Scottish 6 Days - Day 5

[andypat]

I thought Day 1 was really fun. In general it might have been a bit easier (technically and physcially) than soemwhere like Arnaskie, but there was more variety of terrain which may have encouraged complacency. I made one of my biggest nav error of the week at Control 12 on 40L but this isnt showing up as a mistake on winsplits!

I also got a little confused in the gorse at my number 7. Not entirely convinced there werent one or two unmapped thickets around there - the girl who followed me in to the control had been searching for 20mins.

[EddieH]

I think that the biggest mstakes tend to occur on
a) long legs, and
b) when terrain changes.

Tominturk had long legs.
Dunollie had great variety.

[The Cumbrian]

[/quote] Can't disagree more - I thought Ardnaskie was by far the best area. A constant challenge of concentration, map interpetation and a mixture of terrain types.

Creag Mhic? A bit like a dumb blonde to me - superficially stunning but little depth. Not enough technicality in/around the control circle and route finding realtively simple[/quote]

Well each to their own...something for everyone during the week. Perhaps the very early start at "Hardnasty" (I like that ) didn't help or the % of the course in the open but I maintain that for a running sport there wasn't enough running here. As for variety of terrain Dunollie was the best at least on my course. Loch Nell quite one-dimensional with 'run across bog into small technical area to a (usually) small feature' and repeat all the way up the coast. Your comments on Creag Mhic have some grounding but I think it's just the right balance in complexity and runnability.

[andypat]

Tend to agree with the Cumbrian on most of the area feedback. I wonder how different Ardnaskie and Loch Nell, for example, might be in the winter? I'd imagine Ardnaskie would be easier due to visibility and Loch Nell - well it might be unfeasibly boggy, but my main problem with it was finding the control in the circle - the small technical areas Cumbrian describes were often very overgrown - as an very early starter I had a lot of difficulty finding enough detail under the undergrowth to locate the control - bit of a lottery at times. Thats not to criticise the planners at all who i thought made a really good job of an unpromising area.

Torinturk for me was a hard slog of an area. About half way round I was thinking it reminded me a bit of the OMM or LAMM - and not just in terms of the time I was taking. What kept me going was the nice wee set of controls they had kept for the last 4 or 5.

[The Cumbrian]

Andypat, I think we possibly agree because we were on the same course...M40L!

I had an ok run at Tottinturk, but I'd agree it was a tough fell area but the semi-open/wooded sections we encountered gave a bit of variety. Still significantly more runnable than days 2 & 5 but perhaps thats just the terrain I'm more used to.