June 23, 2009 at 11:52 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
Today we deaparted Chora Sfakion early and headed for the Northern resort of Chania where we would later fly home to Gatwick from. We all woke up early after a lovely last night meal, where even the wine was provided free of charge, although there was some debate as to where this money really came from. After the meal we enjoyed eachother’s company on the beach, some more than others!
The coach journey this morning was far from plesant as the local wine failed to mix well with the windy mountain road. On arrival in Chania, we all had a couple of hours to enjoy the location, whilst taking into account the differences in tourism between Chania and Chora Sfakion. It was clear that Chania encouraged and had a lot more tourism than the South coast. We eventually checked in at the airport where the person at the check-in desk took an instant disliking to James (not suprising!) charging him 7.50 euros for his 1 kilogram of extra weight. Harriet and Danielle were a bit more lucky. Most people indulged in a bit of duty free at the airport, where the smell of sweaty holiday makers once again churned the wine from the previous night.
Whilst waiting to board the plane, we all reflected on what was, in the words of James Gater, “a bitching holiday”. Thanks to the witty banter of Team 4, and of course Richard Tegg, we all enjoyed a fun filled week where the laughter never seemed to stop. Yamas to geography, Sfakia, and not forgetting Elton John and George “Stavros” Michael. Only time will tell if what happens in Sfakia, stays in Sfakia.
Chania.
June 22, 2009 at 2:24 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
A view from Chora Sfakion.
The last day in Chora Sfakian dawned upon us and most of us woke up bright and early ready for a proactive and fulfilling day of work. The day got off to a slow start partly because Chris accidently overslept, however, after much apologising we all forgive him and everything is fine. After this minor setback the group got into the swing of things.
Yet again, the group split along gender lines with Chris and James designated the Lions share of the fieldwork. This entailed various interviews with Chora Sfakian locals including a long and meaningful conversation with Yeti, the friendly barman, and the woman from the bakery. These gave us valuable insights into the plight of tourism in the area since the introduction of the euro. A strange and rather disturbing interview followed with a tourist which left both lads with many questions and many scars but no further information about tourism. Whilst the boys carried out the gruelling task that had been set for them, the three girls got on with sorting out photos for the flickr section of the blog and taking further notes on the Samaria gorge from a handy tourism book.
All this work had made the group hungry so we decided to abandon it and have an emotional last day group meal. This emotion was soon lost, however, when Harriet snorted like a pig after a rare occasion when James pulled out a funny joke. This was exaccerbated by the fact that the ‘fit waiter’ Harriet had been commenting on earlier in the day was standing but a mere stones throw from the nasal catastrophe.
After this short diversion the group got back on track with finishing work all afternoon and were only stopped by short flushes of dread after remembering that the first year results were due later that afternoon. We all passed!
June 21, 2009 at 10:13 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
Team 4.
Susprisingly, we all managed to get off to an early start as James decided he would get up in time. Despite the grumpy ticket woman charging us a heffer of a fine, we boarded the ferry ready for a sweaty trek up the Samaria Gorge. While the girls were leading ahead of the group, the boys complained lagging behind. As we were taking observations we chose those unlucky enough to make eye contact with us to ask about why they had decided to visit the gorge and how they had heard about the attraction. These came in the form of a Canadian couple who admitted to being “geology nerds”. After discussing tourist activities, we arrived at the ‘Iron Gates’ which clearly lacked any metal structure. Here we stopped for lunch having undertaken many observations of tourism management in the gorge. During lunch, we divulged in a heated discussion about rainforests and coniferous trees, only to discover Chris was completely off the mark (a general holiday occurance). This lead to many a sing-alongs to the Jungle Book and George of the Jungle. After finally making down the gorge, we reseted at a taverna near to beach where we asked questions to the taverna owner and a tour guide about tourism in the village. Chloe seemed to be confused about why someone would pay a tour guide to “take them up the gorge”. The taverna owner insisted in a mid-afternoon drink, which we could not refuse! On the ferry ride home, our sense of humour got the better of us with jokes from the previous days.
June 20, 2009 at 7:26 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
June 19, 2009 at 5:25 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
A view of Loutro and it’s beach.
The day got off to a bad start as James continued his disregard for the team by being late yet again. This created a dilemma – we only had limited time to brief Alan on our plans and get the ferry tickets. Luckily Chris always comes up with excellent plans under pressure and took one for the team by getting the tickets for everybody, meaning that we could succeed. Aboard the vessel, our minds wondered as the fresh sea air entered our systems, this led to conversations of male breast implants, breeze porn and captain scarlet and the mysterons amongst others.
Upon disembarking the ferry we split into two groups based purely on gender. The boys walked to the far end of the settlement asking the restaurant owners important questions about local tourism based on their experience of Loutro and the way they feel the place has changed, whilst the girls sat around and talked about make up and reading cosmo magazine. After some encouragement they sparked conversation with a romanian waiter, however, he seemed more interested in finding out about the girls and obtaining a british work permit than divulging any information. All in all, we got a mixed response. Some gave us valuable insights into the differences between Loutro and Chora Sfakion as well as emphasising the dependence the place has on tourism. Others gave us blank looks and just repeated yes until we left.
After gathering the qualitative data the group reassembled for a catch up and a cheeky drink. Initially, this was a positive session where all of us learned valuable information. However, this initial burst of geographic enthusiasm tailed off and was soon replaced by talk of ships resting by rocks after stressful trips out at sea and the advantages of eyes with built in MRI scanning equipment. We realised we had hit a low point when James started singing along to the beegees whilst all of us struggled to find a suitable greek middle name for George Michael, finally settling on Stavros. After some research we found out it was Kyriacos. Although nobody said anything I could tell we were all disappointed.
After a morning of geographical tunnel vision, we decided to spend a bit of time taking a leisurely look at Loutro and all that Cretan hospitality had to offer. After a march around all the different restaurants we finally settled on one towards the right hand side of the harbour. This descion was heavily influenced by Harriet’s attraction to the spartan-like staff. Our enjoyable lunch was soon interrupted by uninvited guests. These came in the form of two invisitive cats whom after flashing their overwhelmingly large nibbles decided to cement their desire for one another in physical form – right next to our table.
The day was capped off by a relaxing kayaking session out into the harbour. This soon turned to tragedy for the girls whose boat was commandeered by pirates (another geography group) and Harriet’s ‘beached Whale’ impression trying to get back onto the boat did little to alleviate any blushes.
An example of a business in Loutro.
June 18, 2009 at 8:39 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
Loutro.
We were lied to ………. about the ability to gain student discount on the ferry trip. Regretably we had to pay full price even in our current financial dyer straights at the end of term. At this point we marked our first way point of the trip on the G.P.S intending to continue with this for the rest of the journey from Loutro to Chora Skafion via the coastal path. This didn’t quite go to plan as we encountered some extreme terrain and temperatures of over 40 degrees on our walk. However, the memory of the breeze on the ferry and potential to do a bungy jump in the Samaria Gorge spurred us on through the day.
On arrival in Loutro we were greeted by a wolf whistling parrot and some crazy cretan delivery men. By this time we were in desperate need of a coca cola just to calm our nerves so we stopped for a drink to write down other important observations in Loutro.
We were making good headway with the trek but Jame’s incontinenace slowed us down. This lead to the invention of the spectator sport “extreme urination with James Gater”. At this point a special mention must be made to Mr Chris Kerry who attained a p.b in extreme stone skimming…….he nearly made it to South Africa with his six splashes (see earlier blog for laughs.)
After sunbathing for a few hours and a well deserved swim in the sea we started the second leg of the journey. Walking through the nudist area of sweetwater beach was an uncomfortable experience due to the conversation regarding unexpected pop-ups! Ken closely followed us on the second leg of the journey encouraging us on up the path with a tale of certain death regarding mass movement and a camping couple.
We finished the walk and headed down to Illingas beach to do some further research for our physical project where we had some fanta limon and chatted to the owner of the taverna about the flood in the year 2000. Our day ended with Chris and James argueing over chasing a herd of goats down the road. Safe to say that James was victorious, much to Chris’ disappointment.
The coastal path.
June 17, 2009 at 8:48 pm · Filed under Group 4 Blog
Our first day in Crete was a bit ropey! Interesting start to the day as James’ mix up with the hotel room meant that we were about 45 minutes late for the beach meeting but this pleased everyone else as they got to sunbathe for a bit. Whilst waiting, Chloe’s sweeping view of the harbour pointed out South Africa in the distance and James’ inability to name people correctly hindered progress as Danielle struggled to work the G.P.S which lead us up the wrong path and through two bees nests. We began our ascent up the Ilingas gorge feeling a little bit stressed and very hot. The first leg was incredibly hard which dampened spirits. We carried on up the gorge stopping every once in while for a bit of shade whilst experiencing some of Richard’s witty banter!
After stopping for lunch, we stumbled down the gorge stopping at five sites to collect the data that we needed, of which Chris and James made 450 measurements regarding the debris particle size and roundness. On the way down Danielle encountered her first ever bee / wasp / Cretan hornet sting. We finished collecting our data by measuring the wetted perimeter and slope profile at the flood defence system installed under the road. We headed back to Chora Skafion where talks earlier of horror movies came to light as we were offered a lift by a friendly Cretan man.
A section of the Ilingas Gorge.
