101 Maps not to run on before you die

[Becks]

Some Spanish guys just set this blog up:

http://101mapsyoushouldntrun.blogspot.com/

Anyone have a map of Llyn Elsi I can send them?! I still have nightmares of that place from almost 15 years ago!

I wish I could speak Spanish.

[madmike]

Becks,
I do but it will be in a storage shed somewhere in UK with all the other stuff I didn't bring out here. I still have nightmares about that place crawling through dark green fir trees to look for controls you couldn't see from 2 feet away. About 2/3s of us didn't finish the M21L because there wasn't time whilst the course was open

Snowdonia double badge late 90s methinks! you must have been areal snapperwhipper in those days!

did they ever use the area again?

[Becks]

Believe it or not, I think we actually just used it for Yorkshire Squad training. But there may have been an actual race, I really can't remember. I have a PM offer of a map, so that's great!

[Red Adder]

Rather negative - don't forget people often put a lot of effort in just to give the rest of us our sport in areas of the world which aren't perfect but may be accessible.

We've probably had 101 places to run on before you die so how about "101 areas, which while not spectacular will give the average punter a good day out as at least the map is accurate and the club knows how to appoint and support an imaginative planner and give a friendly welcome to all".

[Becks]

Wow, Nope really has had a sense of humour bypass these days.

[Becks]

To add, to me this means "Look at how much we love this sport, that we'll try and do it anywhere. Absolutely anywhere." I've run on rubbish dumps, arctic tundra, glacial moraine, desert island like sand dunes, ancient pine forests, medieval town centres...but there are some areas that I really, really can't believe someone loved enough to map.

For me, Llyn Elsi is that map.

[awk]

For me, Llyn Elsi is that map.

I can think of a few Welsh forests over the years that have fallen into that category. Broughton Moor and Simpson Ground also once upon a time fell into that category too - the latter in the days when it was called Chapel Stile (I think), when the entire course pretty much was on hands and knees to get under the trees!

Another one was Allerthorpe Common near York back in the late 70s. I remember running on this when the only way to make any progress above a crawl was to jump into what I remember as 6' deep ditches and use them as footpaths, as the 'paths' were horribly deep in heather and the forest dark green. The area was legendary in the LUOC of the 80s.

Anything like that nowadays, are we being a bit more selective?

[DJM]

I can think of a few Welsh forests over the years that have fallen into that category

and we're not using any for Croeso 2012 (the Welsh 6 Day) next July

[andypat]

For me, Llyn Elsi is that map.

I can think of a few Welsh forests over the years that have fallen into that category. Broughton Moor and Simpson Ground also once upon a time fell into that category too - the latter in the days when it was called Chapel Stile (I think), when the entire course pretty much was on hands and knees to get under the trees!

Another one was Allerthorpe Common near York back in the late 70s. I remember running on this when the only way to make any progress above a crawl was to jump into what I remember as 6' deep ditches and use them as footpaths, as the 'paths' were horribly deep in heather and the forest dark green. The area was legendary in the LUOC of the 80s.

Anything like that nowadays, are we being a bit more selective?

Theres a few bits of Auchingarrich that I found like that last Scottish champs - a true test of champions - I failed.....

[Big Jon]

La Jarosa (spelling?) in the Madrid hills was one of these - apparently the Polish mappers misunderstood the area and mapped a huge area that was just horrific. I ran in it many years later and it still wasn't pretty despite 10+ years of growth. Ask Dickie J for his stories of his home made anti-prickle knee protectors.....

[graeme]

Fallen Timber Meadows. (Alberta)
The clue's in the title.

[andypat]

apparently the Polish mappers misunderstood the area and mapped a huge area that was just horrific...

Well let that be a lesson to the Spanish!

[Gross]

Yep... but the Russian produced some pretty spectacular maps of the mountain stuff north of Madrid... can't remember what it's called... or maybe that terrain was just brilliant... wonder if my hire car is still stuck in the snow up there!!

[RJ]

.....Allerthorpe Common near York back in the late 70s.....

I know some people who started their orienteering on Allerthorpe Common..... still in the sport too! So it can't have been all that bad!!

[EddieH]

Well AWK I loved Chapel Stile. Yes there were a few short crawling sections, but the white bits had such a remote hidden atmosphere about them and there was loads of potential to get into the wrong white bit. Last time I ran at Simpson Ground as it'snow called it wasn't nearly as fun Apart from the fact that all the dross on the ground menat that the white bits weren't nearly as runnable as the old white bits, but the good visibility lacks the challenge of the original.

As for Allerthorpe - not the greatest area but hardly the worst. My only event there I saw dozens of adders as didd everyone else that day - not quite as serious as the rattlers in the blog.