Saturday, October 14, 2006
I never want to see another rock again
Okay,
maybe it’s not quite that bad, but I have had my fill for a little while. Today
was my geology field trip (on a Saturday!) to Stonehaven. I knew it was going
to be a long day when I had to wake up at 7am (anyone who knows me will
understand my consternation…I am so
not a morning person!) I did manage to somewhat coherently get dressed and put
on the hiking boots that I had borrowed from my flatmate and slowly walk to
campus. When I got there, we picked up some handout about Stonehaven and then
were each issued a hardhat. That’s right folks; this would be the first time
that I’ve ever had to wear a hardhat…so fashionable and comfy. *sarcasm alert*
I was soon seated comfortably (the last time I would feel this way for the next
8 hours) on the bus, and we began our drive to Stonehaven, which is only about
10-15 miles or so from the Aberdeen city border. As we approached the city, I
was amazed. Through the coach (bus) windows, I could see the expanse of the
North Sea stretching on for miles…it was quite a spectacular view. The people
who live here take the North Sea and its vistas for granted, I think. Soon we
were parked next to the beach in Stonehaven and proceeded to assemble into two
groups. After a few minutes of standing around and general slacking off, we
were herded toward the beach. I had never been to Stonehaven (or indeed, really
any place in Scotland other than Aberdeen), so I’ve never experienced walking
along a rock beach before. That’s right, there’s not really much sand, just big
rocks and boulders. After taking my first few steps over the rocks, I realized
that I would be spending the next several hours silently praying to myself that
I wouldn’t slip and completely embarrass myself in front of so many people.
I’ll
spare you the actual details of what we were learning and the sketches that we
had to draw of rock outcrops, as I’m sure many of you wouldn’t understand or
care. Suffice it to say that we were crammed full of rock knowledge and other
little tidbits. I should mention, however, that this part of the day was spent
on relatively level ground on the beach…this was to be the easiest part of the
day, I soon found out. By noon, we had walked so far from where we had started
from (luckily, we were told that we would only be walking one way and that the
coaches would meet us later in the day further down the road), and finally came
to a dead end. What were we going to do now? Ah yes, of course, we were
expected to scale the steep muddy grassy hill! I felt like such a moron…let’s
just say that I didn’t scale that hill with as much grace as I would have
liked.
We
finally emerged on the other side (being much more muddy and dirty than we had
begun the day) to be greeted by a huge outcrop of igneous rocks (formed from
lava). Keep in mind that these rocks were piled quite high and were all wet
from the earlier high tide. I assumed that our teacher was just going to point
out some features and that we would move onward. Uh, nope.
We had to scamper across the top of this outcropping to reach the area that my
teacher wanted to discuss. Hmm, yes, did I mention that I have a fear of
heights, and that coupled with wet slippery rocks didn’t inspire warm fuzzy
feelings about this excursion? I managed to make it to the group, but did slip
at one point, with my foot landing in a huge puddle and the bottom of my right
pant leg becoming soaked. Was all this climbing worth it, you might be asking?
No, I don’t think so. We sat there for all of 5 minutes talking about pillow
lava and how it was formed before we had to get up and climb back the exact way
we had just come. Och, trying to climb that outcrop
once was fine, but trying twice was tempting fate a bit much for my taste.
Luckily, I managed to make it back without slipping at all. Whew. We then met
up with the other group and had lunch in this grassy patch found between the
rocks. Below is a picture taken from where I was sitting. Keep a close eye on
the cliff directly opposite me. I have placed a red line on it, which I will
discuss in a moment.
Lunch
was over far too quickly, and we then proceeded towards the beach again. Oh yes,
did I mention that in order to get down to the beach we had to walk (I use the
term loosely, as the path was quite muddy and slippery) down a pretty steep
downhill path. In the end, I did reach the bottom without falling…sure, there
was some general flailing about with my hands, but I managed to remain standing
the whole time. *pat on the back for me* Our teacher
pointed out some more rocky features, of which I will again spare you the
details. We continued walking along the beach until we came to another dead
end. Fear instantly rose up inside me…I remembered what we did the last time we
came to a dead end, and this time there was nothing but a near vertical cliff
in front of us. Now what?
Time to
climb the cliff! I kid you not. Remember that red line in the picture above?
Well, that is the exact path that we climbed to get to the top of the ‘hill’ (I
use this term very, very loosely, as this monster seemed
more like a mountain to me!) This was probably one of the most terrifying
things that I’ve ever done in my entire life. There really was no path, and the
cliffside was quite muddy. Did I mention that this area of the cliffside had to
be oriented at least at 70 degrees (meaning it felt like I was trying to scale
a nearly vertical wall)? Oh yes, did you also remember that I have a deadly
fear of heights? (I am not exaggerating…my legs start shaking excessively just
climbing to the top of a step-ladder!)
In the end, I did manage to make it safely to the top, huffing and
puffing from sheer exhaustion. Our group took a resting break, so I pulled out
my camera and took a picture of the view…
Although I was perched a bit too close to the edge of this cliff for my liking, I couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful this place actually was. I only wished that the sky wasn’t overcast, as I’m sure that when clear (yeah, that happens a lot in Scotland!), you would be able to see for miles from this vantage point. Alright, now it’s time to put this cliff climb of mine into perspective. Below is a picture that illustrates everything perfectly. In the middle right of the picture, you’ll see the second group gathered around a geological feature. Compare their relative size to that of the cliff immediately in front of them. I would estimate that the cliff was approximately 100 feet, at least. Yeah, this is what I was forced to scale just minutes before! At the top of the picture, you can also see the strange Stonehaven golf course that is perched on the edge of the cliff. How crazy do people have to be to actually attempt to play golf on the edge of a bloody cliff!?
Well, I thought that once I had conquered this cliff of pure evil, my day would have gotten better. I’m wrong quite a bit. We walked along the top of this cliff (across a portion of the golf course) and began to follow this tiny little winding path that was all of 6 inches away from the edge of a plummeting cliffside. By this time, I was nearly in tears as my fear of heights threatened to overcome me. In the end, I managed to check my emotions (except perhaps for the little whimper that kept coming out of my mouth) enough to continue walking with the rest of the group. We followed this horrible path for what seemed like an eternity before again coming to a point where we had to descend along a slippery, muddy path. Again, I surprisingly managed to remain upright during this period. We again came to another outcropping of terribly fascinating rocks (okay, that was a bit sarcastic, and in any other circumstance I really would have found it interesting, but after feeling like I was going to throw up from fright, I really wasn’t in the mood to enjoy more rocks). After a little while we began to follow yet another path, and so began our 20 minute nature walk back to the coaches. It was muddy and uphill most of the way, and I was so exhausted that I could barely finish it. However, once the coaches honed into view, my speed picked up and practically jogged the rest of the way.
And so ends my traumatic day. In some ways it was a very good day, but in others it was one of the worst days of my life. At least it’s over. I never wanted to walk anywhere ever again…oh, but wait, what’s this? Ah yes, after getting back to uni at around 4pm, I had to walk the 25 minutes back to my flat! I don’t think I’ve ever trudged so slowly along a street in my life. Nevertheless, I did manage to make it to my flat alive, which I suppose is all that matters. Well, exhaustion and sore muscles call me to my bed, so I will leave you all to laugh at my pain now.