Burrator, Natrator Brook to start the night orienteering season! That's an interesting call I thought, but hey who needs to ease themselves in! The rain set in as I was leaving Plymouth just to make things even more interesting. I picked up the map and set off 3 or 4 mins after Nigel Worsley. I knew the area quite well from previous orienteering events, so decided to slow it down to #1, hit the river got slightly confused by wall not seen on the map. It's always difficult to read the map at night, but add a plastic bag and rain it ramps up the difficulty. Pass Nigel just before #2. Locate #2, #3 and #4 clean but cautious. #5 going to be difficult, I cross the wall and straight into boulders, try to keep on a bearing but which boulders are mapped? (Post event I question if you blow up a 1:10000 map to 1:7500 do the features retain the correct position?) I relocate on wall corner and eventually stumble on control, pit some distance from boulders! Out of control #8, make big error by deciding on wall option over path option and then get confused by where I have crossed the wall. Try to relocate but, can't, on brink of retiring. Eventually see Nigel on the path south of me and join him. (Nigel was retiring as he had taken his map out of the bag as he couldn't read it and it had disintegrated.) Path through bracken takes me too high, follow the wall south come to another path which is the one marked!! 20min split to #9!! Follow wall to #10 (At night the earthwall symbol blends with the contour lines making reading this map all the more difficult). From #11 I follow the gully north, over the path, over the wall, back over the wall to hilltop then down the hill north!! Think my brains gone!! Back up to large path, down path, then NE on wall to control....... Clean through to the finish but disappointed by number of stupid mistakes! The good news is it can only get better! 1:00:15 for 3.1km!!
Next Night Orienteering Race - Lanhydrock 16th November more details at www.cornwallorienteering.org.uk
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