North Wiltshire Orienteers Galoppen
13 January 2013
Looking north from Assembly
Savernake - beautiful woodland with magnificent oak and beech trees. There are areas of brashings and light bramble growth but in general it’s an open, runnable forest which orienteers can traverse swiftly on compass bearings. Peace to concentrate, interrupted only by glimpses of other orienteers and occasional startled deer.
My starting mood was a bit grumpy, due partly to Christmas kilograms which would knock precious seconds off my usual lightning speed (?) But the splendid forest soon cast its spell and I settled down to enjoy an invigorating run. The map was clear and felt accurate, albeit with some selective mapping of vegetation features.
The first seven controls passed without mishap – good route choices and no significant errors. For a while I was paralleled by a lady-in-purple, also on Green. It was tricky trying not to follow her and I developed a peculiar interest in finding different but equally good or better lines through the terrain.
After punching 7 I spotted an old adversary, Denise, not far ahead. So was the lady-in-purple. Competitive hackles rose – I was determined to catch them on the longer leg from 9 to 10! Unhappily, the lady-in-purple threatened to disappear from sight as I struggled to close the distance, and I failed to notice we had all drifted east towards a big oak with tower. RouteGadget shows several Green runners did the same. Bad bearings? Careless map reading? I don’t know. I do know I should have paid proper attention to the contours.
Relocation was fortunately straightforward and 10 & 11 were quickly found. But I was still annoyed at the mistake and took the opportunity to reflect on my errant navigation as I ran the easy leg to 12.
Ah... now was I on 12 or 13?
Surely I should have reached the pheasant pen by now?
Did I take the right bearing at 11?
Oh dear. Another course correction; another minute or two lost.
No further errors (apart from tripping & crashing in a heap at 14) and a respectable time of 57:05. Great fun. And lessons were learned: concentrate on your own run, not others; ignore distractions; put mistakes behind you immediately.
The trouble is, I’ve learned those lessons hundreds of times already!
Mike Kite
(Tamsin Horsler running Blue emailed to say, "Just read your description of Savernake, were we running in the same woods? Slow, deep mud etc. Did enjoy my run in a buzzard way!")
Left: Big Belly Oak by the A345 S of Cadley. Centre: Looking E towards Assembly. Right: Entrance to the Grand Avenue.
Photos 1 & 3 copyright Brian Robert Marshall & licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.