2012

Tuesday and it is dry again with wall to wall blue sky – clearly Mr Barker was right! First stop and an opportunity to try on some interesting wellies, with a look at river measurement. Some students had slightly novel ideas about what was meant by bank full with ropes half way up trees! The normal ‘welly full’ was rare and nobody fell in which was most disappointing – that came later in somewhat spectacular fashion. Several students found the water a little cool as they measured the bed load and suspended sediment load – though cries of it is freezing were a little wide of the mark. Instead of naming oranges this year they were given faces.

The second stop was Oxwich Bay. Mr Havers leapt over the beach cusps and had ‘long and meaningful’ discussions about foreshores and sediment supplies. Measuring wind speed was going well until it was noted that the instrument being used was being held facing the ground! ‘Why is there no wind speed?’! Another student lying prostrate on the ground measuring wind speed found that the local Welsh ant population was not at all happy about the invasion of their privacy. A young couple also thought that they had found a quiet spot (having been prepared to walk more than 200m from the car park – obviously good geographers) until KES came over the horizon singing away. We then found out that Gus liked the aroma of horse manure (even if you do – why tell everyone!!!!?) – girls please note when choosing your fragrance (or not at the case may be). The discussion on the sand dune management was progressing well until one student suggested that only one animal was involved – ‘Super Goat’. The walk/run back to the bus for lunch saw the boys, and a couple of the girls, run head first down some of the dunes – a nose-diving plunge in to the sand seemed the inevitable outcome but somehow this was avoided.

Stop Press …. Did she jump or was she pushed (3 times). Water, rock and mud were involved and Gus apparently. A black bin bag formed a suitable cushion on the way back to base for one messy miss. It’s good to get up close and personal with the local geography!!