Orienteering Training

Gill had a good idea, to offer some training to any Chepstow Harrier in the fine art of orienteering. There was some debate as to how many would turn up. Andy C and I offered our services to help. The venue was Blakeney where Andy S had planned an NGOC event recently and had some spare maps.

As it happened, the touotrs were Gill, Andy C & me. The tutees were Dick, James B and Lou with her kids.

Andy pt out a white course and Gill about 10 technical controls. I took Dick round, pushing him to navigate as much as I could. Analysing the teaching I thing the controls were a bit too technical but did give an opportunity to try some of the more difficult techniques – bearings, contour features, check bearings, pacing, route choice.

I found it a good reminder of the proper way of doing things, rather than the slapdash run and hope that I tend to fall into when competing. In this regard I hope that I will be a bit more careful and accurate at the next event.

Duke of Edinburgh

Sorry about the big gap since the last blog. I’ll try to do better.
Saturday was a busy day with Sue helping train the Silver award kids (young adults?). Sue & I had been up to Table Mountain above Crickhowell and sorted out some training exercises as the delegates followed a route that took them eventually to their overnight camp. It was good to have a group of boys who were both bright and willing to learn. The great weather was also an asset.
The evening was a night hike across the front of Sugarloaf. This was another success as I let the group make a couple of mistakes and guided them to some understanding of the challenges of low visibility navigation.

The whole day was tiring but enjoyable. I think they got some good learning as well as enjoying themselves.