1800 or so eager orienteers descended on Woodhill Forest en masse, all seeking a parking position at the head of the queue, to avoid the threat of a 3.5 km walk into the arena.  The forest gates were not unlocked until 8.30am, which was when we arrived.  We sailed past all the earlybirds (which was a bit unfair really) and drove for what seemed like miles. Eventually we reached a parking official who waved his arms in desultory fashion.  We weren’t sure if that meant drive on for a few more miles, or park yourselves wherever you like.  A bit further up the road was another parking fairy who had clearly lost the plot and was waving her arms around ineffectually.  We ignored her and parked on the roadside, leaving us with about 2 kms of walking over sand dunes thick with pampas grass.  We could see the pine forest way over on the distant horizon …

Luckily Pete and I had 3 hours of recovery time before our 12.30pm starts, having propped our chairs on “Australia Hill” soon after 9am.  There was a definite cultural divide – the Europeans were all out basking in the sun, and the Aussies and Kiwis were all grabbing the shady spots in the forest.

Finally away, and into the lumpy bumpy low dunes.  At 3.6 kms, this was my longest course so far, and potentially the most difficult.  I went on compass bearing, but was able to pick the larger contour features without too much trouble, and this got me round slowly but steadily, without any errors or need to relocate.  I got through 9 controls, then started to feel lightheaded – it was way past lunchtime, and my earlier sandwich hadn’t gone very far.

My approach to no 10 was very vague – I climbed up a couple of contours onto a plateau with a lot of nondescript features, and prayed to the orienteering gods.  They looked favourably upon me and my control appeared – phew!

The next leg was a long one.  I popped out at a drinks station, then planned to take a small track which would bring me within striking distance. Problem was, the track was non-existent – or if it was, I never found it.  Plan B – follow my bearing for a while then swing north up a large gully.  I picked a gully too early, and emerged onto another track – my first and only error.  I figured things out pretty fast and grabbed no 11, then was off away for the final two, happy to finish.  Nowhere near the winners of course, I am way out of their league, but I did have some names under mine, and one was a Swede.  I was pleased that I was reading the features quite well, I simply don’t have the speed to be competitive at this level.

Tomorrow – another day, another forest.