Satnav, more like let's map read.

31/5/10

I think technology can only be called successful when it does the job all the time. The satnav hates me. It really does. It decided to die around Zaragoza, citing new roads as its downfall.  Luckily, I can map read and all that jazz, and we made it to Aliaga, all be it with the help of a very friendly local woman who couldn't comprehend our total lack of Spanish literally walking us to the campsite.

Once there we realised the limitations of our 'we'll pick it up later' approach to Spanish. It's odd feeling this stranded in a place language wise, and a mildly scary thought. However tomorrow is a new day, and we can brave a run to the shops, and try to find this library so we can get our geomaps.

Oh, and further proof that we're doomed, the electric hookup doesn't take what we've brought. It's a standard fused European plug outlet. So if it rains I think we'll skip having power. Time to survive off noodles?

P.S.€1 cans of beer = win. That is all

28 Days Later

Well, technically 40... But in 40 days we´ve managed to hit our target of 28 days of field work. Sounds bad, but that´s not counting the week we had off around my birthday, so in 33 days in Aliaga, we worked 28. Boom. Go us! In those 28 days we´ve managed to do 20km square, which isn´t bad going. Today we also clocked 34 Celsius in the car. I had a wee bit of heat stroke and went and had a nap on the floor of the shower block for about an hour. Go me!

So for the next few days we´re going to be doing some easy work, some logs etc of the area, and just make sure everything is squared off. Meeting up with the Southampton lot on Sunday for the football and a chance to talk to someone other than Ben for an evening, an offer I can´t pass up. Not that we´ve had any fights, but we´ve run out of interesting things to say really, and now it´s all about the weather, what we´re going to have for dinner. I exaggerate really.

We´re considering blowing out of town early too and speanding a day in Santander, just for a change of scenary. But that´s all up in the air at the moment. I´m just glad to be officially finished. My DM´s managed to survive the trip, although the casualty list of clothes now includes both my pairs of shorts, with two lovely rips in the butt, probably from sliding down jaggedy rock faces and such, hopefully not from having a fat arse.

So, in a week I´ll be sitting pretty in my new room in the Stryder House, so long as Ross Orla or Culv let me in.

Ciao ciao ciao

Lovely shade of pink

So for the last few days we were in the lovely town of Peniscola after enjoying a long wander around to Valencia and then Vinaros. We had a pleasant time trying to find a hotel in Vinaros, in that all the hotels were shut. Spain just seems to shut down on the weekend, so we were totally out of luck. We managed to find a place thanks to Mum, and the lady at the campsite sent us off to the lovely resort town of Peniscola. We managed to sit ourselves on the beach a few times, and we found a cracking club called Mandarina. www.mandarinaclub.net incase you want to have a look. We stayed at a plcae called Camping Ferrer, and we got a small twin room. The hotel/campsite had a pool and such that we didn´t use, and a bar etc. We also found ´Pub Popeye´ and ´Pub Teatro´, and a swanky posh hotel bar with pool tables. I managed to beat ben 2-1, so I was happy.

For my birthday I hired a motorbike which was a nice cruiser style for two hours. That only set me back 13 Euros because we are off season. We also hired a jetski for an hour, which was awesome! And a pedalo... And a kayak. Those were just for the lols to be honest, but they allowed us a good paddle around the beach. Those were my birthday treats for myself.

Now we´re back in Aliaga, and we were stuck with a storm on the first night. Any finally, some English are here too. Southampton uni. Tehy´re not camping, there´s apparantly apartments just out of town that we had no idea about, which actually works out cheaper than the camping...swell.

Oh, and as if we weren´t plagued with problems, we also found that the road that we´ve been using the locate ourselves on one of our maps doesn´t exist... That´s right, it´s not on my map at all. So we have our work cut out for ourselves, just for the next few days!

Going missing for a while

Because the internet here is only a weekday thing, I thought I would give you all one more post before Ben abd I shoot off to enjoy a few days rest on the coast. The first rule of my 21st is, Do not talk about geology. The second rule... I can´t be bothered, it´s a ´Fight Club´reference for those who don´t get it.

Anything of note? Well, the rain has set it again. We had about a week of glorious, too hot to work sun, and now it´s raining again. Had a cracking thunder storm today though. Just about to head to the shop and try and get some dinner, which we will somehow cook in the rain.

I did also totally stack it in front of a few Dutch folk in the washing room. The floor was wet, I was in flip flops. I sent the washing everwhere. That´s the exciting life that Ben and I lead here.

So yeah, if I don´t manage to get any new posts off in the next few days, it´s because I´m enjoying myself on a beach somewhere on Spain Mediteranean coast.

Ciaociaociao

Today's fold area. Managed to map that bad boy pretty well! Yeah! Geokeen we are!



This is the bad mamajama that we found by poking a stick down a wee hole on the top of a mountain! He didn't like us, and we swiftly left that place before he called on his spider brothers!



This is pretty boy scared me shitless. Strolling along, happy as Larry, and boom, lizard!



This is the best photo of the eagle/hawk that I've managed to get so far! Whenever they circle above us, trying to decide if we look tasty, I always try and get a good photo! This one took me about 3 weeks before I finally got it

All busted up

Due to taking the shortcut today, my legs are properly scratched up. Like really bad. And I'm sun burnt. Yes, after about two and a bit weeks of no sun, finally it comes out. I am red... Nough said!

As I said a few days ago, I would whap on some pics. Here are some, with a running commentary.



This is me with a massive eagle/hawk feather that I found, which I happily put in my hat! Boom!



This is me enjoying a mug of sangria!



Panoramic shot, goes without saying. I think that's 'La Olla'



Ah, now this one might look familiar! If you look at the first post, this is the image that I snatched off of googlemaps. We managed to find it, and so I took one there!



Me, standing proudly next to the Cornish flag we hung next to the tent. This one was on the first day!

Don't fuck up!

The immortal words of one Robin Shale has become a wee mantra of ours these last few days. And so far we have avoided any majoy fuck ups! Today though, whilst scaling an outcrop, I did slip. Did I hurt myself? No way! Did I... Rip my trousers from knee to crotch... Mebe! That's right, I exposed myself for the whole of the little valley to see. Ben averted his eyes in embarassment. Thankfully I'm not one to go commando! However, I did make a hasty retreat back to camp where I changed into shorts. That was really cold! Like, seriously cold! Like, cold man!

So yeah, that's all that's happened really.
Boom!

Government man flipping the 'V's'

That's right. As we were about to go down the narrow dirt road that leads to the campsite, a Teruel Government pickup comes out. The man then leans out the window, gives us an inverted peace sign and makes the universal gesture of 'tosser' at us. We start down the lane, wondering what we had done wrong, this being the only route to the campsite. Oh... That wasn't the V's and a wanker sign, he was trying to tell us that there were another two cars behind him. Well that was nice of the government man!

In other news, genius that I am, I managed to totally loose my sunglasses. I love these aviators, and was devastated. After searching high and low in the tent etc, we decided to head back to where we had parked for the day and see if I had dropped them anywhere... Had I... No actually. What I had done was leave them on the roof. We saw them in the middle of the road, and Ben was gracious enough to not run them over, and let me go and get them. Scratched to fuck you would say. Hell's nah, they're good, only a wee scratch. Overall, Ewan win!

The mapping boomed along today thanks to the fact that we were faced with a sheer cliff of continuous rock, so we were able to delineate that right onto the map with minimal effort, i.e. climbing.

Mum will be glad to note that dinner yesterday went well, I did infact have a yellow colourant for the rice. And thanks to Mum pointing out that the electric hookup she gave me has a europe plug adaptor, we were able to enjoy the modern comforts of electricity in our tent. This meant a movie, even though it was raining! Speaking of rain, the handwashed clothes are almost dry after a day. It means no turning our pants inside out, and no stinky student mappers!

Woot!

I love the smell of suncream in the morning...

Unfortunately that is not the case, as the Spanish weather really hates us. We did a load of washing today, because we stink, and because it was a nice day. And obvioulsy it started to rain the moment we had the whole thing hung out. Brilliant!

Ben bought some new boots, spent far too much money on them. I have faith that my DM's will last, although Ben doubts me!

Spoken to a few more of the Dutch, and somehow we got onto the topic of politics. Who knows how that happened. Speaking of language, they don't speak Spanish and neither does Ben. Attempting to get me a coke from the wee man who runs the bar, he came back with a San Miguel... I know, language fail there.

Apart from that, a really uneventful weekend of more rain.
Bye!

Making friends and influencing people!

So today we took that gargantuan leap of faith and actually talked to Johhny Foreigner, the Dutch. They all speak pretty good English, and all seem like great fun. Only talked to about 4 of them, and they are a 20 something group, but that´s progress. I also found one of their field books lost in the field, and handed it to their lecturer, who by the way is a proper geologist. Big beard, dodgy jumper, the works. He was impressed that there was just the two of us out here on a project all by ourself. Apparantly he´s been coming here for 20 years or so with his uni, so if we need help, he´s the man!

Managed a pass on second year! Well, better than a pass, but yeah. Third year is now officially starting, with this being a third year project. I was contemplating, if failing everything, just either coming home or goin touring around Spain for a few weeks. Either one was a good plan, and I actually got a bit excited about going touring. Damn all that revision paying off!

The works coming along nicely, we might be able to move off the first 8Km soon. It´s taking longer in some places due to the fact that there´s a lot of faulting and it´s a rather hard area to do, but I can´t complaing. We started on the easy stuff, and blitzed it, so from now on it´s heads down.

In other news, Ben´s boots have nearly had it, so it could be an emergency run to Teruel tomorrow to get new ones for him! I might stay in the field, daring I know, so I don´t loose too much time. Although it makes me worry for my DMs, they took a battering in Scotland and seem on their last legs out here! Oh noes!

The best sausage I ever had!

And no, that´s not a brokeback reference. Sorry, but when even my Dad makes a brokeback joke before I go, I need to clarify. Mum, no need to read this bit to G&G

Seriously though, in the shop, there were these awesome chorizo style sausages, they were so fucking lush (again, Mum, edit, thanks) and so Ben and I cracked out a banging English sausage and mash. Boom! I couldn´t finish, and had a sausage sandwich. I know this is the boring stuff I promised folk I wouldn´t post, but I can´t help it, they were that good. In fact, that´s what I really wanted to blog about!

The mappings going ok so far too, although today was a balmy 14 degress maxiumum temperatute. And then there was the rain. Again, not to be deterred we went out in waterproofs, and got some work done! There was no way we could allow the Dutch to be more badass than we were.

I reckon I´ll bring Ben´s laptop up here in the next few days and try to throw a few photos onto the blog. I´´m doing my best to sort them all out each night, very nerdy I know, but hey. I so far have about three decent edits, one that cuts out any tattoos (For my Grandparents), a general edit, and a book edit. Joel made a cracking album of his Europe trip a few years ago (Sorry Joel, don´t know it if you made any more) and so I thought, if I get enough good photos I would throw one together. Although let´s ignore the rain eh! Nothing but lovely sun here!

Oooh, issue, we are running out of gas! We need to hit the petrol station and see if they sell the butane canisters that Ben´s hob takes. If not, it could be living off sandwiches for about 2.5 weeks or so. I´ll keep you posted!

Ciao ciao ciao!

Living with Johhny Foriegner

So we weren´t able to get on the internet all weekend because the whole place sort of shuts down over the weekend. But today has been a nice day off, so we made it in, mostly because we had emailed our lecturer last week and wanted to see if there was a reply. Sadly no lol.

Over the weekend we´ve had a hell of a lot of rain and thunder storms. It was a bit mental, but thankfully the tent held up ok, no leaks. Today was glorious sun shine again, so I suppose we´ll be back to work in the hard, 30 degree weather.

The folk on the campsite are a wee bit annoying. They´re really into English music from years ago, and playing it until the wee hours is starting to get a bit annoying. They´re Dutch, and at first we thought they were German. Go figure. Oh, and at least one of them speaks English fairly well, so they might be aware that Ben´s been having a whine about the music, and that I´ve been referring to them as Hans and Fritz. Oh well...

We´ve got a fair bit of mapping done, a good few kilometres across the area that we originally intended for the mapping area. Tomorrow we´re going to try and finish that area off, but it is a fair ask at the moment, and might require around 2 square k in one day. But no one works harder than CSM, the other Dutch lot took the weekend off, and retreated back to camp when the rain rocked in. We were out in the rain, and over the weekend. Badass? Maybe not.

We rocked over to Teruel today, the provincial capital. It was very underwhelming, I got a few photos. The thing that impressed us most? The HyperMercado. Hot damn, we stocked ourselves up on noodles and 64cent litre bottles of German beer. And more noodles. And vodka flavoured beer... Yeah, that one worried me too, but it had to be tried, so it will be... maybe not tonight though!

Managed to do some facebooking, there is a wee problem with not being able to find the át´ key on a spanish keyboard, so common sense dictated that I use the old copy paste technique. If I didn´t facebook you personally, it´s nothing personal, I just don´t have a lot of time on the computer, and the internet is painfully slow.

So here it is

So sadly I thought that I had managed to update off my phone using the wifi. Oh how wrong I was. There go two blog posts that I may never post!

As is, everything´s going ok at the moment. The shop is, minimal, to say the least. Although today (2/6/10) they did seem to have a delivery, and that made us very happy mappers! We ate like kings would eat if they lived here and used the same supermarket, or supermercado!

The recon so far has gone ok, and we look set to really start mapping properly tomorrow. We know where we´re going, we know what we expect to see! I´ll upload some photos just as soon as we bring a laptop to the library, which is where the wifi is.

The tent went up without a hitch, although I am inflating the airbed every night because we´re sleeping on gravel. So far there´s been no argueing in the ´group´, and cooking and washing up has been a shared endeavour! Those of you who are expecting a personal Facebook message to you can wait a bit, because Euro1.13 sangria is calling. That and another movie. BOOYAH!

I'm on a boat mother fucker...

Don't you ever forget.

That's right, I'm on a boat. On my way to Spain. This is the start of the trip. Got some haribo, some rocky road and some juice. Going to play with my camera aswell while I'm on the boat, 24 hours till Spain.

Try and see what blogging I can do in Spain, could be a while folks.

Ciao all.

And it all comes together at the last second!

We have maps folks, which means that we're not going to be out there for 6 weeks with nothing! Not a fail in sight, now to turn this into a base map for the area that we can use!

Thought I'd share!

First!!!!1!one

Just a few nice pictures to start off the blog. There are two from the geopark's site, and two I've nabbed straight from Google, showing the approved map area, and some well exposed units. I'll try and take a photo from the same place if I can while I'm out there. If that fails, I'll photoshop myself in!

Incase anyone wants to, here's the parks website, where you can have a look at more pictures and read a bit about the park. You'll come away knowing as much as I do.
http://www.parquegeologicoaliaga.com/index_ing.htm