Tis the season to get lost again and again and again……(well for me anyway) which is a little harsh on everyone else. Yes, it’s o-ing time again and so Simon C, myself and Rob headed down to the Peak for a South Yorkshire Orienteers event held at Treeton. The clouds increased the further south we got, but it stayed dry (the puddles on the roads suggested it had only recently finished pouring though).
Rob and I opted for the blue course, while Simon as ever went for brown (the longest). For those not aware of the orienteering scale it goes white, yellow, orange, red, light green, green, blue, brown with increasing length of courses and technical difficulty – although the latter has already reached maximum at green. Anyway Simon had a good run and was pleased to finish well within brown standard. Rob had been going relatively well (compared with me) with just a couple of time consuming controls and was somewhat surprised to find himself disqualified – having inadvertently missed out two of the controls altogether.
No surprise that they were both sunning themselves at the car when I finished. I had got myself lost far too many times and the only positive points I could muster were that I completed the course and always managed to locate myself again – it is so much easier finding the controls when you know where you are. (And also did better than Rob – ed). I was amazed to find that I hadn’t come last given the numerous errors.
By the time I had finished the clouds had dispersed and left a clear blue sky so naturally we wasted a good hour or so debating where to go. Eventually, Baslow was the chosen crag as none of us was feeling that energetic after the run. It was well worth the bit of a drive over, as we were rewarded with glorious warm sunshine and lovely views of Curbar and surrounding fields in the autumnal light, followed by an even better sunset. An array of easy routes were soloed mainly by Rob and Simon. Rob led Niched Wall (S) which Simon had abandoned (ie wimped out of – ed), opting for Death to Khomeini (VS 4b) instead. Which were pleasant little routes. We also threw a rope down an unprotected 5b to finish off on. A good day out and a nice surprise end to the day given the cloudy and damp start.