2012-12-23 47 8

Location

A field at Glattfelden.

Participants

Plans

Catch the S5 train at 7.07pm. Walk from the station to the hashpoint.

Expedition

Whilst the thick snowy blanket that hat been omnipresent in the last weeks had left again, exposing the rich soil of the graticule of Zürich, Switzerland, to the still warmly caressing sun once more, and the thermometers had almost risen to warm, winter had definitely arrived, and Christmas was drawing so near that even Calamus couldn't dismiss any preparations as premature anymore. So he did what he always did around this time of year: he fled.

And what place was there more secluded and remote of any civilization than Glattfelden, the town that had lost any importance ever since its film-studio – the largest one of Switzerland – had closed its doors? Glattfelden was a perfect spot to hide from the overall cheesiness, and so Calamus was glad to fetch a hashpoint there.

He took the train along the river Glatt in the evening. He would have had time all day long, but his inexpensive PT sub had the quirk that it only fully kicked in at 7pm - each time he left Zurich earlier, he'd have to buy a ticket at half the canonical price. So it was either paying or darkness, and Calamus preferred the latter.

For reasons unknown, the station of Glattfelden is located about a mile out of town, at a path which had already been home to a hashpoint once. While normal people use the bus to go to town, Calamus somehow had never used a bus on a geohashing expedition and decided to keep it that way. Besides, it was one of those (fortunately rare) fossile fuel busses. So he walked. A sign showed him a trail down to the Glatt. It was not illuminated at all, and Calamus might have fallen down the steep hillside it hadn't been for the light he always kept in his pocket.

After a walk along the river, which took longer than he had expected, he reached Glattfelden. The field wasn't difficult to find. Obviously, there were no plants to take care of at this time of year either, so except for the slippery floor, finding the hashpoint wasn't a big deal. However, it was almost impossible to take a representative picture due to the darkness.

On the way back, Calamus discovered that there would have been a shortcut to the station, which took about half as much time as the long trail he had used. Whatever, he thought and boarded the train back to Zurich.