Glen Dye SOL 2 2026Sunday 3rd May
Credit: Hannah Durnall
Another small ESOC contingent returned to Glen Dye, following it's use on the final day of last year's Scottish 6 Days. This time there was 3rd place for Sally on Short Green and 4th places for Ben on Brown and Alison on Green.
Sally Lindsay writes:
The second event in the 2026 Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) was held at Glen Dye, SW of Banchory. This forest has seen many events over the years, and used to be one of my favourite areas. The planner's notes said, "The courses make use of the best parts of the forest", so I was quite hopeful, though we'd heard some uncomplimentary remarks about it recently. Unfortunately it's all true - this forest is sadly much changed, after various storms, felling and thinning. Apparently the complex moraine section in the SE is particularly badly affected.
We were staying nearby, after SOUL 2 in Aboyne the previous day, so had asked for early starts and were amongst the first to arrive. Parking was alongside a rough track, with Registration/Download partway along, and late arrivals ended up parked some distance away. We wondered if there might be gridlock at the end of the event, but everything seemed to be working fine when we left. The weather turned out better than expected (again) - no wind or rain, though it was dull and a bit cool.
There was a 15-minute walk to the start, along established tracks. Then it was off into the forest - the early part of my course (Short Green) led through several marshy areas, which in retrospect was the easiest part. Most of the rest was very rough, with lots of brashings and huge unmapped extraction lanes that sometimes followed old rides, but often didn't. The forest is mostly Scots pine, and the terrain was quite varied, the most interesting feature being a wet pit that turned out to be a large deep pond. We'd been warned that we would have a loop in the north of the area that meant crossing the access track twice, with dire warnings to everyone to take great care, but luckily it was quiet when I was there. I managed to avoid any major mistakes, so enjoyed it on the whole, apart from the uphill run-in!
ESOC results in the top half:
- Brown (9) - Ben Brown 4th
- Blue (43) - Keith Brown 21st
- Short Blue (40) - Kevin Harding 9th
- Green (31) - Alison Harding 4th, Les Dalgleish 16th
- Short Green (21) - Sally Lindsay 3rd, Margaret Dalgleish 6th
- Yellow (10) - Luke Durnall 6th
Full results can be found here, with routegadget here.
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