Day 12:
An outcrop right next to a contact we found. This is a classic grey sandstone that covers a decent chunk of our mapping area.
For day 12 we set off back to the east mountain with a plan to have a nice chill day doing the little hill on the edge of our area we have been referring to as 'baby bump'. Baby bump ended up being incredibly interesting and we managed to locate our first definite contact and get it onto our maps. This was a long time coming for us and hopes were high. We did a 26 outcrop day with minimal climbing as well as finding a new path home so came back for dinner very happy.
The weather was particularly nice today and we even had a cute little family dinner in the garden. Finishing off our evening with love island and booking tickets to go see the barbie movie next week was the perfect end to what we thought was the last day before a rest. We were, however, wrong. A last minute check of the weather forecast showing horrible rain on friday meant a change of plans and our rest day being moved to then. Back in the field again tomorrow.
Day 13:
Catherine wading through some of the ferns covering a bit of our area. Not much fun to walk through and not great at all for rock exposure!
Setting out in the morning for our 7th field day in a row was not a nice feeling. Lucky for us we had scouted out a different route to drive further up the hill and our tired legs didn't have as far to climb. The weather was a bit miserable and being caught in a grey cloud for most of the morning we decided to stay lowish and map some contacts in the area around the lough. A unexpected return of metamorphic rocks in an area we thought was all sedimentary caused some minor confusion for a bit but the rest of the day was pretty standard.
The evening was spent writing up field slips, changing bedrooms (I'm now in the bunk bed room for the next two weeks) and writing a shopping list to prepare for our day off tomorrow. Can't wait for a lie in!
Day 14:
Catherine and I posing by our shop which we really did not have enough shopping bags to accommodate.
Our day off was so needed. We had a lovely morning cooking and eating pancakes before heading off for a HUGE Aldi shop that will hopefully last us the full week (no one likes having to go shopping after a day in the field). The afternoon was then spent doing various admin tasks and drawing up any maps that hadn't been done during the week with a movie on in the background.
As dinner was being cooked (we are taking it in turns) I went for a little run in the rain and then sat around chatting in the living room.
It's safe to say I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of getting up early to head back into the field but with a half day on Monday for Aria's birthday already scheduled we should (hopefully) have another productive week.
It's really hard at the moment to tell if we are working at the right speed. As all of our areas are so different, looking at each other's maps can sometimes be a bit stressful and make you think you're not doing enough. It's also hard to know if my field observations and sketches are up to a good enough standard and there is always a background worry that I'm just not doing enough. This, however, is probably a normal feeling that everyone is experiencing and there is only so much you can actually do without burning yourself out.
Day 15:
Us looking a lot happier than we actually were in the rain...
"If I was a rock I would be orange", Catherine said to me at about 10:30am in reference to the fact that all the sedimentary rocks we have been looking at go orange when they are weathered. We had spent the morning being battered by wind and rain and I did indeed feel very weathered myself. The absolute downpour meant that there was no way we would be able to write in our notebooks so we resorted to vlogging every outcrop to write up when we got home. It was a difficult to even take measurements as our fingers were very cold. Cold enough to begin to lose function and I was not thriving.
At about midday we reached a river that was too fast flowing for us to safely cross. It was also far too wet and windy to go up the cliff so after some conferring with the other two mapping pairs we decided it was time to head home.
After getting home, warming up and eating some lunch we sat down to rewatch our videos and write up the outcrops. Despite only being in the field for about 4 hours we managed to get down 24 outcrops and locate two different contacts so our maps are beginning to look somewhat more colourful. It was a bit of a painful task, rewatching ourselves and rehearring our chat from the field but meant that we were still able to have a relatively productive day despite the weather.
Day 16:
A very happy Liv, reunited with her hammer!
Today was a great day! The weather was so much better than yesterday (hard to get much worse) and we only had a few short lived showers throughout the day. We managed to get a lot of contacts narrowed down and even found a surprise area of quartzite in a place we really didn't think it would be. By the end of the day we had pieced together a nice map of the north side of our west hill which I am very happy with! Definitely starting to see some progress being made with our project which is so promising to see now we are heading towards the halfway point.
A highlight of the day was our return to an outcrop we had previously been at and the rediscovery of my hammer! Now between us, Catherine and I have 2 compass-clinos, 2 hand lenses and 2 hammers which is what we are supposed to have but is actually the first day we have had them all with us and working. The day was also made much better by the arrival of a pair of waterproof socks sent by my mum. I wore them in the field for the first time today and despite numerous bog crossings my toes stayed niced and dry. Thanks mum!
Day 17:
Birthday cake!!
Having done 2 weeks of 6 days in the field we decided to treat ourselves to an extra day off today. It is also Aria's 20th birthday so a very good reason for a day off!
The morning started off well with pancakes followed by a quick trip to Aldi because we go through food ridiculously quickly and are already out of key things such as yoghurt and bananas (both very popular in this house).
We then decided we should probably do a bit of geology and spent a very painful hour copying points out of our notebooks onto office maps. I decided to redo my office maps (even though I have been quite on top of keeping up to date with them) as we have changed our minds about a couple of lithologies and contacts. This was a good idea in retrospect but doing it was incredibly painstaking. Copying 257 localities onto multiple maps is not fun!!
After an afternoon of work we ate dinner outside in the garden, roasted Haribos (we didn't have marshmallows...) on the fire and played some board games. We also had a cute little birthday cake for Aria which was a lovely end to the day!
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