Coming up this autumn are a number of events that were reviewed in Pacemaker before they were postponed by the Foot & Mouth outbreak, not least the National Event at Newborough that is now this year's British Championships. Here we review this year's BOK Trot and November Classic venues, New Beechenhurst and Denny Lodge, respectively. Finally Barry Breed describes his local area, Maulden Woods just up the road in WAOC territory.

New Beechenhurst (11 Nov 2001) : Keith Marsden

The Forest of Dean is a marvellous area for orienteering. Like many similar large tracts of forest it has been divided and subdivided into many different maps each with their own character and history and like the proverbial curate's egg some bits are better than others. (Why is it curate's and not vicar's?) But I digress.

Man has worked much of the Forest of Dean for centuries and evidence of mining and charcoal burning is everywhere. Some maps are dotted with platforms, formerly the sites of charcoal burning and others have areas both of mining and the results of mining, e.g. spoil heaps.

	Some of New Beechenhurst's spoil heaps - look out for low-flying wet branches.

The former charcoal burning areas are generally to the South of the forest in areas with large valleys, open deciduous woodland and little or no undergrowth; areas such as Soudley and Sallowvallets spring to mind in this category.

The mining areas tend to be further north, around the villages of Cinderford and Coleford where the valleys tend to be steeper and many of the areas are covered in less mature conifer plantations; New Beechenhurst and The Pludds fall into this category. As mentioned above, these areas include a number of spoil heaps that have been planted in the recent past. Unfortunately this means that although the areas have intricate contours they are often covered by dense young trees - you know the kind that get really wet and pass on their wetness to you as soon as you start to push through them - and the control you're looking for is middle reentrant or northmost pit.

Now don't get me wrong I love this sort of area - after all I've spent many minutes, amounting to hours in them. Indeed, the last time I went to New Beechenhurst it was exactly this sort of area that was my downfall. The trick is to limit the amount of time in these areas - so you need to choose a good accurate entry point close to the control and hone your ability to orienteer, albeit for short distances, while your eyes are closed and you are bent double to avoid the branches. Unfortunately my attack point was not accurate enough and I spent four or five, very long, minutes in an area of young spruce immediately following a downpour, an experience akin to being beaten with pine branches whilst standing under a cold shower - I assume.

This was back in 1995, but judging from my subsequent route, drawn on my map that day, I never really recovered from the experience, as I soon followed it up with a similar escapade in a similar area. So you have been warned; New Beechenhurst, the scene of this year's BOK Trot, has its own ways of catching you out. Between the spoil heaps there are some areas of nicer, more runnable Forest of Dean, which probably makes it all the more likely that you will get caught out by the wriggly bits.

As for me I will wait for a hot bath after the run and try to avoid the cold shower.

Have fun!

Approximately 3+ hours travelling time.

November Classic : Denny Lodge (4 Nov 2001)

One of my few complaints about the eastern part of the New Forest is that from most of the open areas the horizon is dominated by the chemical works and oil refinery at Fawley on the Solent. Denny Lodge, the venue for this year's Classic, is one of the nearest orienteering areas to Fawley, so has strong potential for horizon-blight. Fortunately, it is predominantly forest, with less open heath than much of the New Forest, so the potential for refinery-spotting is greatly reduced. The area has not been used for a major event for some years, so it may have changed somewhat; my memories are of fast, open woods with only gentle slopes and few features in the eastern two-thirds. The most interesting part of the map is at the west edge, close to the area used for car parking; see the map extract The planner at the last November Classic held on this area cleverly started the courses in this area with long legs across the grain of the already limited path network. This is definitely not the finest piece of the Forest, but it should provide a good challenge, with long, fast courses.

Approximately 2 hours travelling time.

Maulden Woods (18 Nov 2001) : Barry Breed

Maulden Woods are located midway along the Greensands Ridge, a row of hills approx. 200m above sea level, which runs through Bedfordshire in a NE/SW direction from Sandy to Leighton Buzzard. This is one of the earliest woods to be taken under the wing of the Forestry Commission and still holds a high profile in this area with Forest Enterprise in terms of conservation and public amenity. Interestingly enough, the area considered worth conserving is the northern part with native ash and oak. Conifers here are non-native, high maintenance and therefore under threat! Your local reps are working on this one!

By road, the woods are to the west of the A6 between Luton and Bedford, just north of the Flying Horse pub at Clophill (the home of the Breeds since 1988 ... Clophill that is, not the pub!).

The Greensands Ridge is so named because of the green reflective colour of the sandy soil which also spawns a green/brown rock peculiar to the area which can be seen in local church buildings, cottages and walls. It is not however an ideal building material because of its soft weathering.

Apart from Maulden, the other areas along the ridge known to orienteers are Rowney Warren, Ampthill Park and Stockgrove Country Park near Leighton Buzzard. The Woburn Estate is not yet an orienteering venue - too great a risk of being hugged by bears or eaten by lions.

Maulden offers quite good orienteering by southeast standards and has variable terrain with a technical difficulty of 3 in parts. It is able to cope with the full range of colour-coded courses.

The northern section, which is on a clay sub-soil, comprises mainly light and mid-green screen blocks divided by a well-defined path network. The wood has matured over the last decade and this part has improved in runnability as a result. It is not especially challenging and can get very heavy underfoot in winter. In my experience, it is used by planners mainly for extracting as much distance as possible out of the map.

The southern area is much more enjoyable, comprising a series of sandy ridges with tall pines and rough open. There are many small features such as depressions, gullies and earthbanks. This makes for better running underfoot and provides a good test for the unwary. It can be surprisingly disorientating.

There is some history attaching to the usual event car park, which is situated in a lay-by close to where James Hanratty was alleged to have committed the A6 murder in 1962 and for which he was hanged. You never know, you may park on the very spot!

On a lighter note, please call in on the Breeds at 49 High St., Clophill, if in the area. You will be extended a welcome of a more sociable nature than a Hanratty special!

Approximately 1 hours travelling time.