2013-06-02 52 1
| Sun 2 Jun 2013 in Norwich: 52.7328189, 1.6843241 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Contents
Location
In the sand dunes 2km north of Winterton Beach car park, Norfolk, UK.
Participants
- PaintedJaguar
- MrsPaintedJaguar
- Sourcerer
- Jaydublu
Plans
PaintedJaguar and MrsPaintedJaguar plan to get a train into Great Yarmouth, arriving at 11:18. From there, they'll get the 1A bus at 12:00 from Yarmouth to Hemsby, arriving at 12:25. Then it's approximately a four mile walk along the coast from Hemsby to get to the hashpoint, so they'll probably be there sometime between 14:00 and 14:30.
Sourcerer made no plans.
Expedition
PaintedJaguar and MrsPaintedJaguar
This was a fairly uneventful expedition. The train and bus journeys went according to plan (although we almost got on a 1A bus going in the opposite direction to the one we wanted!). The walk along the coast was fairly tough going, with a strong wind blowing directly into our faces for the whole journey, but we made it to the hashpoint without incident just after 14:30. At one point we became worried becaue a large area of the beach near the hashpoint in Winterton Dunes was cordened off to protect nesting birds, and we thought the hashpoint might lie inside the cordened off area, but fortunately it was further inland.
We left a pile of stones at the hashpoint, and made up the letters XKCD out of dead twigs, before finding an area of the dunes nearby that was protected from the wind to eat our lunch. We had originally made plans to continue to Horsey before turning around to head home, but were feeling sufficiently worn out from the outward walk that we decided it would be better to head straight back, which we did further inland and along some roads, instead of through the dunes, to make for easier walking.
Sourcerer
- Arrived. -- Sourcerer (talk) @52.7328,1.6843 21:51, 02 June 2013 (GMT+01:00)
Sourcerer arrived soon after sunset in fading light after failing to find a closer road access point. He parked at the village hall and set out walking into the sunset sky. Heading north north west for about 30 minutes going up and down small sandy dunes he reached the hashpoint but failed to spot the XKCD marker mentioned above. Indeed the hashpoint was covered in deep heather and lichen. There was a grassy path a few feet away where the marker could easily have been placed but it was now quite dark.
The wind had dropped and there was "Hound of the Baskervilles" fog forming in the low lying hollows. The walk to the hashpoint was clear but the return trek became quite foggy at times. Fortunately there were no mud quicksands to dissapear into. The handheld GPS batteries said they were low but they lasted another 90 minutes so there was no risk of getting stranded, disoriented in the fog. In any case the sound of the sea and the last rays of the sunset in the north west were good navigation beacons.
This was easily my best 2013 expedition so far. All the earlier outings were cold, wet, windy or I was ill with colds or minor flu-like bugs. Now I'm celebrating with a glass of 24 year old Port from a bottle found lurking in the Garage. This might have been a mature bottle of my sister's home brewed elderberry wine which is quite like port, sweet, strong and dark.
And finally Sourcerer (Neil) says Hi! to PaintedJaguar and MrsPaintedJaguar. He also grants you the "Earliest geohasher" award! The Norwich graticule is getting positively crowded these days. Maybe one day we'll achieve an actual meetup. I'll have to start carrying cake and party hats!
Jaydublu
Well I must have only missed Sourcerer by less than an hour - and I found the pile of stones left by the PaintedJaguars!
Initially I thought I wasn't going to be able to make the hashpoint as I had arranged to travel to Wells (much further north-west along the Norfolk coast) with my family. But I'm a member of Norfolk Lowland Search and Rescue (http://www.norlsar.org.uk/) and imagine my surprise when I got a text message at 14:30 asking for volunteers for a search that evening at Winterton! I finally arrived just before 19:00 but the search took me north up the beach - within 100 metres of the hashpoint. However, when the search was called off due to failing light I was able to walk back to the car park along the dunes picking up the hashpoint on the way.
The falling mist was a spectacular sight around Horsey Mill on the drive home, and I'm really sad not to have met up with other adventurers.
Tracklog
PaintedJaguar's tracklog showing the bus journey from Yarmouth to Hemsby, the walk from Hemsby to the hashpoint, and the equivalent return journeys, is at http://en.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4676172
Photos
PaintedJaguar and MrsPaintedJaguar
Beach at Hemsby
Wind farm out at sea
Lighthouse
Beach at Winterton
Coloured round houses
Undersea cable
Nesting birds
At the hashpoint!
Silly grins
Pile of stone and non-obvious XKCD logo made of twigs
View of nearby land from hashpoint
View towards the sand dunes from the hashpoint
View from the top of the dunes back towards the hashpoint, with MrsPaintedJaguar eating our picnic
View from the top of the dunes along the beach
Proof of public transport geohash
Sourcerer
@52.7328,1.6843 For some reason the heather and lichen have gone all two dimensional.
Jaydublu
The evidence.
The hashpoint was in this patch of heather.
Jaydublu in his search gear at the hashpoint.
Achievements
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PaintedJaguar earned the Land geohash achievement
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PaintedJaguar earned the Public transport geohash achievement
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PaintedJaguar achieved level 3 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement
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Expeditions and Plans
| 2013-06-02 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Providence, Rhode Island | Vbob | Parker Woodland Wildlife Refuge, Foster, Rhode Island http://www.asri.org/images/Refuges/parker-woodland-trail-map-2.gif... |
| Windsor, Ontario | Nixill | In a bush a quarter mile back from someone's house. |
| Mannheim, Germany | M, QuarterCacher | In the woods south of Darmstadt. |
| Norwich, United Kingdom | PaintedJaguar, Sourcerer, Jaydublu, MrsPaintedJaguar | In the sand dunes 2km north of Winterton Beach car park, Norfolk, UK. |
| Moscow, Russia | vb | Sibirskiy proezd 2. |
| Nilsiä, Finland | Pastori, Tilley, The Wife, Mrs. Tilley, Tilley's daughter | In Rasimäki, Valtimo. The point lies on a field near the house Tornio. |
Sourcerer's Expedition Links
2013-05-27 52 -2 - 2013-06-02 52 1 - 2013-07-09 52 0 - KML file download of Sourcerer's expeditions for use with Google Earth.
