We studied the map but in truth I let Barry make the initial decision for our first 3 targets (at this point I was still getting my head around the whole conception of it), controls AS (20 Points), CN (40) & AH (20) with further targets to be decided once we knew how our nav was coping with the terrain & the conditions.
To begin with it was like follow the leader as there was only one way onto the hillside, this climbed steeply single file for some 500′ or so before confusion saw competitors spread out in all directions with probably all of the Score competitors looking for Control AS. Here I should clarify that the various Straight line competitions will have only some of the ‘Score’s’ controls on their maps as well as other controls that are not on our maps, basically if you follow the wrong leader at any point in the day you could be heading towards a control that scores nothing for you. Rule number one don’t follow unless you are sure the direction is the one you want!
Control AS soon had created mayhem & we were in the middle of it. Here I was pleased that I could play a part in the remedy as I convinced myself that a contour ring feature on the map was above & behind us & that would lead us to Control AS. Barry wanted to skirt South first but I persuaded him to retrace our steps & then climb higher. In reality the ring feature was not the one I thought it was but with luck more than judgement our new direction did lead us to two pairs of runners descending from above (one of these was Lou & Ellie) both seeming pleased with themselves & in move on mode. I’d seen where they’d come from & sure enough we were soon tagging in to Control AS, we had 20 points & things suddenly felt better. At this point I suggested that if Lou & Ellie were heading down maybe we should review our plan but Barry’s call was to stick with the initial plan for now.
This was backed up by many other pairs moving forward & up towards Control CN, 2K away as the crow flies, sadly I’m not a crow. Soon pairs began to take different lines, a few took the high road, some the low road whilst we & others were on the middle traverse. This soon met an unforgiving looking headwall which we, like most, decided to avoid & drop lower to traverse below it. This led to some pretty un-pleasant & slippery exposure & was not at all enjoyable. Finally we reached easier ground & my nose for direction kicked in again as I pointed to a saddle above & to our right as the probable location of Control CN. Barry concurred & we began to climb steeply leaving several other pairs to stay on a different course, in truth they were probably heading for another control CU with it’s enticing 50 points. Our climb up was in the region of 500 feet but sure enough with several other pairs coming in from above from the East we all converged on Control CN, 40 more points in the bag.
Next up Control AH but first Barry & I layered up with an extra top & Barry added waterproof leggings (the wind had picked up & it was decidedly cold but still no clag). Whilst he did this I studied the map & suggested a plan ‘let’s descend due South to avoid the rocky terrain shown on the map which is on the direct route (think I still had the shock of that airy traverse on my mind) & then once in the valley we can turn West towards the control.’ Barry concurred & we were off, soon however it was clear that most competitors were making a beeline for the Control & Barry correctly over-ruled my option saying something like ‘if that many are…. then we are too’, good call as it was better terrain than I’d feared. We were soon at Control AH & had collected another 20 points.
Now it was time to agree roughly how we would proceed from here, the next obvious Control was AP with it’s 30 points & then from there I was interested in DC with it’s 40 points but Barry argued that it was a big climb (over 1,000 feet) & that the Controls description of ‘Re-entrant, lower part’ was going to be a bugger to find. Here I’ll clarify that all controls come with a brief description for example the AH we had just found was described accurately as a ‘Boulder’, really in Scotland is there only one?
We moved on to join a track which was the only easy terrain we’d find all day but by now over two & a half hours in the bag weight as well as exertions so far were taking a toll & even flat ground felt an effort to run on for me, Barry was faring better, clearly his rough terrain running skills were better than mine & taking less out of him. Unlike me he’d stumbled several times but didn’t seem perturbed by these, my more cautious braking approach was safer but more tiring.
I was pleased that my study of the map identified that two small cliffs lied ahead to our right with a stream running between them ‘lets find them & the stream will lead us to Control AP’. We found it, Barry led up the stream crossing from bank to bank frequently & sure enough there was ‘Ruin, north east side’ aka Control AP, another 30 points tagged. Just under 3 hours in & we had bagged 110 points.
Over the next 3 hours we increased the number of Controls bagged from 4 to 9 but only added another 50 points less than half of that accumulated in the first 3 hours. This felt anything but bad at the time as our navigation felt like we were improving with each move, however as I write this blog I am sure that at some point in the future Barry & I will sit down & review our route choices with the benefit of hindsight. Of course we must also factor in that we came away without injury & who knows what other choices may have resulted in.
We decided to give Control DC & it’s 40 points a miss, there were a couple of pairs up there trying to find it, & stay low instead & head for Control CC described as a ‘Re-entrant’. ‘Re-entrant’s’ can be a bit tricky to locate but I identified on the map two woodlands & two streams that should handrail us to it, Barry concurred but tweaked it by saying lets go above the second wood which clearly made more sense. Nearing the control we spread out with me searching East & Barry climbing higher to the North & Barry’s sense proved correct, CC bagged, 10 more points.
I haven’t mentioned the Deer. On our way from the third Control to the fourth Barry had spotted a large herd of Deer running high across the hill to our East, at least 30 or more. Then moving on towards Control number 5 he spotted a larger herd strung out over more than a Kilometre again high up & all moving at speed & numbering literally in the hundreds. At other times we’d see a single Deer close to us but always on the run, fantastic sights but note to self ‘must check for ticks!’ At time of writing I’ve found two.
We formulated a plan for our next two Controls BE (10 points) & BK (20 points). BE was 1K away over untracked marshland which Barry led us to perfectly & hit it bang on.
Next up Control BK with it’s 20 points described as ‘Southern Crag, 15m, foot’. The crag was visible from where we were despite it being 1.5K away & would be an easy control to find in theory but Barry changed his mind based on the clock was ticking & that this Control would take us away from the Campsite. So we re-adjusted to Control DB with it’s lesser 10 points. This was 2K away over again un-tracked ground with waist high dried thistle’s adding to the sense of pleasure. After a K we reached a large stream feature but hadn’t banked on having to descend a steep gorge in & out of it so I said lets come in from the South & not the North, this added safety but an extra half kilometre to our route. We found Control DB having had that annoying back track North to find it ‘Southern Ruin, South side’ having just witness one member of another pair coming at it from the North walking straight past it, clearly he was a bit scrambled nearing the end of a long day.
From here with just over 1 hour 15 minutes left we planned two final Controls the first of which was BG, with 10 points, ‘Western Stream’ & set off without delay, we overtook a few pairs but after half a Kilometre where we were due to descend to a bridge Barry began turning right & not left so I called out to him to stop. Next followed my persuasion that we needed to head for BG whereas Barry’s mindset had turned into ‘camp is right & not left, we don’t need to be late’. My retort was but left is only 7K to the finish, we have the time, clearly he had doubts but went along with my reasoning reluctantly. I tried to mitigate the stress by re-addressing the map & saying ‘when we get to that road we can make a final decision’, I felt confident that I could make it & felt that Barry was still going faster than me but he soon introduced that his dodgy knee was playing up, clearly genuine but brain & pain are often related, a day later our positions would be flipped around.
At the road I ‘convinced’ Barry & we turned away from camp again & began climbing steeply for 350 feet over two kilometres but soon bagged Control BG. We still had 45 minutes up our sleeve with 350 metres of descent & a final 150 climb to our final Control which was literally 2 minutes from Camp. The distance was under 4K as I explained ‘if you can’t run downhill don’t we can still make it’.
Again Barry set the pace & we ran a little bit more than needed. The camp eventually came into site & it was clear it was in the bag now. Despite this Barry put on a spurt to climb to the final Control CZ (10 points) which was left of the road (the camp being on it’s right). I led the descent to the Camp with Barry calling out ‘we don’t have to run now Paul’, ‘really’ I thought.
We reached the camp & checked in after being out for 5:42:57 having just over 17 minutes to spare, Barry had the dignity to complement me on being a numbers man & that he couldn’t have calculated the ending. Let me make it clear that Barry led both physically & planning wise for the majority of the day & I had simply been very pleased that at times I was able to contribute to our experience whilst gaining an awful lot of experience about what an OMM was all about. Having tagged in at the finish I was really surprised to be handed a printed receipt of our days journey which included each check point, each time of arrival, time between each, actual time reached, this to a numbers man was heaven but I must of been tired because a couple of hours later Barry said ‘I’d expected you to be all over that receipt by now’.
Having reached camp at circa 2:45 pm the real pain in the arse was about to begin, almost 17 hours in camp which the sadistic organiser’s had added an hour to because you’ve guessed it it’s always held on the same weekend as the clocks go back making it almost 18 hours, cute! We got the tent up (well Barry mostly), I went to the toilet, getting cold only to reach the tent to be handed a 2/2.5 litre water bag by Barry with instructions to go & fill it, fair enough as Barry was to do the brewing & cooking. This saw me standing in a long queue as the 16 taps had the water pressure of a drip, finally at the front of the line I was able to catch up with Hayley Turner who had been similarly led around her straight line course, then my turn to move to a vacant tap where it took ages to fill the bag but despite the cold & dripping water pressure everyone had a wry sense of humour about our predicament. Back in the tent the rain came in timing it as perfectly as it could, weather wise we’d been & would be very lucky!
Back at the tent with barely room to move let alone sit up we slowly worked through to the evening with two cups of coffee, my freeze dried meal was more of a soup & a flap jack together with occasional reflections of our day & the day ahead. By 7:00pm I was bedded down with my Belay jacket being a very good call. Think I slept briefly some time after 11:00pm waking at 11:47 but from there I at least got some other short spurts of sleep inside me probably totalling 3/4 hours during the course of the night. As promised the Bagpipe alarm went off at 6:00 am but in truth there was no need I’d been awake for an hour by then. At least I was never cold, this despite Judy’s lightweight ‘sci-fi’ inspired sleeping mat needing to be re-inflated every hour, note to self, test it before you use it but I’ll still be insisting on an apology as she had the ‘grace’ to wind me up about camp the day before I left!
I had just a flapjack for breakfast (foregoing the freeze dried packet of 800 calorie porridge & Strawberry that stayed in my bag) with a cup of coffee & best part of half a litre of water, should be enough for 5 hours but probably Barry had his concerns.
By 7:36 we had punched in at the start had received our new maps & were kneeling on the ground planning a route. I had the temerity to suggest an alternative of heading in the opposite direction to the finish where some big points were on offer but Barry correctly focused us on heading in the general direction of the finish.
The rain had cleared through during the previous evening, skies were generally clear would our luck hold.
Final blog of Day 2 will follow soon.
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