Purple Thistle 2010

[frog]

Got a flier for this today which ended up in the blue bin with a load of other stuff by mistake. Can't see BOF info on location. Can anyone tell me where it is and is it just Sat and Sunday?

[Scott]

There's pretty detailed info on the website.

[frog]

Thanks, there isn't currently a link to the website from the BOF entry info, or a club so I wasn't sure where to look.

[andy]

given it's organised by the people behind nopesport, this is proably the best place to fish for info!

[brooner]

Entries will be opening this weekend through http://www.oentries.com

Train tickets for the PT weekend have just gone on sale, so look out for some bargains.

On the East Coast there are £9 fares available: http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/nine

Cheap sleeper tickets will also be available around about that time.

Get involved, it ain't the World Championships in Trondheim but it will be very good.

[frog]

Have booked the b&b-can't face west coast camping in August.
Cay we all go to Harris some tiime for this? Fewer midgies and now the ferries run on a Sunday. South Harris has great potential. Not sure where we'd get somewhere flat enough for us all to camp. Hargabost has some fields but around Geocrab or Ceann a Bhaigh would be a better situation.

[ryeland of doom]

Was wandering about some very tasty terrain at Nisabost recently - complex dunes on one side, rock and bog on the other side of the road. Nice!

[Meat Market]

Brooner and I visited Balmacara this weekend to do some course planning. The area is amazing. It is one of these rare open areas which feels like you're running on the moon but at the same time has more than enough technical detail to outfox everyone. This was shown yesterday after spending 5 hours walking round the area the day before I had to relocate 4-5 times when I ran round the area to tag the same sites I had visited the day before.

Plenty of rock features but not underfoot and heather rather than bracken mean that your running speed will be determined by how fast you can read the map rather than how well you can use your hands to scramble about.

The views are some of the best I've seen at an orienteering event. On Sunday I felt quite pleased with myself when I realised that a couple of legs on the four longer courses give a 270 deg panorama of sea lochs and small settlements but to be honest it would have been impossible to plan courses that didn't give some sort of awe-inspiring views of mountains, sea lochs and islands. As well as some great long legs on the longer courses offering the classic options of going over or around there are plenty of pockets of very technical terrain meaning that even if you prefer shorter distance courses you will not miss out on the fun.

The wider area itself is also misleading. While orienteering on the heather it feels like there is noone around for miles, except for the odd deer and plane flying overhead. However orienteering is established in the area through the efforts of Tim Sowood and Balmacara is less than 5km from the Skye bridge. There will never be a better opportunity to combine orienteering with a longer trip away to Cuillins or Dunvegan Castle to win Brownie points with your non-orienteering partner.

Entries are now open at http://www.oentries.com, with info about the event at http://www.purple-thistle.co.uk/. My advice to you would be to get your accommodation booked now since these will be filling up in the next few weeks.

[Meat Market]

I forgot to add I didn't see one midge the whole time we were there - another advantage of the area is that there is enough wind to give you peace from the flies and biting insects while you plan your next leg!

[frog]

Do you have a vague idea of the climbs of courses? I'm not sure whether to do 2nd or 3rd course, the climb will help me decide.

[brooner]

We do things the Scandinavian (lazy) way and don't measure climb... but the area is a big hillside, so expect plenty of climb. Course distances for Day 2 will be ~10% shorter than Day 1 across all courses.

[Meat Market]

this is a bit vague since getting climb wasnt as straightforward as i thought but:

Mighty 12km ~500m climb - Black
Big 8.5 km ~375m climb - Brown
Middle 6.5 km ~250m climb - Green/Blue
Small 4 km ~175m climb - Lt Green/Green
Baby 3 km ~100m climb - Orange

Note these courses are still subject to some change

[rocky]

Hey Brooner / Meat

What level is this event at?

[brooner]

Levels:
BOF says local.
Entries say national.
Enquiries say international.

[andypat]

About 100m above sea level?