🤔 What #challenges can #fieldwork hold?
🌧 As I found out this week in Dartmoor (Dartmoor National Park Authority), unforgiveable landscapes, challenging weather conditions and maintaining motivation when encountering unexpected obstacles can daunting. There were numerous times we second-guessed our navigation due to low mist and horizontal rain, ending up walking in the wrong direction or finding ourselves in peat bogs.
🗣 Some of the ways we were taught to overcome these challenges were quite simple. The first was to take a step back and assess a situation before attempting to negotiate the problem. If in a team, recognising what type of leader you are, whether you are a natural leader, detail-orientated or a people pleaser are all equally valid ways of leading a team. However, knowing your strengths and when you need step back before leaping in is essential in assessing a problem.
📝 Being aware of any forthcoming challenges allows you to prepare beforehand. As in the #polar regions, large areas of Dartmoor are known for communication blackouts caused by the surrounding geology, so having physical alternatives such as compasses, maps and knowing how to use them are vital. Keeping your calories up to prevent hypothermia was also necessary (despite it being summer!), so dehydrated meals were the best option after a long day on the moors.
🎒 It was a great learning curve and although I have been to Dartmoor before, I don't usually tend to hike out in such bad weather! It was a great preparation for the potential polar expeditions in the following years, and we learnt a lot from expedition leader Anthony Jinman, Plymouth's #mountainrescue and the Clean Planet Foundation over the week.
#cleanplanet #expedition #cleanplanetpeninsulaproject #fieldwork
Electronics Technician at Phoenix Technology
3mocongratulations