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Swanage, Geography Field Trip.

The Lower 6 Geographers along with Miss Hoyle, Miss Stokes and Miss Tomlinson headed off on an eventful geography field trip to Swanage one Friday afternoon in March. As we left Woldingham the minibuses were bursting with all the equipment needed, plus shoes for every occasion and the huge suitcases of Susannah Upton and Alice Keyte (it seemed they had packed for a week not a weekend!). We arrived in Swanage tired after all the harmonious singing, which was particularly appreciated by Miss Hoyle. A safety briefing (whoever knew there would be so many dangers in such a small village) and introduction to the Isle of Purbeck set the scene before dinner out in a local restaurant.

On Saturday, we struggled to get out of bed but managed to wrap ourselves up in copious layers for our day out on the sand dunes at Studland Bay. The weather gave turn for the worse and we found ourselves investigating the succession of sand dunes in gale force winds and rain, the measuring tapes flying off into the distance and individuals being blown into the heath and heather. The experience was entertaining and the topic we had learnt in the classroom back at Woldingham had suddenly come to life and a hard concept was now understood. We then headed to the coast to look at the geology of Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, renowned for their natural beauty and unique formation. The journey back down to the buses was one never experienced before, the winds being so strong that we couldn’t help but walk slowly and at a peculiar angle. In the evening we analysed our collated data and plotted some accurate sand dune profiles and kite diagrams (quite impressive for a Saturday night!). A quick hot chocolate was had before gaining some much needed rest after a hard day’s work.

Waking up bright and early on Sunday we ventured to the River Wey to discover how the characteristics of a river change when travelling downstream. This allowed many of us to get our wellies and waders on and get stuck in everyone was enthusiastic and over eager to use some of the equipment- especially the flow meter! Human Geography then took over our afternoon and we found ourselves in Lytchett Matravers questioning the locals and deciding whether the village was suburbanised or not. Unfortunately one group set off into the rural countryside, being surrounded by farms and animals, they soon realised that instead of heading into the village they were heading out. We headed back for some much needed food aware of the weather warnings which were due for the next day. That evening the trip was sadly brought to an end as the teachers informed us that in order to miss the forecasted storms we were going to leave that night; it felt like an evacuation and we proved that Woldingham girls can pack in just twenty minutes. As we returned home, we realised how successful the trip had been in opening our eyes up to beyond our text books, and we were sad that we couldn’t go to Southampton. Despite the trip being abrupt, we thoroughly enjoyed it and thank Miss Hoyle, Miss Stokes and Miss Tomlinson.