All rights reserved. Photos courtesy of Operator (AAWH), commons.wikimedia.org. For questions or reservations please contact us: Fax: Toll: EOS@studytours.org P.O. Box 938, 47 Main Street, Suite One, Walpole, NH 03608

6 PO Box 938, 47 Main Street, Suite One, Walpole, NH Prst Std U.S. Postage PAID Putney, VT Permit 1 Hiking Scotland s Inner & Outer Hebrides June 15-25, 2019 (11 days) with Professor of Geology Eric Leonard and a maximum of just 15 participants Maximum of just 15 participants Hiking Scotland s Inner & Outer Hebrides June 15-25, 2019 (11 days) with Professor of Geology Eric Leonard

7 Reservation Form Hiking Scotland s Inner & Outer Hebrides June 15-25, 2019 (11 days) with Professor of Geology Eric Leonard To hold your reservation for seven days while this form and your deposit are in the mail, please call us at or us at EOS@studytours.org Name 1 (as it appears on passport) Name 2 (as it appears on passport) Address Class Year Class Year City State Zip Phone (h) Phone (w) Phone (cell) (s) I/We have read the What to Expect section and am/are physically able to participate fully on the program. ACCOMMODATIONS: Double (one bed) Twin (two beds) Single I will be sharing with: I am a Non-smoker Smoker Share-please assign a roommate (not guaranteed) Please share my contact information with potential roommate(s). RESERVATIONS & PAYMENT: A deposit of $1,000 per person is required to confirm a reservation. Final payment is due 90 days prior to departure. You will receive an invoice for final payment. Please note that credit cards are not accepted for final payment. All prices and payments are in US dollars. DEPOSIT TYPE (PLEASE CHECK ONE): Check payable to: EOS Passenger Account CTS WestScotland6/19 Visa Master Card American Express CC# Exp. Date 3- or 4-Digit Code Name on Card Please complete this reservation form, sign the release statement below, enclose your deposit, and mail, Submit by , or fax to: Colorado College Travel Study P.O. Box 938, Walpole, NH Fax: EOS@studytours.org By signing this form, you are acknowledging that you have read and agree to all Terms & Conditions delineated throughout. I understand that checking this box constitutes a legal signature confirming that I acknowledge and agree to the Terms & Conditions in this document. Signature (participant #1) Signature (participant #2) Date and Time Date and Time Submit

8 TERMS AND CONDITIONS, RELEASE OF LIABILITY, ASSUMPTION OF RISK AND BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT RESPONSIBILITY: Eos Study Tours, Colorado College, and its and their employees, shareholders, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors or trustees, successors and assigns (collectively Sponsor ), do not own or operate any entity which is to or does provide goods or services for your trip including, for example, lodging facilities; airline, vessel, or other transportation companies; guides or guide services; local ground operators; providers or organizers of optional excursions; food service or entertainment providers; etc. All such persons and entities are independent contractors. As a result, Sponsor is not liable for any negligent or willful act or failure to act of any such person or of any other third party. In addition and without limitation, Sponsor is not responsible for any injury, loss, death, inconvenience, delay, or damage to person or property in connection with the provision of any goods or services whether resulting from, but not limited to, acts of force majeure; acts of God; acts of government; acts of war or civil unrest, insurrection or revolt; bites from or attacks by animals, insects, or pests; strikes or other labor activities; criminal or terrorist activities of any kind or the threat thereof; sickness, illness, epidemics or the threat thereof; the lack of availability of or access to medical attention or the quality thereof; overbooking or downgrading of accommodations; mechanical or other failure of airplanes, vessels, or other means of transportation; or for any failure of any transportation mechanism to arrive or depart timely or safely. In addition, Sponsor is not liable for its own negligence, and participant assumes all risk thereof. CHANGES IN ITINERARY OR FEATURES: Sponsor reserves the right to change the itinerary or trip features at any time and for any reason, with or without notice, and Sponsor shall not be liable for any loss of any kind as a result of any such changes. Sponsor may cancel a trip (or an option) for any reason whatsoever; if so, its sole responsibility is to refund monies paid by the participant. Sponsor is not required to cancel any trip for any reason including, without limitation, United States Department of State, World Health Organization, or other Warnings or Advisories of any kind. Sponsor is not responsible for penalties assessed by air carriers resulting from operational and/or itinerary changes, even if Sponsor makes the flight arrangements or cancels the trip. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute hotels or attractions of a similar category for those listed in this brochure. LUGGAGE: Luggage allowance policies are set by the airlines and may change without prior notice. PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY: All programs require physical independence and mobility. Any physical or mental condition that may require special medical attention or physical assistance (for example, the need of a wheelchair) must be reported in writing when you make your reservation. Participants requiring assistance must travel with a companion who will assist them throughout and will be responsible for handling equipment. Participants must be able to embark or disembark motor coaches alone or with minimal assistance from their traveling companion, and climb stairs and step over raised thresholds without assistance. REFUNDS: Prices quoted are based on group participation. No refunds will be made for any part of the program in which participants choose not to participate. Refunds cannot be made to participants who do not complete the tour for any reason, nor to participants whose entry into any country on the itinerary is delayed or denied. TRIP INSURANCE: Sponsor strongly recommends that participants purchase trip cancellation insurance. In the event that you must cancel your participation, trip cancellation insurance may be the only source of reimbursement. Trip cancellation insurance is available through Sponsor and others and covers certain expenses in conjunction with cancellation due to illness or accident and damaged or lost luggage. Sponsor will send participants an application upon receipt of their reservation. RATES: Prices quoted are based on fares in effect at the time of printing and are subject to changes at any time. On all programs, even after full payment, Sponsor reserves the right to increase the tour price in the event of cost increases due to changes in supplier costs, tax increases, currency fluctuations or fuel and energy surcharges, and all such increases are to be paid to Sponsor upon notice to the participant of such increases. FORUM AND METHODOLOGY FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION: Any dispute or claim which refers or relates to this contract, any literature related to the trip, or the trip itself shall be litigated solely and exclusively in and for courts in Keene, New Hampshire, subject to substantive and procedural New Hampshire law, and for this limited purpose, the parties agree to exclusive venue and personal jurisdiction therein. At the participant s option, however, in lieu of litigation, Sponsor will agree to binding arbitration in Keene, New Hampshire, subject to substantive, but not procedural, New Hampshire law, pursuant to the then existing commercial rules of the American Arbitration Association. In any such arbitration, the arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, conscionability, or formation of this contract, including but not limited to any claim that all or any part of this contract is void or voidable. CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS: Sponsor reserves the right to cancel this tour prior to departure, in which case payment will be refunded without further obligation on our part. However, if trip cancellation, itinerary changes, and/or delays are mandated by causes beyond our control, the participant shall have the option of accepting in lieu of the original tour such rescheduled tour or other substituted tour(s) as may be offered by Sponsor, or else, receiving a refund of as much of such advance tour expenditures as Sponsor is able to recover on the participant s behalf from carriers, third-party tour vendors, etc. Sponsor, however, shall not have any obligation or liability to the participant beyond the foregoing. U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT & CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Both the U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control publish and update important country-specific information for travelers. We strongly recommend that you review them. They can presently be found at: and MISCELLANEOUS: Participants should not purchase airline tickets prior to receiving your final payment invoice so as to avoid airline cancellation penalties if a tour is canceled or otherwise modified subsequent to the participant s purchase of those tickets. Baggage and personal effects are at all times the sole responsibility of the participant. If, due to weather, flight schedules or other uncontrollable factors, you are required to spend an additional night(s), you will be responsible for your own hotel, transfers, and meal costs. Baggage is entirely at owner s risk. Sponsor reserves the right to decline to accept or retain any participant at any time. The right is reserved to decline to accept as a participant, or remove from a trip, without refund, any person it judges to be incapable of meeting the rigors and requirements of participating in the activities, or who is abusive to other trip participants, leaders, or third parties, or who is determined to detract from the enjoyment of the trip by others. Specific room assignments are within the sole discretion of the hotel. ACCEPTANCE OF CONTRACT: By forwarding of deposit, the participant certifies that he/she agrees with these terms and conditions, and accepts the terms contained in these Terms and Conditions, Release of Liability, Assumption of Risk and Binding Arbitration Agreement.