2012-06-05 52 5

Location

near the Groote Meer in Naarden

Participants

Plans

Go there after work, only 20 minutes drive and probably 5 minutes walk.

Expedition

Shall I do it, or not? It's 20 minutes by car, but there are traffic jams during this hour. So it could easily take an hour to reach Naarden and then find somewhere to park and then walk to the geohash. Ok, let's see on Google maps how reachable is it anyway? There seems to be a bike path near the geohash. Or maybe even a car can go there, although there's no streetview available for it. So let's assume I can't drive there. Then I have to park somewhere near the crossing of the bike path and the road leading up to it. Ok let's do it.

5 minutes in my car. Oh yes, first traffic jam. Along the rest the route also some jams. Finally arriving in Naarden finding the way to the Groote Meer. Car navigation says turn left onto this sand/rock path. My feeling says no, but still I obey the navigator. It's a dead end and I have to return (and turning around is hard).

Ok, found another way which I'm supposed to take. This one looks better. Guess what, no driving allowed after 19 o'clock. What's the time? 18:50. That would be a close call. I'd really have to hurry to make it within 10 minutes from here. And I'm doing this for a hobby and if I want stress I will go to my work. So let's make a detour and find another road nearby.

Good, I find one leading up to the bike path I saw earlier on Google maps. However, there's no crossing where I expect it. The roads are parallel, but separated by water. So I can not get out here and step over to the bike path. I'll have to drive back and park from where the bike path is reachable. Which I do. I park my car and the GPS says now I'm 1.5km away from the geohash. Only 15 minutes walk and the weather is fantastic. Although I haven't had supper yet and feel a bit peckish, I decide to go for an evening walk.

The bike path is actually not a bike path but for pedestrians only. You are not allowed to ride a bike on this path, not allowed to ride a horse and not even ride on a dog's back here. See signs.

After 10 minutes of walking, I see some large note displayed telling me what kind of nature I find myself in. I decide to make a picture of the display and read it later. There are probably rules on it which tell me I should stay on the path, and that rule will not come in handy when I have to crawl through the woods the last metres. So it's better to hear it afterwards.

I continue the peaceful walk and see a small path going straight into the forest. I follow the windy path some kind of outpost I can climb onto to view the lake. It's the first view I get from the lake since I entered this area. I see a boat. Nice. There's a sign next to the outpost showing which animals can be seen here. Now I have to make a decision, jump down (no steps on the other side) this outpost and walk through the reed along the coast, or return to the path I was following before (it's called 'Meerkade', btw). The geohash is located very near to the coast, but the reed is high and I don't think it's easy to climb my way back. Therefore I decide to go back to the Meerkade. That means I'll have to crawl the last 100m through some dense vegetation.

And dense vegetation it is. A lot of thorn bushes. MOSQUITO'S. not 1. not 100. No, a zillion. A swamp. Scratches on my legs everywhere. Wait, these are the clothes I wear at work. My shiny shoes, my clean trousers, argh. Ok very close now, only 10m. But now it's really really dense vegetation. Should I give up? No, one more try. Jump, step, jump. Wheeh. Yes. I reached it. I can almost see the lake again. Wait, what's that standing there exactly at the geohash spot? It's some kind of bird on a stick! Gross! Did somebody else leave this here earlier today? No, it looks too weathered for that. I climb back my way through the vegetation. Still puzzled what this bird is supposed to mean and 1 hour later than expected, I return back home.