Siccar Point (Again)!

As you may remember, I mentioned in October that I took a trip to Scotland to look for some rocks, that I failed to find. Well, my friend and I decided that since we didn't know when we were going to get back to Europe, much less Scotland, we were going to try to get back and try again. We ended up meeting in Dunbar, a really nice town on the seashore, on the 14th of December for our second assault on Siccar Point. This time we were prepared with our memories about what not to do and lodging closer to Siccar Point. It was also convenient that there was neither a train strike nor construction on the railway. It seems like the stars had aligned to help us get to the unconformity this time.
This time, though I left for Scotland on Saturday morning (my flight left at 7am, which is a disgusting time to fly, but EasyJet only offered 7am flights between Madrid and Edinburgh in December. This also meant that I had to spend the night in Madrid at a hotel with transfers to the airport because Madrid public transportation doesn't start running until 6am). As soon as I got to Edinburgh, I got on the train to Dunbar, and made it in time to catch the 12pm bus to Cocksburnspath. Since the sun sets so early in Scotland in the winter, we had to be back in Cockburnspath before the last bus to Dunbar, so we couldn't get stuck in Cochbrnspath again (I really have nothing against Cockburnspath, but the only thing that they really have is a phone booth, which they are going to remove at the end of this year). So, armed with our previous knowledge of the greater Siccar Point area and some Nairns, we set off to find the unconformity.
Being slightly wiser than last time, we did not take the first path marked "Siccar Point Footpath" but instead followed the directions in the guidebooks we'd borrowed and continued toward the rutabaga plant (we could, conveniently, follow the trail of rutabagas). We eventually encountered sign posts with maps of the unconformity and pictures of our favorite geologist and his verbose friend, and we took that to be a sign from God, or at least Hutton, that we were on the right track. After seeing the map, we decided not to continue all of the way to the rutabaga plant (we would not want to be tempted like Rapunzel's mother), but followed a new footpath that was actually the same path we followed last time, but this time we stayed on it until we got to the unconformity.
To make a long story short (too late), we found the unconformity and enjoyed the amazingly beautiful Scottish countryside, despite the incessant, cold rain, and on Sunday night I went back to the Methodist church I found the first time I was in Edinburgh over a Sunday. Some of the people remembered me, which was strange, but nice, and we sang some quasi-Christmas songs (apparently this church follows the liturgical calendar much better than good old LUMC ;). I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any snow where I was in Scotland, but then I came back to a winter wonderland in Spain, which was the perfect end to my adventure, despite missing class the day I got back.

Sunrise over Madrid

Secret footpath to Siccar Point

Sheep! Good thing my friend wasn't worrying the livestock...

Map and James Hutton

Steep slope and pretty, slippery rocks

Unconformity!

The path down to the unconformity.

Sitting on about 80 million years. Also, I'm reading the free Salamanca newspaper, and I intend to send them this picture to see if I get my picture published in the travel section. Also, you can tell from the lovely red patch on my jeans that I had a little mishap with the path...

It deserved lots of pictures.

I love how this seashore looks like it's the end of the earth.

Ruins of St. Helen's parish, now in a sheep paddock.

My tiny, little hotel room in Edinburgh.

Sunrise behind North Bridge in Edinburgh. I feel like I need to put in lots of sunrise pictures because my family doesn't believe that I can wake up early enough to see the sunrise ;)