2012-05-17 50 -2

Location

The middle of Upton Heath, about 200 metres from a path. In June last year, there was a fire on Upton Heath which destroyed about half (1 square kilometre) of the heath - Dorset Echo article, BBC article. I think the geohash was at the edge of the affected area.

I have visited the heath several times before. The last time was 10th June, the day after the fire. I took some photos. Unfortunately they're not geotagged, so I can't tell exactly how close I got to the geohash, but it was definitely closer than 500 metres.

Expedition

Mahahahaneapneap

I left my house with my girlfriend at about 7pm. The co-ordinates were about 4km from my house, as the crow flies. We drove to Beacon Hill Lane, the closest point to the geohash, and parked opposite the Dorset Wildlife Trust building.

We then walked south-east along the path. We saw several horses in the neighbouring fields, and many rabbits. My girlfriend wasn't wearing appropriate footwear, so she stayed at the end of the path, about 200 metres from the geohash. I ventured across the heath. I made quite slow progress because the ground was uneven and wet in places, but I managed to avoid any major vegetation. I found the exact point quite easily, took a few photos, then returned.

As I left, a plane flew directly overhead. I thought to myself that the people on board would be eligible for the air geohash achievement. They would probably also win the easy geohash, frozen geohash and maybe the cold geohash achiements, depending on how high the plane was. The pilot would get the cubicle geohash achievement.

Photos

This is where I proceeded by myself
The view towards the geohash
The ground was wet in places
I followed the power lines
Typical heathland
Definite evidence of fire
The ground at the geohash
View from the geohash
Several hundred accidental geohashers
Me at the geohash
Photo from last year showing the fire damage
Photo from last year showing the fire damage
Photo from last year showing the fire damage


Thu 17 May 2012 in Weymouth: 50.7491023, -2.0242625 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox