Orienteering - Wednesday nights in Belfast

[Bic]

...to further add......lots of people in my experience find it easier to cross deck from learning from Orienteering Maps to Larger Scale Maps......and associate skills learnt in orienteering to full on Map Reading with a 1:25,000 or 1:50,000..Twentyclicks touched on....a common problem is over shooting...

[MikeD]

So, had a class time running around trying to find the little stations.  Immediately was disorientated by the map and what way I was supposed to go, the compass was showing me one way and i thought another..... And i think my electronic tag was causing the compass to react to it (thats my excuse anyway)....   so, after about an hour and a half (most people take 20 minutes I think) of continually being unsure where I was going, I managed to bag half the controls points before it shut for the night !!

So, I really did learn loads from it, I know my navigation skills are really going to improve over the next few weeks.... I'd recommend anyone else who doesn't feel comfortable navigating to give it a go...

Thanks again to Bic for the induction ! Much Appreciated  !

[Bic]

Mike....
.....sorry had to shoot off, and again for the fast pace induction, if your happy i,ll join you next week or at least next time your there and i,ll take a run round with you and spend a bit longer showing you a few pointers.....

[twentyclicks]

Sounds exactly like everyone's first time at the orienteering Mike    My head was pickled.

Apart from the maps being totally different and deciphering the wee codes of where to find the checkpoint, it took a while to get used to 'thumbing the map' and keeping it oriented - I'd forget after making a turn then wonder why I didn't recognise anything! You'll be flying in no time and planning the next checkpoint on the way to your current one 

[Samm]

Been meaning to give orienteering a go for years now. This is just the reminder I needed! Will have to give it a go this week. Don't think I'm fit enough to run it, but maybe a fast walk/slow jog combo might be acceptable! Though the maps may flummox me too! But even if I get lost it sounds like a good excuse for mid-week fresh air.

[MikeD]

good stuff, if you see a confused man standing around, it'll probably be me! 

Let me know if I can help with anything, I'll be aiming to start about 7pm and will probably put myself down for the shorter course this week !

[MikeD]

Barnetts Park last night near shaws bridge, i thought the course was excellent, the weather was beautiful and I'm making decent progress !  Still never completed the long course tho as ran out of time (cos there were long queues to get started - or else I would have)... anyways totally knackered after.