I've just started my first orientating event. I've learnt how to orientate my mat and how to thumb my mat. Now I'm looking for my first checkpoint, which is known as a control. I'm still a little confused. I think I need some more help. So what exactly am I looking for? Well, you're looking for an orange and white flag. So once you're at the feature, you should be able to easily see the control. So they don't hide it behind any bushes or anything like that? Well, no, not normally. It's frowned upon. And in an easy navigation course like today, once you're at the control, you should be able to easily see it. And how do I know exactly what feature I'm looking for? Well, normally you can see the feature by looking at the centre of the circle when you can work out what it's on. But you've also got your control descriptions as well. That's those there. So I'm looking for control number one, so I can see that there. And then... So your first control? Control description, road junction. So it's going to be on a road junction. So those numbers make sense? Because that's the controls in order. But what about those numbers there? What do they mean? Well, that's a unique code. And each one shows you which control you're looking for. And when you get to the control, you'll see that there's a unique code on the control as well. If the two match, you know you're in the right spot. And if they don't? Well, that probably won't happen today. Probably. That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Experience Orientiers plan which way they're going to leave the control circle. Sometimes even before they've got them. This is called control flow. Some Orientiers move so quickly past a control. You're not even sure if they've punched it. But when you're a beginner, it pays to take your time to know where you're going before you sit off anyway. Now that I've lined up the north air on my compass with the north lines on my map, I've decided where I'm going, what feature I'm looking for, and where I'm going to go to get there and got myself turned in the right direction. Then I'm really going to look for my second control. you