Orienteering in SA usually involves long drives on dirt road. This was no exception – we could see the dust cloud from 20 km away! It looked like mist, till we got closer. Visibility was down to zero in places. White turned out to be a poor choice of colour today.

After a long, dry, featureless drive in, it was surprising to see contour detail. There were a multitude of small watercourses, and some steep erosion gullies. The forest was very open so it was fast going if you were heading in the right direction – though there was a lot of very loose stone on some of the slopes that made it hard to keep your footing. I focused on using my compass a bit more accurately to make sure I was in the right watercourse. After a slightly messy start where I was one spur left of where I should be, I navigated accurately if a bit hesitantly. No 5 had me a bit confused, with the temptation to climb higher than necessary. A long track leg took me across to the second section of the course, which was much nicer than the first half. I scrambled in and out of gullies and managed to be in the right place – until I almost missed no 12, by heading from 11 to 13. As I corrected, I wasn’t careful enough navigating backwards, and ended up minnowing in circles for way too long. I lost about 10 minutes and dropped a number of places – very frustrating, and a reminder to stay focused!

The dust was still there on the way out.  Something to look forward to tomorrow.