Map girl in settlements

Human geography today. Fun. Just kidding Mr M, it was fairly enjoyable :) hehe. Lots of coaching around today - with what was described as a small crash between us and a car. However or expectation were not met as you needed a microscope to see the scratch on the coach!! We were very dissapointed :) though it was the highlight of the day! Meant to be doing drill team practice tonight, and there was no ruler today :( Last day tomorrow. Therefore, I leave you with this military drill movement "Dismiss!" (Turn to the right. Salute. March 3 paces. Go home)

Rural Depopulation

Brilliant day looking at rural depopulation in the Lot valley.

Day was warm and sunny allowing for pleasant wandering around the small villages to identify the feel of each area. We even almost added a member to the group at St. Julien after having a long chat with one of the local residents.

Temperature is falling and the wind is now strengthening! Oh dear! - wind chill is going to be an issue on Friday morning.

Just finishing up the work from the week. The incentive to concentrate is high as a "disco" has been promised within Raymondos for all to attend.

Evening meal in the centre was great tonight, they really pulled out the stops for us! They have been super. The seating was moved around as the other school were out so everyone got to sit around one big table facing each other.

Thursday Morning

Sun is shining again although the temperature has definately dropped!

After a quick briefing everyone is off out to survery rural settlement and population, including recording of services, in Badaroux, Bagnols, St Julian, Le Leymard. Everyone is looking forward to seeing the town of Mende too, hopefully with a small opportunity to explore some of the small French shops.

Fingers crossed for another lunch sitting out in the sun!

Thursday - Towns and Rural Depopulation - Human Geography

After a 13 hour day for all the group yesterday, we are off this morning to study settlements in Lozere. Lozere is one of the least densely populated parts of France. We will begin the day looking at the regional capital of Mende. As the day progresses the group will be investigating rural depopulation in a range of small villages. (Do they know whats going to hit them!)
Spirts are still high, and we loved walking to the source of the Souteyran yesterday. (well I did!!!!!)
Mr Male is leading today! - Human Geography Rules! (well sometimes - sorry Miss Habib)
Mr G

Water water everywhere

Today was a day of measuring rivers, it is not really surprising that I got wet really is it? We climbed up to the source of the Souteyran, where after some searching we found water. Mr G was incredibly excited and got his feet wet whilst jumping up and down for joy. After this we went on to survey the river at different sites. My wellies were soon overtopped by the water and a few surveying sites later they sustained collateral damage, a great gaping hole allowed water to engulf my feet at every opportunity. This resulted in much comedic squelching whilst climbing up and down the mountainous slopes for the rest of the day. I also managed to fall over in the river a couple of times too so this added dripping sounds too my great repertoire of sound effects. Thankfully I was wearing quick-dry trousers. The water was freezing cold in the rivers and my fingers and toes were numb for most of the day today, but it was great fun. It was lovely to jump in the shower before going to the classroom and actually feel warm water. The maths from this evening was numbing too, but that’s another case entirely. Time to go to bed with my wonderful hot water bottle, bye for now,
Katherine.

Map girl measuring

First things first..... WE WALKED 10KM!!! Phew!! We went from the field centre up to the source, back to the centre, and then walked to the confluence of the rivers Tarn and the Souteyran.... With a 1100m difference in altitude from the source to the confluence :) As we are now named SLL team, some of my team members were hobbling along the route, and I was so proud that they all stuck to it and walked the whole distance. GO SLL!! Woooooo...... Lots of measuring today, whether we were accurate or not is a different story. Got Heather marching today. Good times!! My recruiting skills are getting better :) I leave you with this military tradition of raising of the colour at sunrise and taking it down at sunset (in referance to Mr G's trumpet sound thingy) which is the daily remenberance - "At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."

Go Compare! Go Compare!

Wow you can tell we have been working hard, last night I was so tired I almost brushed my teeth with Germolene! Disappointingly I was woken before our spectacular wakeup call and was in the shower when I heard Mr G's voice resonating through the corridors, shortly joined by Mr Male's low tones of course. The Sky is clear this morning and it is set to be beautiful day of wading through rivers and taking measurements. I have my towel today in case I end up as soggy as yesterday. It is rather likely after I received several bootfulls followed by wet legs yesterday afternoon. Off to admire our lovely view and have breakfast, bye for now, Katherine.

Wednesday River Study

Good Morning
We are now getting ready for todays River Study. Brilliant preparation last night.
We will start with a hike to the source of the river on Mont Lozere. (1600 metres)
We will follow the river to the village of Le Pont du Montvert (bridge on the green mountain, I think that correct Mr Saxton). We will be out all day - so picnic - in the sun we hope.
Watch out for the updates later with some really brill Geographical photos.
Mr G

Map girl in the river

After experiencing the fantastic view of the drainage basin from Roc du Couillou and taking in the fresh air while walking to and from the site, we made our way to the river. After going through the theory of how to measure the different factors of the river, it was our turn... GULP!! The water was too tempting not to walk into straight away. What a beautiful feeling of the water flowing over your feet. It was delicious!! However..... the welly boots didn't keep me dry for long. Some parts were a little deeper, and let's just say the trousers are now in the drying room and a little puddle is accumulating beneath it. It was sooooooooooo fun!!! Morale today was much higher (NO PRECIPITATION!!) good times. The metre rule came in very handy in practising rifle drill - can you tell I'm missing army cadets tonight?? Currently planning field work for tomorrow. Fun times!! :) I leave you with this well known military rule 'If you fail to plan, plan to fail'.

p.s. Bethany says hi :)

tuesday evening photos

souteyran valley this morning

eve up talking late last night?

for geographers - nice temperature inversion in the Tarn valley

lunch outside!!

that's not a lump of granite - it's carla

not a bad classroom view - n'est pas?

Miss Athey

 surveying the landscape

pilot river survey

ze babbling brook

kaleigh!

emma!

kirsten!

A brilliant day. Several didn't want to come back from the mountain for lunch. Loads of photographs - too many to include here - will go on the X drive back at school.

Tuesday afternoon

Lunch was enjoyed by all out in the sunshine, despite the sudden increase in wasps.

Owing to the nice weather the post lunch classroom session was kept to a minimal and notes were continued out in the field a little way from the centre by the river. Students were given information to conduct a pilot river study in preparation for the rivers day tomorrow. After learning how to measure width students discussed how important depth as a measurement is owing to use within other calculations and therefore ideas were suggested on ways to measure this as accurately as possible. Students also trialled some of the techniques for measuring velocity, bedload and gradient which prompted reflection and discussion over which techniques should be selected for their full studies.

Students enjoyed getting in the river and with the sun out and warm conditions some did not even mind getting wet feet with water overflowing into wellies!

Tuesday morning

The sun is shining, the waterproofs have been stored in backpacks and we have all returned from a great morning walk up to a high point to survey the drainage basin. Views from the high point were very impressive and students had a clear view of the surrounding area to determine the landuse and relief to produce catchment maps. Momentos were collected.. in the form of granite rocks!

Everyone has recommenced in the classroom, with the windows open, to clarrify notes and are keeping fingers crossed for lunch outside the front of the centre in the sunshine.

Quotes of the morning:

"Where's the next bush?" - Kirsty

"Most exraordinary view ever, Stephen Fry would approve" and "You just don't want to leave" - Mateusz

"I've got a dry butt patch" - Olivia

"www.ratemygranite.com" - Rosie

"I need a couple of new knee joints" - Mr Male

"Lets bring some granite boulders home to our mums" - Carla

"My knee still hurts but the rocks make you forget about the pain" - Bethany

"It was alomst as good as being in the rain yesterday" - Dominic

"Once again heather was taking over the landscape" - Heather

"It is so hot in the sunshine we have the windows in the classroom open! OH YES!" - Katherine

"Lots of mapwork today. Yeeeha!" - Map girl in the mountains aka Harriet

"A mixture of beautiful, sunny, warm weather, with blue skies and the occasional cool breeze, good company, smashing views, excellent geogrpahy, geology and biology, wonderful weather and fantastic food" - Aaron

"Walking boots - £50, Harriet's waterproof pad - £7, rateyourgrainte.com subscription - £8, Olivia's fluffy hat - £15, smokey bacon cocktail sausages - £2, the view from Mont Lozere... PRICELESS!" - Daisy aka Katie

While we were climing on the rocks Mr Glux quoted, "Have you done a risk assessment?" and I responded "Sure, and I decided the fun of climbing and the view from up here is worth the risks!" - Catriona

"I thought mountains were just mud and grass... now I know different" - Kaleigh

Good Morning to Tuesday

Its now 7.30 am - the centre is slowly coming to life. Looking forward to a busy day, hopefully with out rain! However, the temperature is now falling and the barometer is rising.

Have a look at the two photos, sunrise over the Cevennes. More to come today. All the best to all at WHSG and the parents.
Mr G

Map girl and ecosystems (with friends)

The amount of ecosystems in this area!! Golly gosh! The waterproof notepad has become very handy.... LOTS OF UNFROZEN PRECIPITATION!! (Any enquiries - cadet direct is amazing). The peat was rather peaty and wet. The trees were rather treey and wet. The forest was rather foresty and wet. Mr Glux was rather Gluxy and wet. And everyone was rather everyoney and wet. Eventful day. Woooooo...... :) The landscapes are really cool and the walks are freezing - but really fun. Chocolate is most welcome. The address of the field centre is.... if you would like to donate :) The walking boots are grateful for seeing light (well, the grey sky!!) rather than the inside of my wardrobe!! Lots of measuring today and constant talking about land formations - oh yeah, we're cool :) I leave you with the knowledge of this famous military skill; the ablilty to sleep anywhere, in any condition.

p.s. Miss Habib, Bethany and Caitriona say happy birthday to all in their form this week and request a slice of cake (if still edible!!!) - Mr Male and Mr Glux also request cake!! Tut tut :)

Anyone out there

Hey we want some more comments. Ms Habib - do the rest of year 12 have access to this? We're looking forward to some words of encouragement from Dr H as well. Oh and I think I'm too old/unfit for all this exercise! However the three course evening meals (and cheeseboard) sort of make up for it :)

ps if any staff think their colleagues are having an easy time (squelching through a peat bog higher up than Ben Nevis etc) we have just completed the evening session at 9.30.

Time for cocoa, slippers, pipe and bed

Mr M

Monday afternoon and evening

After lunch students continued to investigate different ecosystems and conducted another two studies: one in deciduous woodland and one in coniferous woodland.
Students had reflected on the fieldwork techniques used within the morning and therefore could trial out improvements during the afternoon so that they could carry out the data collection more efficently.

One group even discovered an exciting new hypothesis within the human planted coniferous forest to question whether soil depth and underlying rock had an impact on planting of coniferous forest.

The evening classroom session allowed students to question and brain storm the associated risk assessment factors that require consideration whilst considering work within the field.

Odd photos

Well, by the time you read this blog, you will most probably be bored of all of the wonderful stories concerning the heather marsh, so I'll start with a few of the bad points. It was raining. And when I say raining I mean pouring, the sort of rain that goes with the nursery rhyme. Secondly it was cold. So cold it made Kenny from South Park look like he was at the beach, and the Siberia seem warm. Maybe not the second part but it was still cold. Anyway this made the trip more enjoyable (not) and a tad more eventful. However it cannot be denied that we learnt a lot about different methods regarding our course, and there were some fun parts like the finding of a miniature frog. Teamwork wise, we performed very well. The leadership was exemplary and everybody did their jobs particularly well (except Dom - who decided that rather that doing the work - he would take pictures of it instead - making us finish 5 minutes late than everyone else. Thanks Dom. Thanks) Anyway it was overall a cold, wet day but also a hugely benficial one.

Regards The French Fancies

(Hi mum!!)

Team Dynamite!

Woke up at half 7 with the wind blowing on our faces...through the window. Fell out the triple bunks and put on 5 layers of thermals, and were still freezing. Went to the Peat Bog to measure geographical things. Weather was as expected- Rain,wind, freezing air causing us to lose all feeling in our fingers toes and faces.
Had an exciting infiltration rate race, and we lost. Oh dear. Sprinted to the coach and made our way back to the centre. To our relief, we had a classroom session. Wrote up data and had yummy lunch. Going to the forest to do exactly the same thing, and come back and do exactly the same thing. Pork for dinner, probably the animals we saw roaming around yesterday. Then another lesson, and on to pyjama party number two at Raymondos Bar, the hippest joint in town.
Love Team Dynamite
Roselyn,Evelyn,Daisy,Emmanuel,Ophilia and Erin

Written by Rosie and Emma
xxxx

Off to the bog!

After a filling breakfast, a quick classroom session on eco-systems and a thorough waterproofing we set off in the coach to the peat bog. We arrived and were briefed on the techniques required to survey the area then set off in our groups to commence work. After the distraction of finding small frogs in the sphagnum moss we collected data with numb fingers handily recording the data in Harriet's waterproof notebook to avoid getting soggy paper notes like those from yesterdays walk! Once we had identified all of the plants and the remaining data had been collected with our quadrats, thermometers, anemometers, clinometers and all of the other group equipment; we had a class water infiltration race. Our group won! How exciting, a whole 7.5 cm in 5 minutes, wow. We returned to the coach ready to fog up the windscreen on the way back to the centre, where I am writing this blog now and munching on a well deserved jam sandwich.  Plus I haven't used the 'R' word in this blog, lets hope there is no more of it tomorrow! Bye for now, Katherine, from team MI-grants the soggy survivors of the peat bog.    

Monday morning

After a well deserved and needed sleep all tucked up with plenty of blankets we awoke to... more rain! Breakfast had plenty of variety and set up everyone ready for an early morning classroom session. After this note taking session everyone layered up and retrieved waterproofs from the drying room and we set off out into the rain.

First fieldwork task consisted of measuring abiotic and biotic conditions/factors within a peat bog. Once everyone had got used to having freezing fingers team leaders of each group allocated tasks to their team members and each group set about covering a transect area through the heather into the peat bog and back out again.

The task was finished with some treats... an infiltration race and a soil auger to measure deeper into the ground to try and reach the rock!

Team leaders, Kaleigh, Rosie and Kirsten did a fantastic job of rallying their troops!

Map girl in the Cevennes

We arrived with half open eyes and sleepy faces. Stepping out of the coach into the sheer beauty of the Cevennes was the best remedy. We were welcomed with smiling faces which emerged from under the cover of the building - as the rain decided to welcome us too!! We were soon taken to our rooms, had a briefing and got ready for a 'quick walk'. 1 1/2 hours later we arrived back at the field centre with mind boggling notes about the factors of the area that we met along the way. We hope that Mrs Feeley will be proud of our constant commenting of the factors of the hydrological cycle throughout the walk!! The rain was constant throughout the walk, so let's just say the drying room has become very handy!!! I shall leave you with this well known military saying: "If it aint rainin', it aint trainin'" :)

Sunday evening continued

Mr  M is zonked - and might prove hard to wake up tomorrow

Evening one

Arrived safe and sound after the long journey. Unpacked the coach and located bedrooms before having a tour of the centre itself to locate classrooms, social areas and the dinner hall. After a quick change into walking gear set off out in the rain for an orienteering walk around near the centre itself. This provided not only a good chance to gain some background knowledge about the area in preparation for the rest of the week, yet also a definate chance to test out the wet weather clothing!

On arrival back from the walk and after a quick change, to leave wet clothes in the drying room, everyone was provided with a lovely dinner with plenty of good comfort food. This hearty dinner prepared everyone for a classroom session in the evening to continue setting the scene and introducing the topics for tomorrow.

Nearly ready to go!

5 hours and counting!

I have my passport - making the 24 hour packed lunch!

Packing went OK - but I always have too much!

Looking forward to arriving in France - highlight before we get there will be the volcanoes of the Massif Central. Don't worry they have been extinct for millions of years! I will wake them up to see!

Mr G

It's half past ten Saturday morning and have just got up after a fun week! Better pack some stuff and find the passport. A big torch sounds like it might be useful. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to read the new Lee Child - wont I? Prepare for a table football challenge Miss A. (Oh, and looking forward to the work as well!)

Ready to go

Looking forward to our 22 hour journey to the Cevennes. Mr G has the weather forecast, oh dear!
Last Monday, 190mm of rain fell on Mont Lozere, a 6th of the annual precipitation. Sunday, thunderstorms are predicted, I wonder if we'll have power when we get there? On a plus side, there will be loads of water to measure!