Lake District weekend report - by Abi Bateman
10 UBOCers rocked up on a chilly Friday night to make the long journey up to their nightly accommodation kindly provided up north in Matt’s house. My car left much later than the other, arriving 1am Saturday morning, ready to appreciate the warmth of the house. Awaking Saturday morning to the smell of porridge drifting through the rooms rose us all, excitedly anticipating the excellent orienteering to come. Saturday Morning was spent on Dale Park with wet feet right from the beginning, we completed some complex orienteering jumping between marsh and more marsh. Experiencing sun, snow and rain we had a confusing morning of weather, but managed to stay dry (apart from our feet). We then travelled to our afternoon site, Tarn Hows, only to remind ourselves of how expensive (more than last year) National Trust Parking is and spending many of our well saved up pound coins (needed for that night’s accommodation). 7 of us completed much more technical orienteering including a corridor exercise just to find the start. Meanwhile, Tom Dixon, Anna and George set off for a fantastically long fell run (they planned only 12 miles but ended up running 16). The 7 orienteers finished off the afternoon of accurate navigation with much more tired legs by completing the Tarn Hows permanent TrailO course. Some did better than others with me only getting 6/13 correct! Driving to our overnight accommodation in the dark we thought of the fell runners still struggling on foot to reach the hall. Arriving early, we began work on the pasta bolognaise and Ratatouille (for Matt) still anticipating the arrival of the three runners. At around 7, they emerged out of the darkness, exhausted and collapsed into the warmth of the hall having completed 4 hours of running, ready for their bolognaise. Counting out our pound coins (needed in this hut for electricity, cooking and heating) we assessed our capability of warming the hut overnight and eating warm food. We settled down in many layers and our sleeping bags for a good night’s sleep before being awaken early in the morning ready to start again. Another morning of porridge, this time with banana in, we set off out into the wilderness to find our next orienteering area. Matt parked our car in the car park on the edge of the road and we sat watching Tom and both EUOC mini buses pass before turning and coming back again. A final morning of orienteering at Summer House Knott with fantastic spurs, re-entrants and steep slippy slopes to contend with gave us the opportunity to perfect our skills and adapt them to a trains exercise in groups across the forest. Tom’s car then bravely left for an afternoon of fell running in the drizzle while we left for Bristol, almost already dark.
Castell Coch race report - Megan Carter Davies
4 of us headed to Castell Coch today, just North of Cardiff. I ran the Brown - It started off well and was a fun middle style course until control 11, where I unfolded my map to find that control 12 was on the opposite end of the area on the other side of the next hill! The best route was probably around to the left with as little loss of climb as possible but, being the great route chooser I am, I went straight, taking in a lovely descent and a brutal climb.. The rest of the course was middle style again and I was racing head to head with Owain Jones and Peter Ward to the finish, keeping me at a quicker pace than I might have otherwise been going. Thanks to Ben Mitchell for a stellar map! (Even if it did have a bit too much undergrowth on it ;) ). Sophie and Cai both completed the Blue - Cai’s first Blue, having done his first Green last weekend!