Caddihoe Weekend 2025

Nine regular SARUM members took the trip to Dartmoor for Devon Orienteer’s Caddihoe weekend on the 18-19 October. Both days were held on Holne Moor.

Day 1 was a classic long distance and Day 2 was the South-West middle distance championships. Both days were UK Orienteering League (UKOL). The individual times for Day 1 and Day 2 were added together to determine the results for the Caddihoe. It was necessary to enter at least 10 days before to count for this Caddihoe, although later entries still counted for the UKOL and the South West Middle Championships.

Holne Moor is an open moor with few trees, most of which were not mapped. The interest came with the remnants of an old open tin mine consisting of a multitude of gullies and pits. The gullies were mapped in 3 different ways. The shallower gullies were mapped as ditches, represented by a series of brown dots. Deeper steep sided gullies were shown as bold brown lines. Broader deep gullies, some over 10m deep, were represented as indents in the contour lines like narrow re-entrants. Both days made much use of this intricate area.

Day 1, the weather was kind and gave a good chance to understand the map and terrain. Day 2, the weather turned, with strong winds, light to heavy rain and cloud cover on the high ground. On the long trek up hill to the Day 2 start, someone returning said they were retiring because they couldn’t find the start triangle in the dense fog!!!

The fog did clear, but fighting a wet map and wet glasses led to some over-simplifications in my navigation and inevitable lost times.

We in SARUM get little chance to orienteer locally in intricate contours. So SARUM did really well, as the results show. In particular, Charlotte Thornton won both days, so won both the Caddihoe and the South West Middle Distance Championships. Ian failed to enter before the Caddihoe cut-off date but was fastest over the two days. Denise Mullins and Ian Peirce were also SW Mid Champs.