Duke of Edinburgh Report

————————————————- Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Report Aim: Observe litter in remote areas and compare with areas accessible by motorised transport Friday Amount of litter: Minor Thoughts: Started our expedition on the top of a hill, near a cafe/ pub which is where we found the litter; a box of beers. Apart from that the route was very difficult to navigate at first because the footpaths were almost non-existent. Furthermore, because of the remote location there was little disruption to the land, grass grew long, wild and marshes were hard to spot.
There were few fields for cattle and many times our group had to take bearings because any signs, footprints and the footpath were not visible. This was probably the most physically challenging day as there were many hills and inclines. Photos: Saturday Amount of litter: Moderate Thoughts: When exiting the campsite, there was visible litter on the floor. The route for this day was much easier and accessible than Friday because it was mostly over flat ground and there were very visible and well used paths to walk on. The entire group is skilled at reading a map, compass and taking bearings as we did not get lost once.
There was a great amount of teamwork because we constantly checked our position, while taking it in turns to read the map and lead. This made the expedition more enjoyable as it spread responsibility evenly. We found more litter on the side roads, but none on the footpaths. Photos: Sunday Amount of litter: Large Thoughts: Most of this consisted of walking through or around deep mud and fields which contained cattle. This was not enjoyable because there were calves with their mothers; this made them aggressive and slowed our progress. Also we alked through many suburban areas that would be accessible by motorised transport and found lots of litter. In a town we found many bins next to each other, but there was still litter barely 50 meters away. The route this day took us through popular public footpaths, in which we found the most litter. Photos: Summary: Over the course of the expedition, we discovered and concluded that as a remote area becomes more accessible to motorised transport, amount of litter in that area increases. This was a very interesting and enjoyable expedition.