We were lucky with the weather and were blessed with warmth and sunshine. So, we loaded up copious amounts of water, snacks and our equipment, and headed off first for The Navigation and an environmental impact assessment at Tun Bridge on the boundary of the National Park itself. Travelling onward to St Catherine’s Hill, we conducted a Footpath Transect to investigate erosion, and completed a noise pollution assessment too – the boys finding to their surprise that the SDNP is quite a noisy place!

We headed over to the Mizmaze on St Catherine's Hill, the origins of which are as convoluted as the maze itself. Nevertheless, some boys delighted in running around its labyrinth paths!  More impact and noise assessments followed on the southern aspect of St Catherine’s Hill, as many boys noted the juxtaposition of National Park and motorway was stark.

Our final stop was at the base of St Catherine’ s Hill to appreciate the changes since the infamous by-pass was restored to ‘Chalk Downland’ in the late 1990s. The boys were brilliant and, despite being a little tired, coped admirably well with the conditions and were superb company, too.   

Steve Leslie
Head of Geography