Pyrenees Navigation Event
In September Doug, Mark and myself “The Old School” have signed up to do a motorbike navigation event in the Pyrenees called The Vince. It is run by a rather eccentric guy called Austin VINCE who has done lots of round the world tours and now regularly runs adventure holidays. In fact Doug and Mark are staying on for another week after the event to take part in the “Mini Mondo” – one week on a bike in the wilds of the Pyrenees.
The 2019 event is restricted to the use of maps and compasses only – no GPS allowed. Austin and his team have placed a series of small metal tags on objects scattered around the Pyrenees – typically on trees/posts/electric pylons. He has then supplied a very small scale map and guide book to tell you exactly where each tag is located. The event is held over two days and you are allowed exactly 12 hours each day to navigate your way around the objects collecting the information on the tags. Different tags score different amounts of points. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of day 2.
The first challenge is to make sense of the tiny map, come up with some suitable routes, plot it all out on a slightly bigger map and find some way of carrying said map on a motorbike. We also need to plan fuel stops and probably start some serious training if we are going to have any hope of trail riding for that length of time.
This video will give you more idea but is a taster for the 2020 event when it seems they will have a class for GPS users.