Go Your Own Way
Orienteering is a fun and educational day out for the family
Give orienteering a try, with fun and challenging courses across the country
IHAVE always thought, and please forgive me for this, that orienteering as something of a nerdy pursuit, where half your time is spent peering at a compass. Surely yomping up a mountain, camping in the wilds or paddling a kayak is more fun?
But I was happy to be proved wrong, and with son Eric in tow I headed off to Beecraigs Country Park, above Linlithgow, to try it out. It was like a mini-expedition with the challenge of navigating your way over unfamiliar ground, looking for marker posts – called controls.
“It’s like a treasure hunt but without a sticker or sweets at the end,” Eric said before we set off.
At Beecraigs there are a host of options from simple routes to incredibly difficult ones involving virtually impenetrable forest.
In competitive orienteering you complete a course as fast as possible, but we decided not to go too quickly and chose one of the easiest routes with marker posts.
We studied the map showing the route – printed from the British Orienteering website – and we were off. The first post was south of the car park, providing a simple introduction to the compass, especially as the map uses magnetic rather than true north.
The second post was found by following the map along a track, but some searching was needed as it was partially covered by a low-hanging tree. More map work identified a ruined wall and stream and the next couple of posts were quickly found, boosting Eric’s confidence. Aspects of the map were of particular interest to Eric, especially a path that appeared to end in the middle of the forest.
“It leads nowhere. I like that; it’s cool.” More posts ensued – and a quick snack – before the most intriguing decision of the day. The easiest way between two posts seemed to be up a path and track but the shortest route was straight ahead. Eric chose the
latter, ploughing through gnarled roots and fallen branches before stopping at an open patch of ground.
“Looks like we will be going through knee-high grass – what happens if a snake bites me?”
Informed that there were no snakes – probably – he charged on and learned another lesson when confronted by a burn flowing along a deep ditch, something he hadn’t noticed on the map.
A huge jump followed and a path was reached. I then decided to take the easiest way to the post, leaving Eric to make his own way across a dense thicket. Some time later he emerged through rosebay willowherb, which towered above his head.
“Your way was more boring – my way was more interesting but slower. And, I like wading through all that stuff,” he said.
It was an easy walk back to the start followed by the words every parent likes to hear:
“That was fun, can we do another one?”
Some time later he emerged through willowherb” rosebay