This was something new. What looked like a field of knolls spread out before me, and I was actually jogging over it. What’s more - and it might yet prove to be a one-off - I think I was enjoying it.
I am getting used to this idea of leaving the path - even if I remain wary of my weak and damaged ankles. And the number of controls on which I was happy with my navigation probably outnumbered those on which I would like a re-do. I recognise re-entrants now, and knew that the safest way to find a boulder behind a strip of green was from the other side of the green.
The course on - and around Ord Hill on the Black Isle - still held plenty of frustration. Looking at the results, I am bamboozled that anyone could find the controls so quickly, as if the purple line on the map printed itself onto the actual ground for them but not for me.
Boulders and crags remain my nemesis. They all look the same, and if there is one there are dozens. The mistake I made spending so long clambering around this collection of stones was approaching from above. I have seen it written that you have a wider view if you approach controls from above, but controls at the foot of any stony feature will surely be more easily spotted from below.
One other control that took me several times longer than the winner was at the top of a long line of crags. I can’t judge distance (yet) and I hadn’t gone far enough along before I started looking. Chatting afterwards, someone pointed out a skinny yellow line cutting through the green. That would have led me to the control - if I had found it.
It reminded me of the British Champs. As I sat at the end of the course that day, my legs raw with scratches, I thought about the wall of brambles I had fought through. Looking again at the map, I noticed a skinny yellow line leading from the main path straight to the control.
Maybe one day I’ll learn to spot the skinny yellow lines before I’m scratched in a thicket, or be able to tell one crag from another.
But for now, if I can run over broken ground and actually enjoy it, maybe I’m doing ok.
Comments
Post a Comment