Helg utan älg 2015 E1 ÖM5 (2015-10-17)

My first time on Gotland. Little did I know it was going to be thorny road.

1. When I entered the forest I got a bit shocked. Confidence went down. There were clear curve lines on the map but I couldn’t map them with reality. Tried to follow the compass and it went well at first but then I decided I’ve run too far (as I often do) and decided to turn back a little. When I saw the open land I wasn’t exactly sure where I was. So I decided to run to the road and take it from the boundary stone. I actually did notice the small depression and kept going forward but instead of my control point there was an open land. This time I knew which open land it was and realised I was too much to the left of the control point.

2 & 3. Since the beginning took me so much time and forest wasn’t on my side I decided to take the safe route to controls 2 & 3.

4. I guess I didn’t follow the direction well. I realised I wasn’t where I was supposed to be when I saw a knoll.

5. By mistake I run out in the opposite direction that I wanted to run. When the road was nowhere at sight I realised that I did the classic mistake. Reverse. I wasn’t exactly sure if I would be able to run through the undergrowth part but the other option of going on the right side of the forbidden area seemed less appealing so I decided to take my chances. It was slow but quite runnable. Long run but easy to find the control.

6. Here I got confused with what was forbidden area and what was fenced. I just followed fence. I remember I had a runner in front of me and she did turn right and I just thought “oh she must be going to different control”. I run and run and suddenly saw a big round concrete construction. Reality check with the map and I quickly realised I was where I wasn’t supposed to be. Not really sure why I turned to the direction that I did (probably because of panic) but when I hit the path I knew where I was and then run to the water dwell (?) and to the control.

7. Decided it would be easiest for me to run to the path and take the control from the path. Purposely run a bit to the right so that I would knew where I was on the path. Just to be sure I run to the path crossing so that I knew where I was. When I entered the forest my main goal was to find the marsh and once I did the control was already visible.

8. I was just happy that the run was over.

So things didn’t go as planned. It was definitely an experience. More on a good side. It was interesting to run in quite different terrain to what I am used to. Good lesson.