The great outdoors: No sticker, no sweets, but orienteering isn’t just for the nerdy types

I have always thought of orienteering as a nerdy pursuit, where half your time is spent peering at a compass.

But I was happy to be proved wrong, and with son Eric in tow, headed off to Beecraigs Country Park, above Linlithgow, to try it out. It was like a mini-expedition with the challenge of navigating your way over unfamiliar ground, looking for marker posts known as controls.

“It’s like a treasure hunt but without a sticker or sweets at the end,” Eric said.

At Beecraigs there are a host of options from simple routes to incredibly difficult ones involving virtually impenetrable forest.

In competitive orienteering you complete a course as fast as possible, but we decided not to go too quickly and chose an easy route.

We studied the map – printed from the British Orienteering website – and were off. The first post was south of the car park, providing a simple introduction to the compass.

The second was found by following the map along a track, but some searching was needed as it was partially covered by a low-hanging tree. More map work identified a ruined wall and stream and the next couple of posts were quickly found, boosting Eric’s confidence. Aspects of the map were of particular interest to Eric, especially a path that appeared to end in the forest.

“It leads nowhere. I like that; it’s cool,” he said.

More posts ensued before the most intriguing decision of the day. The easiest way seemed to be up a path and track but the shortest route was straight ahead. Eric chose the latter, ploughing through gnarled roots and fallen branches before stopping at an open patch of ground.

“Looks like we will be going through knee-high grass – what if a snake bites me?”

He charged on and learned another lesson when confronted by a burn flowing along a deep ditch, something he hadn’t noticed on the map.

A huge jump followed and a path was reached. I took the easiest way to the post, leaving Eric to make his own way across a dense thicket. Some time later he emerged through rosebay willowherb, which towered above his head.

“Your way was more boring – my way was more interesting. And, I like wading through all that stuff,” he said.

It was an easy walk back to the start followed by the words every parent likes to hear: “That was fun, can we do another one?”

Join in

Orienteering is done across the country from built-up urban areas to the wilderness of the hills.

A good way to get started is to get in touch with a local club and the British Orienteering website

britishorienteering.org.uk/home

has a comprehensive list.

Many competitions are held, using temporary courses with entrants timed to see who is quickest around each course.