The Gaelic Rings, Cearcaill na Gaidhlig…  an evocative name that echoes in the mind. It has a mystery, a sense of exclusivity to the point of secrecy. It could be the title of a book – and it is. It might be a society – and it is. It might be something that can admit or reject – which is interesting – but it isn’t.

The Gaelic Rings form the shared brand for the west coast highlands of Scotland from Islay to Lewis and from Kennacraig to Ullapool. The ‘rings’ are travel routes – like Ireland’s famous Ring of Kerry. They are adventures into a unique marriage of place and culture, lands and their physical connections informed down the years by the Gaelic language and culture.

The Gaelic Rings project is about inclusiveness not exclusion. It exists to share these places and this culture with anyone interested in getting closer to it. The focus is therefore on access and this means transport.

There are six Gaelic Rings, initially based on the parcels of routes branded by ferry operator, Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) as its ‘hopscotch‘ collection. Each of the six rings has its own colour to identify it. They are:

• Oban to Coll and Tiree (Green)
• Kennacraig to Islay, Colonsay and Oban (Blue)
• Fort William to Mallaig, Skye, North Uist, Berneray, Harris, Lewis and Ullapool (Turquoise)
• Oban to Mull, Ardnamurchan and Skye (Purple)
• Oban to Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Skye and Mallaig (Light Brown)
• Mallaig to the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna (Red Brown)

The logo for the initiative (pictured above), designed for Cearcaill na Gaidhlig by The Creative Cell, has the rings set in an upward spiral, like a coiled spring, full of energy, ready to launch new experiences. (The only quibble here is that it has only five rings – missing the Red Brown ring of Mallaig to the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg, Rum and Canna.)

The Gaelic Rings website will be available in Gaelic, English, Irish Gaelic, French, German, Italian Spanish, Dutch, Welsh, Breton, Chinese and Japanese – reaching a worldwide audience with interests in the Highlands and in the Gaelic culture.

Today, Tuesday 7th April, Cearcaill na Gaidhlig took over Oban Airport to announce new partners joining the existing partners in the project. The event centred on Argyll Air Service operators, Highland Airways, the first airline to join the initiative.

It’s obvious just how radical a set of possibilities are brought to the project by Highland Airways. The original Gaelic Rings, created and served by ferry routes, are now open to individual and new permutations, supported by air routes. Air and ferry routes can now be combined to suit personal itineraries and to offer a variety of experiences of journeying in this beautiful and haunting place.

Maximising the potential advantage to travellers will mean some route and scheduling development – and that is what the Gaelic Rings partnership exists to do. It is the spur to the creation of an integrated transport network for the west coast of Scotland. This is the excitement of the initiative.

Existing partners in the project are Argyll and Bute Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highland Council, Bord na Gaidhlig, Comunn na Gaidhlig, CalMac, VisitScotland and Hitrans - Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership.

Along with Highland Airways, they are now joined by Oban Airport; Loganair (Flybe’s franchise partner); Highlands and Islands Airports (HIAL); Scottish Citylink; West Coast Motors; Shiel Buses (Acharacle); National Trust for Scotland (NTS); Proiseact nan Ealan (the Gaelic Arts Agency). Negotiations are ongoing with ScotRail and other travel and cultural partners and further announcements are to be hoped for in the coming months.

The inclusion of Loch Lomond Seaplanes would capitalise on what is already one of Scotland’s most popular experiences for visitors. It already flies from the Clyde to Oban and Tobermory and is independently considering extending its routes to Skye.

At the launch, Joe McPhee, Project Leader for Cearcaill na Gaidhlig and Development Manager for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar introduced a stunning DVD commissioned from Bees Knees for the Gaelic rings by The Creative Cell and featuring the landscapes of the west coast accompanied by music from Runrig.

Reading aloud a few lines – in Gaelic and in English – from the poetic lyrics of the Runrig song, Joe McPhee noted its use of the word ‘contentment’. He described his own feeling in driving south through the land of the Gaelic Rings from his home in Stornoway to Oban as one of contentment. This was one of the profound insights of the event – the distillation of everything in its place and culture that the Gaelic Rings project exists to share – the excitement, the visual delight, the pleasure, the belonging, the ease – to the single word few utter – contentment.

Colin Munro from Highland Airways pointed to the close fit in philosophy between the niche service of Highland Airways and the cultural specificity of the Gaelc Rings. He also sees advantage for Highland Airways in the cross-marketing potential between the various transport partners in the project.

Michael Russell, Minister for Gaelic, says: ‘This is an excellent initiative, combining some of Scotland’s most distinctive assets, including our landscape, language, culture and heritage.  The promotional materials are beautifully and imaginatively produced, and I am sure will attract many people to develop their understanding of Gaelic culture’.

Councillor Duncan MacIntyre from Argyl and Bute Council and Chair of Hitrans is excited by the sheer potential of the integrated trransport system that is there to be progressively developed – much of it to the great benefit of Argyll. Justifiably paying tribute to the imagination of the Council in developing the new airport at Oban, he indicated that Hitrans is looking at developing a similar facility at Broadford in Skye and then, possibly, at Glenforsa on Mull.

Were the flight from Glasgow to Campbeltown to return to its previous extension to Islay, then on to Tiree, Oban and back to Glasgow… And were Colonsay to be linked to Islay…

This is a project that invites such dreaming.

The calibre of the event itself today is worth noting. The work done for the Gaelic rings project by The Creative Cell is first class, as is that of the sub-contractors they brought in 0n the job: tv producers,  Bees Nees; the PR company, Media House; SSK Conferences & Live Events; Oban’s  Cafe Atlantis, brought in to do the catering; and Barry McCaig with all of the airport’s own staff and their obvious commitment to the services it enables.

Note for Loganair: In research for this article we discovered that the Loganair Flight Routes Map has transposed the islands of Islay and Tiree.

The photographs above, reproduced with permission of coyright holder Rebecca Martin, show:

• Top, from the left, Joe McPhee, Project Leader of Cercaill na Gaidhlig; Duncan MacIntyre, Councillor and Chair of Hitrans; Colin Munro of Highland Airways, pictured at the event
  
• An Islander aircraft of Argyll Air Service oeprated by Highland Airways, on the tarmac at Oban Airport during the launch.
  

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