Geography Field Trip

L5 Geography fieldtrip to Loch Ranza, Isle of Arran

The excitement of finally getting to go out on a field trip after Covid was hard to contain. We had been learning about glaciation as part of the Physical Landscapes GCSE course. We were super excited to be able to see the landforms we had been learning about in the classroom. However, we really had no idea they would be quite so spectacular in real life!

We boarded the ferry in Ardrossan on a very wet Tuesday morning and took the 2-hour ride to Brodick. On the bus journey to the field centre, we were blown away by the beautiful scenery. On the Wednesday we embarked on a hike around the Glenrosa Valley where we saw amazing mountains and glacial landforms including pyramidal peaks, hanging valleys, U-shaped valleys and corries. We developed our fieldwork gathering techniques by drawing annotated sketches of the scenery. Seeing this landscape in real life has really helped us with our understanding of erosional processes and topics studied in GCSE. As well as studying the beautiful scenery we also had an opportunity to develop fieldwork skills by conducting tourism surveys and questionnaires around Lochranza. We also got to sample the lovely gift shops and cafes too!

On Thursday we further developed our research skills by heading to the river. We split into two groups. One studied the Upper Course of the river and the other group the Lower Course. When we reached our designated location, we collected a range of fieldwork data including the width, depth, speed of the river and the number and type of insects in the river. After collecting the data and exchanging data with the other groups, we wrote it all down in our Fieldwork booklet during our afternoon classes.

Overall, we all had an amazing time, and it was a trip we all will never forget, especially when we had our night-time fun and games. When we got back a lot of us had become closer friends, thanks to the bonding we had in the games room where all of us would hang out later at night. By Chantal, Emma-Clare, and Natasha, U5