Wander

Today after walking Django, daughter K and I loaded the van with the stuff of hers that she's been keeping at home, and took it to her flat in Edinburgh. She then began the task of unpacking and finding out who to pay for gas and electricity, whilst I returned the van. When I saw that the office was closed, I dropped off the keys as instructed, but then realised that I'd no locked the van! Knowing how some hire firms will find any excuse to retain the deposit, I just had to wait. I killed time by going for a short walk and the office was still closed when I got back. However, after I'd bought myself some lunch, I returned to find that the guy I rented it from had returned, so I was free!

I'd spotted a few Turfers nearby in Wester Hailes, and checked up to see that it had been the venue for the qualifying in the "knock-out sprint" at the world orienteering championships. It was a pleasant day, and there were lots of Turf zones in the area that I'd never visited, so I decided to go for a long walk back into Edinburgh. I was following the Union Canal, and then the Water of Leith, so it was generally very pleasant. The exception was the very heavy downpour, but one advantage of following watercourses is the number of bridges under which to shelter.

By 15:15, I'd reached Murrayfield, so took a bus the rest of the way into the city. There I dropped down "Jacob's Ladder" to St John's Street where the start and finish of the orienteering were sited. I arrived just in time for the semi-finals and, after getting a map of the course and watching the first race start, I looked for vantage points. Whilst it lacked some of the atmosphere of Friday, it was still interesting and well organised. I also met up with a couple of people I know. I watched the women's final from the start/finish area, following the traces of the runners - together with live images taken by a couple of cameramen running with them - on the big screen. There was 30s of excitement when a British orienteer was leading, after choosing a different route from the others, but she made a small error and that was it! Pictured is Sweden's Tove Alexandersson who, having won the standard sprint race on Friday, won the shorter knock-out event today: her 19th and 20th gold medals in world championship orienteering events. For the men's race, I decided to try to find a location to see them on the course, but they didn't take the same route as the women, and later I only saw them at distance. For once the race wasn't won by a Swede!