The Junior Sixth on its yearly outing to North Yorkshire

September 2011

On a sunny Sunday morning, after an early start and a burger breakfast, we departed for North Yorkshire from Kings Cross. The three hour journey was spent asleep by most, in our own private carriage no less following a booking error, and the calm was only broken by a change of train, and weather, as it started to rain just as we left York.

Soon afterwards we arrived in Kirby Grindalythe and were whisked off to the Cranedale Centre, a residential field studies centre in Malton, North Yorkshire. We arrived just after 5 pm, tired and in need of sleep after a long day of travelling. We were introduced to our tutor Joe who would accompany us over the course of the next four joyous days, and he showed us around the centre, and introduced us to the barn, a large room equipped with a ping pong table, table football and a lounge area which was to become our haven from work. Soon afterwards we were pleasantly surprised by dinner, being waited on and served a roast complete with Yorkshire puddings.

After a good night’s sleep we awoke to begin our practical fieldwork at three different sites on the River Derwent and were introduced to another tutor, Mark. At each site we learned interesting techniques in measuring different aspects of the river, including river velocity, wetted perimeter and hydraulic radius, all vital to the AS Geography course.

After another delicious dinner, we had an evening lesson, during which we evaluated the data we had collected throughout the day, comparing it on graphs, and using it to create a cross section of the River Derwent at the three different locations.

On Tuesday, we were reunited with Joe, who took us to various different sites on the Yorkshire Wolds in order to investigate glacial landforms and the effects of glacial movement that are still visible today, including eskers and moraines, fascinating glacial features. We then travelled by bus to the East Yorkshire coast at Flamborough Head, where we investigated the different types of glacial rocks present in the cliffs there, and their distribution throughout the cliffs.

On our final day in Yorkshire, we visited two towns to investigate urban processes, and despite some clumsiness the night before involving Tom and a hot tea, we were all present and able to continue our fieldwork. We spent the morning collecting data about housing and standards of living in the two towns, despite Tom slowing us down. After picking up our luggage from the Cranedale Centre, we were taken to the train station and made our way back home, arriving at Kings Cross at 5 pm.

A huge thanks to Mr Marshall and Miss Robin for running such a fantastic trip.

James Waterman J6OJD