After racing hard for past three days my body was ready for an easy day out in the woods. These woods, however, where not the ones that would offer such luxury. Glen Affric is a masterpiece, a brutal ancient forest with a seeming aim to provide an orienteer with every imaginable obstacle. I must say, it was great and humbling, it required skills I did not possess, it required fearlessness I did not yet learn. By basically jogging the course I opened myself up to the forest and the map, noticed much more, soaked it in and got seriously beaten up. I realized how much more effort I need to put in to be able to orienteer well in such forest. I lacked grace and aggressiveness, stumbling across rough terrain, picking blueberries and raspberries, distracting myself from my inabilities. At one point I came across a very green patch of woods, fallen trees completely blocking my way. I stood there shocked with indecision of which way to go around or possibly climb into the dark branches of the trees. Then a woman came by, much older than I am, and without any hesitation dived into the darkness. Impressed, I followed tentatively, and to my surprise came out unscathed. "This is how I should be Oing!" I screamed at myself, feeling like a such a weakling. Yet, I knew that it meant I wasn't nearly as ready as I thought I was, that a lot more effort needed to be put in. It did not scare me but offered me an opportunity to learn. Some day, I'd like to return here to tackle this terrain again.
RG Map and Course