At least once a year I go to stay with my friend in Gairloch in the Western Highlands where I am able to recharge my batteries. I haven’t had a holiday for a year and like a London bus, two come along in under two months!
However, this year, although I have been looking forward to returning to this beautiful part of the UK, I have half a mind on my trip to Galapagos. I try not to because I want to make the most of my time here without being distracted.
Other than taking me to places I’ve not already seen up here, my friend has plans for me; she has been working as an amateur archaeologist since she retired two years ago, mapping out the croft ruins situated in the vicinity of her house. As a result of her work, she has been communicating with another archaeologist who is keen to map previously un-recorded hut-circles, or to give them the correct term: roundhouses. A group of these have been discovered a few miles down the road.
I am very happy to go along for the ride and watch them work, but before we set out I am faced with a dilemma many people face when planning to spend the day in the great outdoors. I am relieved that this condition has recently been given a name by Simon Butterworth, a prize-winning photographer: the Faff Factor.
Simon has written albeit tongue-in-cheek about this annoying ailment: Do I take waterproofs? Will I need a hat? Are these trousers too hot? And so on…
I would like to concur that taffing about can be very serious as it can be quite debilitating. It can ruin relationships and upset well-planned expeditions. I protest that I am a Faffer for very good reason (aren't we all?); I was a Girl Guide and the Guide/Scout motto is Be Prepared. Faffing, like the principles of Guiding has become a way of life for me: I have to cover all eventualities in everything I do.
In relation to going in the great outdoors, my main problem used to be whether to take wet weather gear, and if so should I take the whole shebang? Nowadays, I just take it all – jacket and trousers, both made by the same company as mentioned in an earlier post.
Footwear is never a problem either: I just take hiking boots.
The majority of my faffing focuses on personal needs such as sufficient water, how much first aid kit to pack, sunscreen, insect repellent, sun glasses, notebook & pen, tissues, camera, spare batteries, binoculars…actually scrap that as I don’t have binoculars…yet!
You get the general idea? Maybe you’re a faffer too?
My friend is used to my faffing. She is an ex-ambulance technician so is used to be ready to quickly get out on the road with all eventualities covered. I sense she is now losing patience with me as she needs to leave the house before next week. So today, as I want to get an invitation back to Gairloch next year, I am ready to go but only because I packed last night…except this morning it’s very windy and sunny but I resist the temptation to put my sunscreen on before we leave the house and shove an extra fleece in my daysack.
Faffing tires me out. I wish I had my friend’s confidence to one day just go out for the day with nothing but a tenner in my pocket. It would be so liberating. But then what if it rained, so I’d have to take my raincoat, and what about my mobile, and I always need a packet of tissues, oh, and headache pills and my penknife with the spikey thing to take stones out of horses hooves…(I’m joking about the penknife!!)
As we are loading up the car, she is impressed that I am actually ready to go but my new-found karma is threatened when she produces two pairs of wellies, one for her and one for me. I scoff that we’re in Scotland and I’ve got hiking boots thank you, which of course are best for walking in the hills, aren’t they?
Instinct (her raised eyebrows) tells me she knows more about Scotland than I do, so I reluctantly agree to borrow her spare pair but put my own hikers in the boot just in case.
We spend a lovely day in the hills and I learn the basics of how to map out an Iron or Bronze Age or even Viking roundhouse. We have a picnic sitting on an ancient tumbled-down wall with a view of Skye across the water. It’s amazing to think that the last time someone sat here it may well have been around 3000 years ago.
Of course, my friend was quite right; Wellingtons were by far the best footwear to take. The ground was very wet and muddy and we had to cross several "burns" with no stepping stones, and if I had not listened to her my hardy hiking boots would certainly not have kept my feet dry!
I recall that wellies are on my kit list for Galapagos. I now know why!
BRING IT ON!
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