Visiting the coastal Highland community of Gairloch

Following our Easter break, this was our third weekly visit in a row, and saw us this time heading up to the remote community of Gairloch in the Highlands. Although on the mainland, it still involved a 7 hour drive up from Glasgow, routing via Fort William and Inverness to collect Scott from the airport. As the summer approaches, we are finding it harder to find affordable accommodation, but this time were lucky to find a lovely B&B in the heart of the community. We woke to bright sunshine and light winds, which lasted throughout our first visit to Gairloch High School, where the team worked with 63 S1 to S3 pupils on a range of more advanced workshops, including Modern Telescope, Robotic Telescope and Hunting for Asteroids. We were delighted to answer many questions about science careers, and even spoke to pupils that were intent on pursuing a career in astronomy. AFter school, we were joined by 20 members of the local community, and some pupils from nearby schools, for a series of mini-talks about Gravity, the Nature of Light and the Solar System.

Our second day was spent in the adjacent primary school, where we spent a full day with 70 delightful pupils, who responded really well to all the astronomy on offer, which included hands-on solar system activities, and working on the laptops to hunt for hazardous asteroids and learning what astronomers do to keep us safe, and what humanity can do should a threat arise in the form of a space rock. The weather remained good for the day and remained so for our journey back through the Highlands to Inverness and beyond.