How the plantation was mapped
During early 2012 Archallagan Plantation was mapped by Markus Puusepp of Trans Atlantic Mapping Company. This was undertaken for Peo (Per-Olof) Bengtsson, of World Wide Orienteering Promotion, who was arranging a visit to the Isle of Man with a group of Scandinavian Orienteers later in the year. (Peo is a renowned promoter of Orienteering world wide and an International Orienteering competitor).
The map was used for a successful Scandinavian International Orienteering event in late October 2012 as part of a series of Orienteering events undertaken during a European tour by World Wide Orienteering Promotion company. This base map was then donated to Isle of Man Orienteers, William Higgins and Sandor Talas, to help develop Orienteering in the Isle of Man.
To help develop Orienteering on the Isle of Man as a recreational activity suitable for all ages, it was felt that if permanent control markers were placed in Archallagan Plantation then more people from different backgrounds could access the activity in their own time. By developing a map of permanent fixed control markers and subsequent courses, people could then try different navigation challenges.
After negotiations by William Higgins with DEFA on the possibility of placing permanent Orienteering control markers in Archallagan Plantation and developing an Orienteering map for people to use, permission was granted. DEFA then supported this initiative by supplying posts and control markers.
After surveying the Plantation for suitable locations to position the 48 permanent Orienteering control markers and creating a master map, William Higgins then installed the posts and control markers during the Summer and Autumn of 2013. At the same time different courses, maps and descriptions of the location of all control markers were developed to provide a range of navigational challenges that vary in distance and the number of control markers to visit. Pupils from Cronk-y-Berry Primary School then launched the new permanent Orienteering course map on 19 December 2013.
Opportunities for people to come along and try Orienteering using the map of Archallagan Plantation will be organised in the future.
