13 QOs enjoyed the beautiful autumnal weather to experience some of Dartmoor’s finest terrain with open moorland and complex areas of gullies, knolls and depressions from previous tin mining activities.
Absolutely brilliant weather for an event on moorland. This event suited me perfectly apart from wading through the gorse!
There were very few features on the ground that you could navigate using. You had to take your bearing and pace it out. I had a really good day and I am pleased with my time. I was just about spot on for each control. However, I didn’t enjoy going from 9 to 10 in a straight line - it was slog through gorse of varying depths. As for the final control ‘100’ - it took me a few minutes of scratching my head, looking at the finish and looking at my compass before I finally figured it out.
Annabelle and Oliver took on light green - not sure that they enjoyed it but they finished. Oliver had the same first three controls as I had and worked with me - more of a confidence boost than anything else. Unfortunately, he went wrong at number 4!.
I met Annabelle at my number 8 and she was doing well. Not sure went wrong after that. She says that she couldn’t get through the prickles to her number 10!
A salted caramel ice cream on the way home and she was a little more cheerful.
Overall an enjoyable couple of hours - thank you Devon.
After last week’s compass-heavy orienteering, I was super nervous about this event on Holme Moor with the huge areas of open moorland. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day although there was enough chill in the air that I made the decision to keep my base layer on… a decision I rapidly regretted as I slowly roasted in the sunshine.
The start gave a rare opportunity to clock where other runners were headed for their first few minutes, albeit with the first (very near) control out of sight (as an aside every course should have a simpler control as a warm-up).
From 1 to 2 was the first of two longer legs - I was hesitant for the first part as I got a feel for the terrain, but as the moorland cleared of undergrowth I (much quicker than last weekend) started seeing the map features on the ground.
I was feeling pretty confident as I rocked up to control 4… or where I thought it should have been… but no control. I could see the marked marshy areas, and the two hut circles but instead of a pit, there was another hut circle. Maybe I was too far down the slope… nope there is the earth bank fragment… turns out the hut circle had a sneaky pit in it
5 minutes wasted meant being caught by champion Ben Chesters which meant a bit of a tow for a few controls for as long as I could keep up, but even left to my own devices I enjoyed the terrain, staying in contact with the map and making good progress. The mine area was a delight - so many brown map symbols in so small a space!
After catching the two starters before me, they both headed down the hill in the wrong direction from 17. I knew I was right, but was unsure enough to get pulled offline before I re-committed and found the control. Again at control 19, I was distracted by another runner and then the wrong control before relocating.
Most of the rest of the course was prickly but uneventful - my route choice from the last control to the finish was commented on as being ‘different’ - but as the 2nd fastest on that leg, I am sticking to it as the optimum choice!
Overall I had an enjoyable run on wonderful terrain in sunny Dartmoor - what more can you ask for!?
Lengthy walk to the start - not as attractive as New Forest but some wonderful views of reservoir. Starting with a bad route choice was the spur I needed to focus on compass and pace counting, using catching features to relocate! Hard work underfoot for oldies but good planning left a choice of easier but lengthier path choices. Controls well ‘hidden’ with too much detail mapped to ‘see the wood for the trees’. Overall pleased with time and enjoyment and NZ grand-daughter proud to have completed first course.
The trip home across the Moor took in Pixi’s Holt and Widecombe-in-the-Moor where there was an interesting church and pub - the Rugglestone Inn. Both were featured in the top 30 villages in UK in last Saturday’s Times
I took the hard decision to rest my hamstring and give this a miss- especially hard as I pre-entered weeks ago, hey ho. It looks like it was a great event and my consolation was enjoying replaying the QO guys battling it out on the Brown, impressive results. Interesting watching the race unfold by showing tails only and I had a sense of the differing styles especially with the GPS tracks showing the twists and turns. It does look like accurate compass work paid off even in the tricky areas.
It is indeed fascinating watching the replay on RouteGadget between all of us. You can clearly see Pete’s running speed, Andy’s consistent orienteering skills and my hit and miss approach as we go through the course.
