Summer 06, part 2
Pillock
If you consult the dictionary, you will find it says ‘a stupid person; a fool’. This word, therefore, very accurately describes my five days of orienteering in the Lakes this August. At this stage I should add that no one else called me a pillock but I was heard to mutter it under my breath several times on each course.
So what happened? Paul & I had a good July, taking time out from orienteering as we had both been doing quite a lot recently (both competing and organising). We had a wind-swept fortnight in the Uists, managing to sea kayak for 7 out of 14 days. We also walked some hills and helped the local economy by visiting many coffee shops. This does not help the fitness though! We also had a week in Pembroke, exploring the coast by kayak, foot and jet boat. The tides are really something there! And there are some good coffee shops and one amazing ice cream parlour! And then to the Lakes for the 5 days of competition.
Day 1, and the area went by the name of Swindale S. E. We were actually parked by ‘Wet Sleddale Reservoir’ but you can understand why they did not want to call the map that name! Blue marsh was the dominant symbol on the map – what a surprise! Manage to get controls 1, 2, 3 quite happily, reading the contours as I go. Then the mind went into neutral, I left control 3 about 70° nearer south than I should be! End up on a parallel ridge and relocate by taking a bearing on a very obvious cairn. Back on line (and about 9 minutes lost) and the rest of the course goes OK.
Day 2 and into some real forest this time – Graythwaite North (I hear that this is the third name given to this piece of forest!). All goes very well until control 6 and again I leave the control about 70° nearer north than I should be. After a bit of a hunt in head high bracken I find control 7 (5 minutes lost) and am really slow making my way towards 8 through the same bracken. Most of the rest of the course goes OK but I am a bit spooked by the noise of a heavy forestry vehicle working near control 9 (Paul actually was within metres of the bucket as it swung around!). I was spooked enough to end up going through an area of dark green which turned out to be windblow with a semi-reasonable route through it.
Day 3 was notable by the walk to the start and back from the finish. Imagine you are at the Coylet Hotel and the start is at the top of the forest above the loch! This was the ‘minor pillock’ day with few mistakes but lots of climb on the course (4.2km 200m climb!)
Day 4 and back up the A6 towards Shap and an area called Bannisdale East. This was a good area; open but intricate, hard to see just where most of the controls would be. The start was on an exposed ridge that almost required you to be on all fours to get up it! At control no 2 I made a really big pillock mistake – I had the map upside down and was heading over the wrong side of the ridge when I realised! Controls 3, 4, 5, and 6 all went well. Control 7 was a contour leg and I thought I was actually gaining a little height. After a hunt around I realised that I had actually lost height – and quite a lot as well (45 metres). Not good! The rest of the course was OK.
And so to Day 5 at Hampsfell, near to Cartmel. What shoes should I wear? There are areas of limestone pavement so a pair of shoes without metal studs would be ideal but I was not happy in mine, as I did not feel that they held my feet securely, so I ended up teetering around in the metal studs. Most of the course went very well, apart from falling flat on my face between controls 4 and 5. Then uphill towards control 10, head for the thicket marked on the map, Oh dear, it all looks like thickets! Low scrub, intricate limestone pavement with small re-entrants and spurs. Eventually I find my control (having found a couple of others on the way) but lost about 8 minutes. The next two go OK and then the run in to the finish. This was not taped and was 300m long – across a recently felled area with all the branches still lying on the ground, and some limestone pavement thrown in for good measure! I think this is the worst run-in I have ever done.
The Lakes 5 Days in 2006 was quite different to the kind of orienteering I normally do as so many of the areas were open hillside. A high degree of fitness was required as well as sound navigation at times. I was lacking in both of these and paid the price by having a poor performance throughout the week. So what is the way forward? Improve fitness (and so I went for a run tonight and will try to continue to do so at least 4 times a week) and also do some more technical training at ‘race speed’ – things like practising map reading on the run by taking old maps out with me when I go for a run.
Lynne Walker
