United Kingdom: Day 11 - A Fond Farewell

Well friends, this is the saddest blog of the trip – the last one. It’s been an epic journey, with new friends made and experiences we will never forget. Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen some amazing landscapes and today was no different.

Ingleton Limestone Quarry

We started the day at the Ingleton Limestone Quarry. While not necessarily as beautiful as other landscapes we’ve seen, it was pretty jaw dropping to see how massive it was. It is currently at a depth of about 140 meters, with about 50 meters of material still left underneath the current depth. However, the footprint on the land is so small that they do not expect to be able to go deeper as they need to keep a certain slope for safety reasons. When the quarry is retired, it will likely be filled with water and may be used as a SCUBA training facility.

Our next stop was a limestone pavement. This was more the pretty landscape we were used to seeing! From a distance, it looked like one big rock with some bushes and a couple of trees popping up sporadically throughout, but a closer look revealed large crevices across the landscape. Water mixing with carbon dioxide in the air creates a mild acid that reacts with the limestone and washes it away. This causes widening of the joints, called grykes. These grykes are important to the native habitat because of the vegetation that they allow to grow there.

Limestone Pavement

Near the limestone pavement, we came across some holes that formed in the grassy areas nearby. These are known as shake holes and are the result of water concentrating into one spot underground. The first few we saw were not very impressive. However, the last one we saw was absolutely massive and very deep, which of course had BJ cringing in fear.

Gryke - No sheep in this one.

The hike to and from these last features was pretty long, but somewhat entertaining as well. There was one area where we had to walk off the beaten path and up a hill to avoid a group of cows because apparently they are aggressive, should one walk between a cow and its calf. Nearer to the limestone pavement, we ran into some sheep. Chelsey had fun chasing them while the class made some pretty terrible sheep impressions. According to a local sheep tender, there was one stuck in a hole near where we were. BJ and Chelsey could hear it and very badly wanted to rescue it. But the landscape was too vast to go on a search and rescue mission.

The gang hikes up a hill to avoid the scary cows!

Shake Hole

"What are these crazy two-legged creatures doing up here?"

And with that, our last academic day comes to a close. All that’s left now is a 5 hour drive back into London where we will have our last night together. Tomorrow we will board our flights and go our separate ways. It’s been an amazing adventure, both academically and personally. We have learned things, seen things, and felt things we never thought possible.

The Dynamic Duo say goodbye.

It’s amazing how a group of perfect strangers got together and bonded. The group as a whole became very good friends. And for the Dynamic Duo and the rest of the “Fab 5,” a bond was created that won’t be soon forgotten. As much as we all may be happy to get back home, a piece of our hearts will always be with each other and the friends that we made across the pond. Dr. Collins shared one of her favorite poems with us which is very appropriate.

Rupert Brooke. 1887–1915

149. The Soldier

IF I should die, think only this of me;
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,	5
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less	10
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.