Over the Easter holidays, I had the privilege of undertaking fieldwork in the wonderful Lake District as part of my Physical Geography degree within a compulsory module. Only a two-hour drive from Durham, it was great to explore one of the UK’s largest national parks. Furthermore, the sunny weather all week made the trip even better (do remember to pack your suncream and a waterproof!!!). We stayed at the Blencathra Field Studies Council, which is a few kilometres east of Keswick. It was a lovely place to stay, and the food all week was brilliant. I enjoy running, so it was great to explore the local area, though the hills made it slightly more tiring.
Glacial landscape
On our first full day (we were here Saturday to Friday), we explored the greater Lake District post-glacial landscape as part of a bus tour. Despite this, we spent most of the day on our feet exploring, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My favourite site of the day was Aira Force (insert photo). We undertook many discussions with lecturers over different features we saw. We drew some of these in our field notebooks (I would put in a photo; however, this is still an area for me to improve upon).
Upland river
On Monday, we hiked a short distance (30 minutes) to an upland river to measure flow, velocity, and grain size. This was very helpful for our group, as our project over the next two days was utilising similar techniques. This was our first day working in our project groups, so it was a good opportunity to get to know one another better. Fieldtrips are, in my opinion, a great way to get to know other students in your course, particularly as Durham is much more collegiately focused.
Hands-on learning
Tuesday and Wednesday constituted our two days for fieldwork collection in preparation for writing a report. We were analysing flood capacity and bedload transport of a small upland river, a short drive from where we were staying. The stream ran through a farm with a tearoom, which I would fully recommend. It was also lovely to see sheep and many other animals. Hands-on learning in the field is great fun and offers a different way of learning compared to lectures. Furthermore, the ability to apply concepts learnt in a lecture hall in the field is brilliant and consolidates learning.
Presentation prep
We spent our penultimate day prepping a presentation for our final day, which contributes to the module mark. This is not something to worry about, and the lecturers and GTAs (Graduate Teaching Assistants) offer support where needed. The wonderful weather meant that, if we wanted, we were able to work outside. It is also brilliant to see the data you collected be turned into graphs and plots, which show the results of what we collected.
Final thoughts
Overall, I had a wonderful time and made friends with lots of new people. I would fully recommend any field trips available to you during your time in Durham, as it is great to explore new places and put geography learnt into action in the field.
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