Islay

For the last week I've been on Islay in the Hebrides, on geological field course as part of my degree. We were studying metamorphic rock in particular and using the exposures across the island to tell the story of opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean which existed between 600 and 400 Ma, bounded by the separation of the paleocontinents Laurentia and Baltica and the Caledonian orogeny and the creation of Laurussia. In addition to the outcrops pertaining to the above event we also viewed rocks on the western side of Islay which are some of the oldest in the world dating back to 1.8 billion years ago.

Lossit Bay, on the west coast of Islay, one of the sites of our field work.

The topography of Islay is relatively flat, and there is little to now climbing so apart from a little bouldering on the beach in between geological mapping I didn't clock any vertical mileage. The place however is beautiful, and like the rest of the Hebrides feels a very long way urban centers of mainland Britain. We also visited the Laphroaig distillery that was very interesting, as well as us being supplied with a lot of free samples.