Orienteering involves going on foot round a set of specified control points as quickly as possible.
To help you on your way, you take with you :-
The controls must be visited in the sequence marked on the map and the winner is the person to get round in the shortest time.
How you go from one control to the next is up to you - you decide from the map which is going to be the quickest route - this is not always the shortest route.
At each control, you punch your control card in the appropriate box (this will prove you have been there)
It probably sounds quite simple. However, as soon as it becomes competitive, the mad rush to get round quickly can lead to all sorts of disasters. One of the favourite phrases in the enthusiast's vocabulary is 'running around like a headless chicken'. Gross errors are attributed to 'oxygen debt' or to the confusion set up by 'people milling around looking for the control' (these groups are normally in the wrong place or they would already be on their way to the next one).
Normally, the map is very detailed and has been specially drawn for orienteering.
It will have a larger scale than a normal walking or motoring map. The scale used is often 1:15000 or 1:10000. The latter is much loved by more mature orienteers (with fading eyesight!!).
It shows contour lines (these join points of equal height) which tell you about the shape of the ground and whether it is steep or horribly steep. These are very useful and are the basis of navigation in complex areas. They are normally completely ignored by headless chickens.
It is coloured to indicate the type of vegetation - this can have a significant impact on route choice. Forested countryside is shown in colours white to dark green depending on the ease or total difficulty of running/walking/fighting your way through/coming to a complete halt
Mappers are often believed to be masochists - you have to enjoy/endure gross abuse to become one - the map is always wrong!!! But sometimes it can be, after all it is only a representation of what is on the ground and mappers are human beings (???)
Whilst on this diverting topic, event planners can be seen to be sadists - taking the poor participants up and down steep slopes, through impenetrable forest (that's impossible!!) and head high bracken, across deep heather, through boulder fields and so the list goes on.
Each control point is marked on the map with a red circle and the corresponding control site on the ground is marked with a red (or maybe it's orange) and white banner.
Each site also has a punch - used to punch your control card. Neighbouring controls will have punches making a different character.
The position of controls is frequently the subject of much discussion after an event. This provides a wonderful opportunity for character assassination etc of the poor person who planned the course and, even more, of the one who was responsible for the map.
Experienced headless chickens are always very experienced in proving gross errors in the map and in the positioning of the controls.
A control point must be recognisable both on the map and on the ground. Examples of features often used as control sites are