Over the sea to . . . Mull
Posted on 13 Mar, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • Orienteering
One very pleasant thing about retirement is the ability to pick and choose with regard to the work opportunities offered. Stramash had offered me a couple of the Teaching Orienteering Part 1 (TO P1) courses and the second was on the Isle of Mull.
After another check-up on my knee lump – it is actually OK, just a calciferous lump that has decided to now stop growing (I think!) and might dissolve or not – and being told not to come back for six months, get some kneeling pads if I must crawl in and out of tents etc., I loaded up the car with my boxes of kit and headed for Oban. The boat to Mull was at 8am, check in about 7:15am as I still had to collect my tickets. I spent the night at Niall’s and crept out just after 7am, trying not to disturb his parents too much.
Mull in mid-March could be quite inhospitable. The weather gods were smiling on me and the crossing was calm in sunshine. An easy drive took me to Salen Primary School where most of the course were waiting. I promptly got lost inside the school. It is semi open plan with a centralish area and then everything looks the same and there are few glimpses of the outside! 
We had to wait for about ten minutes as Somerset had to feed his sheep on the Island of Ulva. Salen is one of the schools in Argyll & Bute that has a Gaelic unit; we were using that classroom so it was interesting to see all the displays in another language. We were also working at small tables and on small chairs!
The candidates were all very receptive to the course. Salen has a reasonably sized multi-purpose hall and we were able to use it for the morning session. I usually try to give the group reflection time so that they can discuss the exercises and work out adaptations for their own situation.
Lunchtime was a treat as the school (staff) has soup & cake on a Friday! There was extra cake today as two students were leaving after a three week placement. The afternoon was going to be an active session outside with the candidates planning a couple of courses after having a go at updating the school grounds map. School grounds change regularly and we also had the handicap of a large dental van taking up a lot of the playground.
The weather continued to be cold but sunny – just great for the exercises. The group worked hard, producing courses and then sampling one another’s. They left enthused by the activities they had sampled and even more so by the ‘goody bags’. As well as the TO P1 resources from British Orienteering (a CD packed with ideas, posters and fliers), Stramash have provided each school with their school grounds map, 10 training kites & punches, control cards, plastic template for marking up maps and about five books (Teaching Orienteering as well as the set of Start Orienteering books).
I had a while to wait for the 7pm boat back to Oban. I had printed out an orienteering map of Aros Park, just south of Tobermory so I headed up there. It was cool while I was getting changed but I had a lovely run of 4.5km. Well, the run was lovely except for one part where the paths were not well walked and the brambles had encroached a lot. A quick dash up to the chip van in Tobermory for a portion of chips to eat driving down the road to Craignure.
The boat was very quiet so we unloaded quickly and I was soon heading home, arriving about 10pm. It had been a long day but very satisfying working with such an engaging group and then the lovely run afterwards.
I am a level 4 orienteering coach and a qualified Assessor & Coach Educator. I have been orienteering for xx years and have coached on many foreign tours.