Orienteering at Brimham

I really enjoyed my morning's orienteering today.  Brimham is technically difficult with all of the rock formations meaning you have to really keep in touch with the map more than usual.  It was a middle distance event which meant a lot of controls (22) coming at you in a shorter distance on a 1:4000 map.  Ruth the planner took us out around Hare Heads, the edge of the moor dotted with rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes.  It gave me time to get in to the scale and features before we came in to the area of the big rock structures.  Ruth had craftily placed some controls on top of rocks and others in crevices and tunnels so it was essential to read the control descriptions, something I neglected for a couple and paid the price.  I only made one significant error which was also made by several other women on my course.  We all made the mistake of coming off a bend too soon and were searching in the wrong part of the rocks.  It probably cost me about ten minutes.  

There were lots of orienteering folks to chat with on our return to the carpark which always makes it more enjoyable.  See Kiteseeker's blip for another view of the rocks.  Well done to her on her fourth placing on our course.  Tony and I walked back up to the café for cuppas and biccies before heading home for baths and a Skype catch up with Euan and his mum and dad.

When we were up at Jen and Pete's last week, I dug out the old video of us orienteering at Brimham one lovely summer evening when she and Becky were nine months and 3 year old.  A Channel 4 crew came along to film the event for a programme called 'Making the Most Of' and we were interviewed as we picnicked on a flat rock after our runs.  I had a fetching 80s perm!