My Independent Mapping Project: Isle of Skye 2014

The Cuillin Mountains

This is the second part of a post I wrote a few days ago to share with you guys the experience I undertook last summer. You can catch up on the first part here if you like :)
Although I kind of wish I had started this blog last summer so I could have written about it nearer the time, I feel like a post reflecting on what it was like is probably more interesting.

My mapping partner Abbi and I decided to map in the Isle of Skye for several reasons. Being able to speak the language (sort of), use the good old British pound and the fact we would still be able to use our phones being among them. Although what really sold it to me though was the tales Abbi had told me of a family holiday she had been on there and how beautiful it was.

The process of organizing a 6 week excursion began over 6 months before and we had meetings with our mapping supervisor Lisa and the 5 other mapping pairs who would be joining us in Skye. Lisa advised us on what to expect from Skye and how to prepare. We organized our accommodation by renting two cottages which we miraculously managed to secure for the entire 6 weeks.

Before the trip I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of full grain leather walking boots and an incredibly sexy midge hat as per Lisas advice. Turned out to be good advice and I am glad I listened.

Our final preparation for the Independent Mapping Project was the uni packing our year group off to Anglesey in Wales for a week long field trip in early June. This was an intense trip as we only had a week to understand what the hell was going on in this area. Feeling exhasusted from the trip we headed home to start sorting our lives out before going to Skye.

Driving along.

The next task was we had to make and print off our field slips ourselves. This is not something we had done before and obviously you cannot just print it off onto any old paper. It has to be SPECIAL paper. So Abbi and I drove back to uni to make them and this was also my first test drive of Abbis car which would be our transport to Skye. It took us bloody hours to make these maps but we were reasonably pleased with our efforts considering we had left this until the last minute.

All too soon the day had arrived and Abbi arrived at my house to pick me up. We chucked all my stuff in the car (we took a ridiculous amount of stuff) and off we went. We tried to pretend we were excited and I got used to driving Abbis car which is much more powerful than my own. By sharing the driving we managed to get all the way to Loch Lomand by the end of the day where Abbis lovely parents had booked us into a beautiful hotel with dinner.

Our cute cottage (with HOT TUB).

The next day we continued on our next leg and arrived in Skye by mid afternoon. We eventually located our cottage where we were staying in Elgol with 2 other mapping pairs which was perfect.
Apart from the bed situation as Abbi and I were sharing a double. While we are great friends this is obviously less than ideal.

Our first week was mostly spent messing about locating ourselves within our mapping area and getting used to the crazy roads. Our mapping supervisor Lisa came up to visit us to give us a few key pointers but in truth left us with more questions than before!

Little BASTARDS.

Once Lisa had left we were on our own and we started to get into the rhythm of things. The hardest part was staying motivated as it gets very monotonous. When you are doing the same thing, day in, day out its hard to spring out of bed every morning with enthusiasm. If its pouring with rain (which it probably is) you know you will be out in it all day and after a few hours even the most high tech waterproof gear will leak. You are frantically trying to keep your work dry in your weatherwriter but every time you try to write your wet sleeve smears water all over the page. You decide you hate your life and every decision you have made that has meant you have ended up here. Along with the crappy weather comes the midges. I hate those effing things. Not only are you soaking wet but you are being eaten alive. The highlights of the day for me included lunch and getting back in the car taking my soaking wet boots off.

Standard view: a campervan

All in all it was tough. The conditions were hard. You are walking miles everyday over extremely challenging ground when you are soaked to the bone and sporting a sweaty midge hat. But the place is so heartbreakingly beautiful these days all I want to do is go back. I want to see golden eagles soaring over the Cuillins again and discover secret waterfalls not marked on the map.

Kayaking on Loch Ness (picture stolen from Zoe)

The days off were the highlight of the trip for me. We spent them visiting the Skye Serpenterium, going to Cafes, exploring the local shops, visiting Portree, going to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2 (which will forever make me cry when I hear the music), going out for dinner, heading out on a seal watching trip and going kayaking on Loch Ness. We made the damn most of those days off and I was so lucky to go out there with such lovely people.

Visiting Elgol

On the 4th week my Mum rang me to tell me that she had booked me and Abbi into a local restaurant and paid for our dinner. Abbi and I were do excited and on the Friday of that week we set off looking forward to a nice evening eating food for free. Only when we got there my parents were sat waiting! They had driven all the way from Wiltshire to come see me! I think its the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me and I spent the next day with them showing them around the island. Mum and Dad, I love you so much for that. It meant so much to see you.

The final week was a struggle. Somehow Abbi and I thought it would fly by but every painful second dragged. Even worse we had lots of work still to do but had officially run out of motivation. That final week was the hardest of all. I am still amazed even now that we managed it.

I love this girl so much.

Somehow though we made it and that moment of blissful relief was worth all the stress and hard work. We were finally finished!!! Abbi and I celebrated with an indoor picnic of smoked salmon, baked camembert, kettle chips and lots of Prosecco while hurling all our shit into bags. We headed home the next day after visiting Dunvegan Castle which is a seriously cool place.

I am not sure I ever want to repeat my experience of mapping. But I do want to go back to the Isle of Skye and I would love to visit other parts of Scotland. After living there for 6 weeks it started to feel like home and I actually genuinely miss it. Apart from here. I do not miss our mapping area of Broadford Bay AT ALL.

Broadford Bay. No. Just no.