Scottish Orienteering League 6 – Forvie

The penultimate Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) event of 2017 was staged by Grampian Orienteers whose website is sub-titled “Take a Run on the Wild Side.”  Forvie National Nature Reserve certainly lived up to this billing – in the pre-event information Gramp stated “It’s windswept, it’s wild, it’s wonderful (in our not-so-humble opinion but we’re sure you’ll agree)”.  Hurricane Ophelia was somewhere out to the west but still the wind forced the download team and their computers into the back of a van and there was some concern that the controls would be taking off into the North Sea.

The availability of LiDAR for this area helped lead to the production of a new and highly accurate map. Anyone at the far start must have had a shock when they picked up the map to see the highest concentration of squiggles imaginable.  The 2.9 km route to the far start was magnificent – a narrow snaking path along the cliff tops with the waves crashing onshore far below.  Impressively organiser David Esson had managed to get his Maclaren (pram not car) along this route with start clocks and maps and used this to bring back items from the clothing dump.  Results are available on the Grampoc website.