Roddlesworth Woods

Orienteering at Roddlesworth:

The POC has been developed in the woodland of Roddlesworth valley to give you a chance to try a non-competitive or leisure form of orienteering using your map reading skills to navigate around a course of markers or “controls”.  After rain, many parts of the woodland are wet and boggy.  Suitable footwear should be worn. Take care!

There are 26 controls located in the woods. At each control, there is a post with its identifying letter.  There are 5 suggested line courses, which are graded in difficulty. There is also an ' all controls ' map which you can use to make up your own courses. Alternatively you can use this map as a score course where you visit as many controls as possible in a set amount of time, ie one hour.  

You can just use the downloaded map on your phone but the experience is much improved by printing the map to have in your hand. Just remember to put it in a clear waterproof bag so the ink does not run if you drop it ! 

The Map:

Before starting, study and understand your map:

1. The map scale is 1:10000.  Thus, 1cm on the map is equivalent to 100m on the ground.  The contour interval is 5m.
2. Interpretation:  The “Key to map symbols” describes what each symbol represents. 
3. Orientation:  Align roads, paths or other line features on the map to the feature on the ground.  Or, if you have a compass, align magnetic north (blue vertical lines) to the north needle of your compass.
4. Position:  Follow your progress on the map.  Know where you are at all times.
5. Out of bounds:  Do not trespass into surrounding areas or those marked with purple cross-hatching.
6. The Start & Finish positions (purple triangle / double circle on the map) are at the pedestrian forest access point opposite the ramblers cafe. 
7. Control positions on the map are marked by numbered purple circles centred on the feature.
8. The control list is shown at the bottom left of the map. 
   Control descriptions tell you what feature you are looking for e.g. Path junction, Marsh, etc
   Control letters are on the top left of the red and white marker on the control posts, thus confirming that you have successfully navigated to the correct location.

Have fun!