British Orienteering

Beacon Hill - Top

Region	East Midlands
Club	Leicestershire Orienteering Club
Nearest town	Woodhouse Eaves, Leicestershire
Postcode	LE12 8SP
Carpark location	Beacon Hill Top Car park - take timed ticket at entrance and pay on exit at the Pay station

Available Maps

Traditional & Smartphone Virtual orienteering courses

Beacon Hill is the most popular orienteering location in Leicestershire. website

Permission: Larger Groups should seek permission from the Leicestershire County Council to use the park. You will be advised of any activity which might affect your plans for your day.

Hazards: Small crags up to 5m high, some small ponds, traffic in the car park, grazing animals. If you have a group you might want to look at the risk guide found at Beacon Lower car park on this website.

Courses are affected by Jewel hill closure. Please check the Leicestershire County Council website. Orange light Green and Score have been modified to miss this area for ground-nesting birds.

Groups: There are beginner practice sessions to be found at the Lower car park.

Safety: Take care on the perimeter track as it's multi-use for horses, bikes and pedestrians.

Animal grazing. Longhorn cattle often graze the east and west side of Beacon Hill (from 1st April to 31st October) and pigs or sheep are enclosed in the areas marked 'out of bounds'.

For further information and known issues relating to controls, please see the Leicestershire Orienteering Club website

Feedback on your experiences: to advise the club on any issues please email at. website

Parking Fees: Autumn 2018 £2 for up to one hour, £3 and then £4 for over three hours. Card or Cash payment pay just prior to exit.

Map updated February 2019, minor update June 2020

Courses

Course	Controls	Length (km)	Suitable for	Estimated Time (mins)	Start
White	11	1.8	Beginner children probably followed by parents	20-40	Top
Yellow	9	1.9	A child with some experience	25-45	Top
Orange	11	2.7	Adult beginner confident junior	35-70	Top
Lt Green	13	3.7	Hard	40-80	Top
Score	22		Many controls are too hard for juniors Hardest course available	45	Broombriggs
Score	30		Adult or children Some controls are too hard for beginners	45	Top

The 3 map pack consist of Orange, Light Green and Score maps. Note there is a summer pack and one for the rest of the year.

Lengths of courses shown are in straight lines between controls, and the estimate of times is for someone running to someone walking. Both will vary depending on your route choice and ability.

VOC Details

Maprun Smart phone Orienteering

Courses are affected by Jewel hill closure. Please check the Leicestershire County Council website. Suggest Maprun White Miss 1 Map run Yellow miss 1 & 2. You will get a mis-punch!

Use the Maprun6 app.Maprun app Garmin watch owners may wish to use the sister app MaprunG.

Your phone/watch beeps when you get close to the feature (a virtual control detected by your GPS signal). Upload your results to see your position on the leader board.

We suggest you download a MAPRUN map from here but you can just use the one on your smartphone.

**Courses Available**
Courses	Length (km)	No. Controls	Suitable for	Expected time (mins)	Hazards	Results
White	1.7	12	Beginner	20-45	Ground nesting birds Summer	White
Yellow	2.8	15	Child with some experience Adult beginner	30-60	Ground nesting birds Summer	Yellow
Score 45 minutes	5.9	28	Experienced orienteer, but some controls can be found by a beginner The course is a start and finish anywhere course. So choose a starting control and finish at the same point. 20 points per control lose 10 points for each minute late.	45	Ground nesting birds Summer	Score
Green	3.9	13	Experienced orienteers	40-70		Green
Race Map			Blank map to be used by the more experienced. Use the course on your phone. Download the "Maprun Control descriptions" to use with this map.

To use the Maprun app when in the car park, start the Maprun6 app

If you are at the site or are close by, click 'Events near me' or at home, click 'Select Event' and go to the UK/Leicestershire/Beacon Hill folder to find the courses. Click the one you want. Click ‘go to Start’ when you are ready. When you get near the start your time begins once your phone beeps.

Beginners there are a couple of features to help you navigate: Before the start, the location and track are always shown. Once you pass the start the location and track disappear ... unless you have enabled 'show track' or 'show location'. These features can be enabled in 'Options and settings' before you start. For some courses, we had added a ‘show me’ feature. Where it's available there is a button on the screen but you can only use it a few times.

Further Information

Loops and stars exercises available for groups
White and/or yellow standard controls suitable for beginners
Orange and/or light green standard controls suitable for people with some experience
Green colour standard or above controls available for experienced orienteers