Adventuring Throughout England

I just filled out my absentee ballot!!! When I think back to the election four years ago, when I was sixteen, I remember feeling a colossal amount of unfairness in terms of my citizen rights. I didn't understand how I, a High school student who spent countless hours phone-banking for Obama and partook in regular research to stay informed about the candidates and political atmosphere at the time, wasn't allowed the right to vote while fellow undereducated, close-minded individuals were granted the right to vote merely because of their age. So today, at last, my voice is being heard on a ballot form. A wonderful day.

I've been wanting to post about my most recent two weeks for a while now, but my 12-hour breaks between trips in Plymouth merely seem to have served the purpose of unpacking my tent, drying it out, laughing at my flat mates as they watch horror films in our hallway, and attempting to catch up on weeks worth of much-needed sleep. But at last, I now have a full six days in between my travels to spend in Plymouth.

Two weekends ago I went to Dartmoor National Park for two days with the Adventure & Expo club.  It was such a wonderful feeling to get into the climbing-rhythm again, since the past four months in Alaska didn't serve my love for climbing well as that magical place is overloaded with Shale, Slate, and Basalt rock formations (beautiful rocks for the Geologist in me, but horrible rocks for the Climber in me). 

After a long, rewarding day of climbing and walking throughout Dartmoor, we all went to the very small (and only) pub in Princetown--which I ended up staying at until the sun started to rise due to the wonderful local people who were far too entertaining for me to leave. The next morning we all awoke in our tents & headed off to an unknown location a good thirty miles East of Plymouth to go spelunking. We crawled, climbed, squeezed, and slid around this cave for a few hours until we came across an 80 m deep lake within the darkness of the cave. So, naturally, we--wetsuit, helmet, headlamp, wellies included--cliff jumped into the 50-something degree water until we decided it was time to head back into the above-world and find our way back to Plymouth. After finding sunlight, we headed to a river to clean up, which resulted in an energetic "wellies" fight (where we would all fill up our boots with water and douse each other until entirely soaked.) It was a nice day.

This past weekend I went on a train adventure throughout Southwest England. We arrived in St. Ives, England, equipt with our backpacking packs, tents, sleeping bags, etc and headed straight for "Three Ferrets", the local pub. Upon entrance, we were asked "Is this a fancy dress party [what the English call a costume party]? What's with the outfits?" I laughed as I realized this wonderfully blunt local was referring to our normal, homeless-looking clothes. After the pubs' close, everyone went to the hostel while Josh and I searched around (in the pouring rain, mind you) for a place to set up camp for the night. The result? A perfectly sloped, green-grassed (and totally legal-sleeping spot...?) garden in the middle of town. 

The next day was spent exploring the beauty that is St. Ives. After dinner, we caught a last-minute bus to Penzance and, to continue with our trend, headed straight for the local pub. We were all challenged the night before by a St. Ives local to attempt the Penzance "Cider Challenge" and drink two local Cider brews. We all, overachievers by nature, decided to go above and beyond and drink four local Ciders, along with various other brews, whilst participating in karaoke until the wee hours of the night. Challenge success, I'd say.

The next morning we caught a bus to Land's End, the most Western Point of England. The sun was out and the waves were crashing into the sea cliffs, so we spent much of our time there relaxing in the "pillow grass" whilst laughing about every little thing that came to conversation. 

We proceeded to miss our bus back to Penzance by a whopping twenty seconds, so we each broke up into pairs and hitchiked our way back to town. Thank you to the lovely couple who picked up us homeless-looking kids!

 The next day I left for my week-long Geology trip. The trip consisted of nine-hour field days and long nights spent in the local Exmoor pub. Our field destinations were Dartmoor National Park, Saunton Sands, a beach locality in Somerset along the southern margin of the Bristol Channel, the North Somerset coast (regions of the Kilve & East Quantoxhead villages), and "The Punchbowl" in Exmoor. 

The most impressive locality was the East Quantoxhead spot on Wednesday - The International Geologic boundary for the base of the lower Jurassic (The Sinemurian and Pliensbachian stages), about 185 million years in age. Pretty incredible. We examined lithologies for the crux of the day--about five hours worth--and the various index Ammonite fossils present. As for the rest of the day? I juggled a lot of rocks. Productivity.

This week I have my first Exam--hooray! It's embarrassing that I am actually looking forward to being assessed...what is Geology doing to me? This upcoming weekend I head to France with the Geologic Society. Travels, travels, travels...