navigate an orienteering course with no mistakes

Of course I’ll continue to work on improving, but I’m very happy that I’ve proven that I can orienteer a (basic) course with no mistakes.

I did my first course in ages yesterday and I was so pleased with how it went. I wasn’t fast (there were some uphills!) but I was super accurate.
I made NO mistakes. No backtracking, and I made great route choices. I avoided a descent and rise by noticing the contour lines on the map. I even used my compass to assist me in getting to the first control.
The last control was in amongst a group of school buildings and I figured out exactly where I needed to turn in.
At no point did I approach a control that wasn’t for me.
Yay!
I think I can mark this goal as completed.

On Wednesday I’ll have anothe chance. The course will probably be tricky as the Wellington run events seem to be a bit harder, and the course is on a hill with lots of trees.

Last week I did pretty well at orienteering, but at the last control I didn’t read the map very well and took ages to find it. To have done better I should have matched up more than one map feature with the scenery (I forgot to look for a path crossing at right angles to where I was). I also need to get better at estimating distances from the map.
On a couple of other controls I was a wee bit slow, but not too bad.
Course: Hikoikoi, Distance: 2.7km, Controls: 12, Level: Yellow

As a sub goal, I’d like to learn to use my compass properly, and get good enough to do an Orange course or a mini-rogaine or score event.