2008-09-11 50 6

Thu 11 Sep 2008 in 50,6: 50.5571769, 6.2282865 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

The 2008-09-11 geohash for 50N 6E seemed something pretty reachable from Aachen by Bus. One hour of bus driving got me some 30km nearer to the old town of Monschau (photo), some 3km more were up for walking uphill (photo) having a nice look over the valley. As I didn't have a printer I only had a hand-drawed way description which turned out to be inaccurate because some houses and streets were built after Google uploaded the latest maps. Second lesson of geohashing: do not trust google earth. I continued crossing the former Vennbahn, an old railway in this region that has been out of service for decades.

When I walked towards the geohash which was on a meadow I noticed two things Google Earth didn't tell me either: cows and barb wire. Eeesh, cows and barb wire... I was lucky as the meadow of the geohash "only" had barb wire. I had to pass some mud (photo) and finally got there, took a photo of the geohash, had a short break - unluckily no other hashers again. Afterwards I had to return because my bus back was about to leave in 20mins - it took me 35 mins to get to the hash! I hurried a bit - of course scratched myself on the barb wire - and was lucky enough to catch a bus that was going to the towns bus station, so I managed to get back in time. Good luck, at it was already starting to rain...

On the way back I way able to help a young lady to get her baby carriage into the bus - I could resist yelling "Don't worry ma'am, the internets is here!"

Very much fun! --Kriechstrom 08:39, 12 September 2008 (UTC)