Field trip kicks off

The weather forecast was hot but dry. Quite good fieldwork weather for the first day of the trip. I had organised a lift from Martin, so I could ask him all my last questions. I had missed the preparation meeting through being in the Netherlands, and we hadn’t found an opportunity to make up for that. 

We got to Menai Bridge, picked up the vehicles and the students, and went to a location that was new to the field course: the Pritchard Jones Institute (PJI) in Newborough. I had never been! Martin had managed to rent it for the duration of the trip, and it could be a bit of a hub for the students. It was a lovely building! And we did a bit of an introduction there. And then we went into the field.

Pritchard Jones Institute 

The main hall of the institute 

There was some confusion about where to start. Katrien and I went to the wrong place! My fault probably; she was driving behind me and probably just followed me. I forgot ‘the Cob’ and ‘the Cob car park’ are two different things. But we sorted it. And Martin kicked it all off! Speaking about the bigger spatial scales. 

Martin introducing the site

He talked for a fair while, so after that I wanted lunch, and I wasn’t the only one. So that was next, at the picnic tables. And then it was my turn to talk about specifically the salt marsh. I’ll leave the sand to Martin and Jaco! 

When I was done we went deeper into the field. All the way to the beach! There it was again Martin’s turn. That happens on beaches. And  time flies when you’re talking science, so after that it was time to go back to PJI, and then home. 

On the beach

I thought it had gone well! It had been very hot, but not catastrophically so. The group of students was lovely and the atmosphere was good. The next day we would start actually doing something!