Besides the kind reader of this blog now might know that I am a train nerd. My second most beloved hobby is orienteering.

Why orienteering?

It is mostly a sport directly in the nature. This is the old challenge how to survive in the wild. It is not a “me versus nature“ thing, because in most cases you are faster when you find out how you can use nature to find your way through an undergrowth part or use a trunk as bridge through a river.

The other challenge is that you have to be in good physical and mental shape. The physical shape for running and the mental part for orienteering: identify features from the map in reality, realize errors early and adapt your course.

If one of these two components is missing, you suck. And these two components are very hard to align with each other: If you run to heavy the mental capability sinks because the oxygen is consumed by the muscles for running.

That why I like orienteering so much: it challenges me and it makes me happy to be in nature.