If you're an undergrad Geology student, chances are you've been hearing people banging on about your Independent Mapping Project from the moment you downloaded the course prospectus.

Now that you're in the last semester of your second year and you're finally staring it in the face, it's time to start preparing for what will undoubtedly be one of the toughest challenges you've ever faced.

Don't listen to students in the year above you who tell you how awesome it was and all of their clutch-your-sides-from-laughing stories. They're lying to you. The same way women who've had children tell first time mums that you forget all the pain once you hold your baby for the first time. That's a tactful way of saying that labour and birth really does hurt like a motherfucker, it's just worth it in the end.

Same with mapping. It is HARD (although probably not quite as hard as childbirth but you get my point). But you too will survive it and become one of those asshole third years who regale innocent second years with hilarious stories and conveniently miss out how the daily grind can wear you down.

So here are my tips to make sure you're well prepared!

1. Start your prep early

By that I mean do not leave it until you only have a few weeks to go to start making arrangements. Ideally you need to start 6 months before you leave.

Probably one of the few days where it wasn't raining :D

2. Consider your choice of mapping partner carefully

In my opinion this can be the most critical decision you make. You will spend eight hours a day with them for 6 weeks. Just the two of you alone. Chances are you will probably be living with them too and you are quite likely to be sharing a room together too. My mapping partner and I even had to share a double bed for 6 weeks. Plus we had four fabulous days cooped up in a car together traveling to Scotland and back. Luckily we managed it all without a cross word.

How did we do this? We mapped together before and we were good friends. We approached our mapping as a partnership and we were a team. The project itself might be 'independent' but you and your mapping partner MUST be on board. You have to make lots of little decisions together daily.

Where are we going today? Whats our plan? What are we trying to achieve? Try and pick someone with a similar level of physical ability to yourself. My mapping partner was fitter than I was and I had to push myself to keep up with her pace but overall we were reasonably equally matched. Especially by the end of the trip. If you have different attitudes about wanting to scramble up vertical cliff faces to reach an interesting outcrop or climb an actual mountain daily then you might be in for a conflict filled 6 weeks.

Plus you will need to take days off. Nobody can map for 30 days straight without going insane. So you need to be able to have a laugh together when you're not working.

My top tips? Pick someone who is a good friend, understands you, has a similar work ethic and fitness level and try to map together beforehand as a practice run.

Better to find out halfway through a week long field trip they're driving you nuts than when you're on day 10 in the pissing rain and you're contemplating pushing them in a river.

Our holiday cottage that we rented, complete with hot tub ;)

3. Book your accommodation asap

As soon as you know where you are going and how many of you are going, book your accommodation STRAIGHT AWAY. Chances are you will be mapping during the summer holidays, which is peak tourist season for just about everywhere you could possibly go.

As a result, accommodation gets booked up fast. Especially when you want to book it out for 6 weeks at a time.

Try and negotiate a lower price as you will be staying for a lengthy period as high summer tends to command peak prices. If you are mapping somewhere popular like I did (the Isle of Skye has been the training ground for generations of geologists), then you may find that lots of cottage owners are very used to geology students.

The owners of the cottage we stayed in rent to geologists for the majority of the summer. As soon as one group leaves, the next one arrives. One of the best places for a recommendation is to ask the students who went the year before you and see if they can put you in touch with someone.

You will be stuck behind a campervan 98% of the time

4. Make your travel arrangements

Think seriously about how you are going to get to your mapping area. And I don't just mean from where you go to uni to whatever far flung location the uni have chosen for you to map in, but also how you will get from your accommodation to your mapping area.  

For some groups from my uni this was simple as everything was walking distance. Not so for us. My mapping partner and I had a 45 min commute each way along terrifying single track, sheep filled highland roads. A car was 100% essential for us in Skye. Taking a car can have it's pros and cons. It cost us an absolute fortune in fuel, but it became our safe haven. Sitting in it shivering with the heating on full blast and watching the rain lash down is one of my fondest memories of Skye.

So think about your travel arrangements and get planning them as soon as you know where you are staying.

5. Create and print your field slips well in advance

If your uni wants you to do this yourself then do it well ahead of time. Do not leave it to two days before departure like I did. It took me a whole day to make them and it was incredibly stressful.

Get ahead of the game and do this when you have lots of time to tackle it calmly. The finished result will be better too.

6. Make copies

Print off at least one spare copy of your field slips and leave them at your accommodation. If a gust of wind happens to catch your field slip and send it off somewhere irretrievable you will be incredibly grateful you had the foresight to make a spare.

Everyone's boots drying by the fire. My Brashers on the right stuffed with newspaper and away from the heat because I was stupid enough to put my foot in a bog that day

7. Seriously consider some new walking boots

My lecturer said she would recommend we all bought a pair of full grain leather boots to take to Skye with us and to avoid anything with Goretex as they don't keep your feet dry for long.

I listened to her and splashed out on a new pair of Brasher full leather walking boots as my current pair at the time were a pair of Regatta ones I fished out of a bargain bin at an outdoor discount store and paid £5.99 for. They had lasted me well but were starting to fall apart and they were made of goretex.

This was the best piece of advice I ever listened to. Unless I actually submerged my foot in a bog (which I did do several times) my feet were dry throughout the trip. I still have the boots and they're still fantastic. Everyone else on the trip had very good quality boots but they weren't full leather and they all had wet feet at the end of each day. Quite a few peoples boots were ruined by the end of it and they ended up replacing them anyway.  

If you are going mapping anywhere in the UK I suggest you do the same. You will be forever grateful. The few days I did have wet feet were utterly miserable and this is avoidable (as long as you watch where you are putting your feet). Make sure they are thoroughly worn in before you go.

Although Brasher don't seem to still sell the pair I have these ones looks quite similar. 

People aren't exaggerating when they say the midges can be really bad in Skye

8.  Purchase any additional kit you need

What you need exactly will be specific to where you are going but if you are mapping in Skye get yourself a decent midge hat, midge repellent, good quality waterproof trousers and a proper coat. A weather writer is an absolute must if you don't already have one.

If you are going somewhere hot you will obviously need different kit. Chat to your lecturer who is running the trip and the students who went the year before. They will tell you what will be helpful.

9. Check your existing kit

Check you have it all, it still works and replace anything if needed. Make sure you have enough notebooks.

If you are mapping in the UK you must be prepared for all weathers. We had a three day heatwave (that lasted three weeks back home) and we both got completely sun burnt as we were caught off guard. 

Pack sun cream, even if you're going to the Hebrides. You just don't know what the weather will do!

10. Check if there is a BGS map available

Or the local equivalent if you are off abroad. The BGS maps aren't done in the same scale but they are a valuable resource that can be used.

Bear in mind that they are also just someone's interpretation and may not be completely accurate...

11. Photo copy and laminate useful reference material

If there is some useful info you think might help you in the field (log keys, relevant section of the BGS map, rock descriptions etc) then photocopy them and laminate them. Keep them in the back of your weather writer.

They can be extremely useful in the field when you just want to check something for reference as chances are you won't have any phone reception.

12. Order any prescriptions you need well in advance

It's no good running out while you're out there. You could be mapping somewhere extremely rural or even in a different country, which could make getting your medication extremely difficult. Try to make sure you have enough to last you.

Ladies, if you are taking a contraceptive pill I would recommend taking it back to back while you map to avoid the hassle and aggravation of being on your period. Chances are there is nowhere to even have a wee in comfort let alone change a tampon. It is completely fine to take more than one strip back to back too. Ask your doctor if you're not sure.

13. Try to do some reading around the subject

Find some books and reference material to read before you go. If you find anything useful print it off and take it with you. 

14. Chat to the students in the year above

They will be your greatest resource for help. This is particularly true once you get back and you're struggling to interpret your results.

They've been there and done it before so don't be afraid to ask them for advice. Just take all anecdotes with a pinch of salt, as 30 days of staring at rocks is enough to make anyone a little bit loopy.

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.