Windy day near Cemaes

It was time for the second field trip in our Anglesey geology module. We should have had two already, but we had had to cancel one for reasons of bad weather. And the second one was a bit borderline; it was sunny, but also very windy. And for this last trip of the semester, the forecast was not that dissimilar. This year, the module has not been blessed with good weather! But we decided to give it a go. We did change the location around; originally, we would have gone to  Rhoscolyn, but that involves teetering on cliffs on the west coast, and that didn't seem to be a particularly good idea. We decided to stay on relatively flat ground on the north coast. So off to Porthwen we went! 

Because we only decided two days in advance where we would go, and Dei was characteristically very busy, we didn't really get around to organising the trip before we were already on it. That tends to work to my disadvantage! On the parking lot where we pick up the students we quickly made a distribution of who would say something about what. And I wasn't assertive enough. The men ran away with not only most of the trip, but also everything but the very last bit. I shouldn't have let that happen!

We drove up and met at Porthwen. Jaco would do the first part of the trip. That is some of the best bit. The students haven't seen this kind of stuff before. They also are still fresh at the beginning of the trip. And when he was done we went back to the vehicles. We tried to first go to the public toilets in Cemaes, but they were closed. So we just drove to Llanbadrig. And because of the heavy wind, we had lunch inside our vehicles.

Jaco teaching by the first outcrop

The views

Then we went on. Dei did the next bit; he pointed out the mélange there. They have seen it before on Llanddwyn! And there is a Palaeozoic dyke running straight through it. 

Clambering over the melange, looking for the dyke

In the end we came to an old calciner. That was the only place where I had something to say. I pointed them to the beautiful stromatolites there. Unfortunately, there also is a stromatolite in the mélange, so Dei had already spoken of these. I struggled a bit to say an awful lot in addition. And the students struggled with me; I referred to things Jaco had only told them less than two hours before, and they showed no sign of having any idea of what I was referring to. It was like pulling teeth! And then I tried to show them a thrust fault you could see from there. More pulling teeth. The men were not even interested; they were staring at another stromatolite. That really didn't do anything to give the impression that what I say is worthwhile!

The view from the last stop

We were all getting rather tired of being so pummelled by the wind that we decided to just go home from there. There is more to see in this area, but in this weather it is not worth it. And Cemaes is quite far away from Bangor, so it is quite a drive back.

I drove back with an unpleasant feeling. This is exactly the sort of situation I try to avoid! The implicit message to the student is: what women have to say is not important. At least there was one point of light: I noticed Dei making an effort of taking pictures of me. This is another one of my bugbears; if we go on trips like these, the only person taking pictures tends to be me, and then all the pictures that appear on social media of our field trip show men teaching. That is not how it should be! But Dei seemed to have cottoned on to this, so and was clearly making an effort. That is appreciated.

The next trip is traditionally just Jaco’s trip, so then I have peace with not saying much. And the trip after that it’s me who does all the talking about geology, so there my territory is clearly marked. And I will defend it! But I must say that I also look forward to the next trip I will do with my colleague Lynda. Doing field trips with her is always a lot more relaxed, because you don't have to worry about representation, and can just teach! Every trip should be like that…