News Geography Trip to the Blencathra Field Studies Centre 04.10.2019

The Geography department took the Upper Sixth geographers to the Blencathra Field Studies Centre in the Lake District to collect data for their AL and IB coursework.

Nestled at the foot of Blencathra, the centre is a stunning setting in which to study geography. Physical geographers spent their days in and around the Borrowdale valley, measuring the orientation of moraines, roche moutonnées, corries, and other landforms in order to determine the direction of ice flow during the last glaciation. The rain and wind made for some challenging conditions for the physical geographers – they were were even forced to take their lunch inside the emergency shelter – but they showed resilience and perseverance to collected some valuable data.

Meanwhile, human geographers collected data about tourism and perceptions of place in Keswick. This involved interviewing local stakeholders, residents and tourists and examining the impact of second home ownership.

Happily the sun came out for our last day in Blencathra and the girls enjoyed a hike up the mountain to watch the sun set over Derwentwater.