Welcome to the rock of ages Why Scots geology is a magnet for a whole new type of tourist
AROUND 1.2 billion years ago – give or take a few million – the northwest of Scotland was shaken to its core and a huge chunk of rock weighing nearly a quarter-of-a-million tons, and longer than a jumbo jet, took a tumble.
It twisted as it fell and landed at a right angle to the other rocks around it, creating a geological anomaly that would oversee the arrival of plants, see off dinosaurs, witness the evolution of continents and animals and, eventually, become a familiar spot for the humans who set up home in the small village of Clachtoll.
At around three billion years old, the boulder is Lewisian gneiss making it among the world’s oldest rocks. And the story behind how it came to be positioned at an unusual angle on the white sandy beach in Lochinver would only emerge in recent years following research by a team led by a Masters student at Durham University.
Considered to be the oldest rockfall yet to be found on land, according to geology tour operator James Cresswell it is just one reason why people from around the world are coming to Scotland to look at rocks.
His business, GeoWorld Travel, runs geology tours to destinations from Antarctica to Iceland, Nepal to Switzerland and to sites as diverse as the Grand Canyon, Kalahari Desert diamond mines and Oman’s Semail Ophiolite, a sheet of oceanic crust and upper mantle.
Yet Scotland is his top destination. Tours are sold out two years in advance and he reckons there is enough demand to sell out many more times over.
“Scotland is probably my most popular tour,” he said. “If I wasn’t travel-minded myself and keen to go elsewhere, I could probably just concentrate on providing nothing but tours to Scotland.”
US visitors
AMERICANS are at the front of the queue and many arrive eager to see spots studied by the “father of geology” James Hutton, he explained.
“Scotland is incredibly important for any geologist,” Mr Cresswell added. “The most important geology site of all is Siccar Point between Edinburgh and Berwick.
“You have to climb down a steep side of a cliff to get to it. But it’s a pilgrimage for anyone who is a geologist.”
It was there, in 1788, that geologist Hutton studied the “unconformity” of the older tilted rock layers and overlying flatter, younger layers. His theory challenged popular understanding of the Earth’s evolution and, in the process, upset church leaders who preached that it was all God’s work. “Scotland is one of the world’s most important geology sites,” he said. “You have the world’s oldest known rocks, the first identified thrust fault, the best Jurassic footprint on the Isle of Skye. At Clachtoll, there’s the world’s oldest known boulder and where Lairg is, a meteor hit and there is still debris to be found. There is a huge amount to see.”
While many “geotourists” are past or present students of geology, it seems there are countless others seeking a new, educational travel experience – with rocks the stars of the show.
Social media is helping to fuel interest: Instagram geologist Luisa Hendry – @scottish geologist – presents “plain English” short videos that spotlight key rock features across the country to nearly 200,000 followers.
At North West Highlands Geopark, a Unesco-accredited geopark along with Shetland and, it is hoped, Arran, manager Fiona Saywell says there are plans to boost the number of week-long geologist-led tours it runs. The geopark offers a regular summer season of guided walks for tourists and cruise ship visitors.
She added: “We are often also contacted by individuals or small groups who are visiting the area and wish to book a bespoke guided walk with a geologist.”
Geotours are also offered at Lochaber Geopark, while on the west coast island of Luing, where locals want to revive the slate industry, there are hopes the activity will attract a new wave of geotourists.
Angus Miller, of Edinburghbased Geowalks, has just returned from showing a group of 20 visitors from Wisconsin around some of Scotland’s most engaging sites. “They were blown away by it,” he said.
“Geologists from around the world come to Scotland – there is a story here that is first class, and nowhere else in the world is quite like it.”
He sees growing numbers of people in early retirement seeking to explore a long-held interest in geology and fossil hunting, and others inspired to find out more about the world around us during lockdown.
His recent group covered more than 1,000 miles in a week, spanning Edinburgh with its volcanic foundations, to Loch Lomond and the Highland Boundary Fault that illustrates the contrast between the Highlands and Lowlands.
Further north, within the North West Highland Geopark, they took in classic hills like Suilven and Stac Pollaidh, and lesser-known spots such as Laxford Bridge where there are three different ages of rock by the side of the road telling a story spanning millions of years.
“Tourists love that you can be in Edinburgh and see the impact that geology has had on the landscape and the people there, and within an hour be looking at the Highland Boundary Fault.
“If you are a geologist thinking about a holiday and wanting to see geology, then Scotland is probably top of the list,” Mr Miller added.
“Scotland needs to be looking to the future of tourism, and geology is the one thing that’s missing.”
At the Scottish Geology Trust, members like Mr Miller are counting up the success of a fiveweek festival of more than 100 talks, events, online presentations, boat trips and exhibitions.
‘Rock doctor’
ACCORDING to festival director Dr Katie Strang, one recent event at Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum saw more than 800 people arrive with rocks in hand to have them checked over by a “rock doctor”.
Other events have drawn visitors from across the UK, while an open session at Fossil Grove in Victoria Park, Glasgow, where fossilised tree stumps that are 325 million years old are housed within a Victorian shelter, saw more than 300 people turn up.
“The festival has had an amazing reaction,” she says. “We are used to getting enquiries from people around the world particularly America, Australia and New Zealand.
“They know Scotland is where the science of geology started and it’s where a lot of the complex theories and processes were worked out. We are quite a small country, but we have such a variety of geology that covers a wide range of periods.”
The trust recently launched its Geosites project, an online map which will feature 1,500 sites of national and international importance, enabling users to zoom into geological features around the country to find out more about them.
In addition to well-known sites such as Corrieshalloch Gorge near Ullapool – carved by melting ice at the end of the last Ice Age – it also pinpoints areas rich in fossils, many of them in the Carboniferous central belt and often where even locals might never think of to look for a tetrapod or coprolite, fossilised faeces.
“People are usually quite amazed to find that in Fife we have rocks that are much older than the dinosaurs,” said Dr Strang, a palaeontologist who helped national body NatureScot develop an updated code for fossil collection in Scotland.
At NatureScot, geologist Dr Colin MacFadyen said Scotland’s remarkable geodiversity is a national asset.
“As well as our geoparks, Scotland has many individual iconic geosites that are known and recognised internationally which draw geotourists from across the world.”
Scotland is where the science of geology started and it’s where a lot of the complex theories and processes were worked out