Anyone training in Inshriach this weekend?

[andypat]

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/giant-black-cat-warning-to-walkers/001946/

Sounds like the SOA ROMP programme http://www.scottish-orienteering.org/natcen/page/regular-orienteering-map-programme/ might need a review of its risk assessment?

[EddieH]

All the more reason to go in the hope of seeing it. I have seen one many years ago very near my home

[Freefall]

About 10 years ago I encountered a large black cat bigger than a labrador in the middle of a track as a cycled around Kyloe (Detchant more accurately) on an early planning visit. The cat glared at me with very red eyes then walked (not ran) into the dense forest. After reading up on the internet I came back the next day and made a plaster cast of a huge paw print. I did hear from others of sightings of the big cat in Northumberland and within the forest a lady who walked her dogs said they always went quiet and were spooked in the area I saw the animal. They do exist! I didn't widely broadcast it before the National Event we held there....

[SYO Member]

I've never seen a large cat like creature but when I was out updating a map for an event last year and in a rough open area, I nearly stepped on a snake in a small flattened section.

Sunning itself, it was coiled and had at least 2 rings of between 12 and 18 inches diameter giving a length of over 7 feet!

I watched it for about 30 seconds but before I could get my camera out to take a snap, it slithered off.

Looking online when I got home, I reckoned it was only a grass snake which are apparently rare nowadays but are supposed to have a maximum length of only 5-6 feet!

I also didn't widely broadcast it and the event went OK.

Any other orienteering snake stories? I've never seen a live adder but saw a dead one on a track in a North Yorkshire forest many years ago.

[EddieH]

I have often seen adders, but one particular Ebor event at Wheldrake there were dozens and almost everyone was returning with stories of them.

Once in the New Forest I was suspected bitten by one I didn't see. There were two neat prick marks and my calf became rock solid very quickly.