2010-02-07 -37 145

Location

Driveway in suburbia, Templestowe, East Melbourne

Participants

Plans

Original plan: Take Kozz's dog for a walk at nearby Ruffey Lake Park then walk the extra distance to the hashpoint.
Updated plan: Cycle from home out to hashpoint and back.

Expedition

Inspired by Reinhard's relentless efforts to geohash on bike, despite it being sub-zero, snowing and dark on most of his recent hashes, I decided to cycle to the geohash today as it was really close by - 7.5km as the crow flies and and about 8km on surface roads.

I've been having massive issues with my handheld GPS - it picks up satellites fine but is then incapable of figuring out where it is - so had to go by Google Maps and Street View. The hashpoint is at the top of the driveway of number 12 Dellwood Place, so I printed out a landmap and jumped on the bike at a crisp 7am.

The ride across was uneventful, aside from my partner driving past with Kozz's dog hanging out the window with a curious expression on his face as if to say 'what the hell are you doing on a bike?' on their way to Ruffey Lake for a walk.

Once again I'd failed to take into account the terrain at the hashpoint, and it transpired that the hash is up the top of a hill in suburban Templestowe. The hill was at the top of a hill, too. So by the time I arrived at the hashpoint I was out of breath, and had a legitimate excuse to stop and take photos of some random person's driveway. Just as I got up to the top of their driveway, the garage door next door started to open, so, startled, I snapped one more pic and jumped back on the bike and headed home.

I really enjoyed cycling to this hash - although it was relatively easy and close by, it was still a great feeling to have got there under my own motive power.