BADO/BAOC held the Southern Night Champs at Bulford Ranges this evening. The area is mainly open but with large sections of impenetrable green. The temperature was hovering just above freezing and, with no starts times allocated, it took a few controls to warm up after having queued to start. (I pitied the M50 competitors who had to wait for about half an hour.)
As I’ve said before, I’m not particularly good at attacking the forest and this was certainly necessary in places as the planner frequently used the green patches to try and make things more interesting. (Can you stay on an accurate bearing while fighting your way through thorny buses bent over double?) Some of the large knolls may have proved trickier to find if the army hadn’t surrounded them with tall posts and reflective signs telling the tanks to keep out. (I’m guessing that they are actually ancient burial mounds).
I eventually became unstuck about two-thirds of the way round, losing about five minutes trying to find the right route through a warren of paths in a large green thicket. Wasted a bit more time at the end when my vague navigation was caught out by a bank of freezing fog just where I intended to relocate before re-entering the woods.
Ended up in 5th place in the results just over five minutes down on Tuomas Tala. All good fun but I don’t think the area has enough of interest to warrant returning in the daylight.