Intrigued? Laura and Graham Parkes (W10 and M12 respectively) attended the junior training weekend in Barrow in Furness organised by Carol McNeill over the first weekend in June. In their own words, they describe the experience.

Laura : At half term we went to Barrow in Furness, and we did some Orienteering training for 2 days.

Graham : Yes, and there also was a low-key event at Lancaster on the way home where we practised our new skills.

Laura : On the first day we had a treasure hunt. Group 1, my group's, treasure was a packet of magic stars.

Graham : Every group had a treasure hunt, the only difference being that the top group's bearings and paces were harder to execute on the ground.

Laura : We did 3 quizzes and I got 10 out of 10 in all 3.

Graham : The quizzes were on contour features and line features.

Laura : On the first day we did contours, we got to go in the sand pit.

Graham : In the sand pit we all had great fun making models of features that Carol (the person in charge of the course) had designed in advance. They were presented as contour lines on large pieces of sugar paper.

Laura : On the second day we played bush sardines. In this game someone goes and hides. Then everyone else had to find them. Once you had found them you had to squash up with them. The first person or small group to find them went and hid next. We were playing bush sardines so we had to hide in the bushes.

Graham : Usually they do this exercise in the woods near Coniston and use contour features such as spurs, re-entrants, depressions and pits, rather than bushes. Since everywhere is shut down by Foot and Mouth Disease we had to make do with the spacious Barrow Park, complete with a large boating lake. Despite the change of terrain we had great fun and learnt a lot.

Laura : On Sunday we had a colour-coded event. I did an orange for the first time, with a shadow, although I didn't need him that much.

Graham : The event was held at Lancaster University and almost the entire grounds were in use during the event. I did a light green. I had a couple of problems, one with a control by a stream, the other with a control that was rather hidden in some nettles, although generally it was a good run.

Laura : After it I was quite tired and had a sleep on the way home, but I enjoyed it and I hope I can go again next year.