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Sutherland’s Grove, Festive Frolic

Posted on 13 Dec, 2009 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Orienteering

‘The day Lynne was faster to three controls than Andy Dale’

At least 13th December 2009 was a Sunday . . . but it felt like a ‘Black Friday’. Niall’s advert said “This event will be a little bit different as it is Christmas. It will have a distinct Christmas theme and will be great fun for all the family and suitable for all abilities.”

Well he was wrong about some things. It was not suitable for all abilities - my brain failed me totally and I was not alone. Why? Well, read on for what was involved in Santa’s Surprise…

Start to #1:
Question: which of the following was not one of Santa’s original reindeer?
Answer options: A. Prancer, B: Cupid, C: Rudolph
It turns out that the correct answer was C: Rudolph. Now if you thought it was B: Cupid, you would memorise where B was on the map, head off there and . . no control (if you actually knew you were there as you were going by memory!). If you were smart and were not sure of the answer then you would try and memorise at least two of the control sites. If you were really smart or called Andy Dale then you could remember all three because he didn’t have a clue about any of the questions! So, how did I get on? Read the account below and look at the RouteGadget download from my GPS watch.

#1: went to the correct option - thanks Dave!

#2: thought poinesettas came from Chile but no control so off to Mexico via Brazil (but got a lead on Dave & Paul here!)

#3: Band Aid ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ - well it wasn’t going to be that control in the open (1982) was it? Went for the wall (1983) then the stream (1984) but there was a stream on the ground that I thought was the one on the map so back to the wall, meet Paul, hunt, up to the track, back to the stream and then look a bit further over! From the GPS download I spent about 1.5km looking for this one. A map would have helped here or remembering that the stream marked on the map was in quite a deep re-entrant.

#4: no problem as it was on the first site I visited.

#5: mistletoe grows on conifers only / broadleaves only / both? Had to be the control by the reservoir and it was but I was not sure about mistletoe growing on both broadleaves & conifers. Quite a party of folk there and reports of another party at the ‘broadleaves only’ option.

#6: not sure of the question but I got the answer wrong. Headed out around the tracks, paced along 400m from the junction (getting smarter!) and saw the ruined wall so went into the forest (yes it was green). Crept along beside the wall for 100+m, no control. Had remembered that one option was straight downhill but did not find it. Up the track as I thought I would have to return to #5 to look at the map but came across a ‘Tinsel Tastic’ map and worked it out from there. Back and found it OK.

#7: got it first time and now know when electric Christmas lights were first used.

#8: film a ‘White Christmas’ was in? Not a clue. Found this on at the second control ‘Holiday Inn’.

#9: well if it wasn’t at the stream/wall junction I was retiring. No such luck as there it was! And just after the control a large muddy wet bit to wade through (I had forgotten my waterproof socks so was not very happy with cold wet muddy feet).

#10: which direction was that star in for the Wise Men? Correct first time!

#11: twelve days of Christmas and what happened on the ninth day? Yippee correct again!

#12: had to be that one as I wanted to get to the finish quickly as very near to course closing time. Whew, it was.

Then the finish, meet up with Paul who had ended up going for a run as his hard drive (brain) crashed at #3.
Mind you, my day has just become a whole lot better. This format actually allowed me to beat Andy Dale to control #1, #10 and #11! It’ll never happen again!
Niall - you really must make a New Year resolution to get out more!

Tagged : Orienteering
Location : View on a Map