School Workshop at Ballachulish Primary School (from Norman Bissell)
It went very well, on Monday, Birgit and I stopped at the Castle Stalker Cafe and at Glenachulish on the way to the school and had a good 45 minute session with Sam Clark and a full class of P5, 6 and 7 pupils who seemed keen and soon got the idea. I've arranged to meet Sam and 12 pupils in total (drawn from each age group) on Monday at 1.30 pm on the path near the entrance to the Ballachulish Bridge.
Near or at the platform would be one possibility for seating, signage etc., although the traffic going on to the Bridge is quite noisy there. Further back along the path by the small bridge over the river would be better sound-wise but would probably be too close for access to the houses by the golf course. If we can get a look on Monday at the path further back by the lochside towards the Holly Tree, perhaps that would be a place cyclists and walkers would rather stop with more open views? I'll email Sam and see if it would also be possible for us to go along there after writing and drawing at the platform area.
Another possible title for the route I came up with is The Birlinn Way which would relate both to the Highland galleys which used to go up that coast and to the Scots word birl for going round, like the wheels of a bike. Let's go for a birl on the Birlinn Way! It would also fit in well with the idea of upright paddles for signage. Sam and the kids seemed to like the suggestion of possibly naming parts of the route within the overall name, which would give travellers a sense of the changing areas they're passing through. What do you think?
Anyway, here are some short poems I wrote about that part of the path which I'll also send to Sam to give him and the pupils further food for thought.
