2015-08-02 48 16

Preface aka 1.585 smoothed out slappy kilometres

This expedition report covers the complete elevenfold multihash, neatly sorted in chapters by graticules. Proof for every graticule is provided on the corresponding expedition page - these themselves however contain nothing more than the proof and link to the following report. Also Micsnare was updating the wiki frontpage as we went, providing some near-realtime coverage for you guys as we went along.

(!) @admins: Please therefore do not delete those pages, even if they just look like abandoned 'skeleton pages' -thx!

Location

All visited locations:

Linklist
Sourceerer's excellent hashtable
Google Map

All stops in consecutive order:

St. Pölten, Linz, Passau, Landhut, München, Plezen, Tabor, Jihlava, Brno, Olomouc, Bratislava, Wien

Sourcerer provided this (his words!) "Table of awesomeness"

Lat/Lon 2015-08-02	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
49	B	B	5 09:51	6 11:56	7 13:23	8 14:57	9 16:50
48	4 06:36	3 04:24	2 02:41	1 00:47	A n/a	11 Start: 22:00 End: 20:48	10 18:53

A - Inaccessible mountain forest.
B - Backup hashpoint, not visited.

Google map with all hashpoints

Although we planned to visit eleven graticules, we also wanted to try 2015-08-02_48_15, as it would have saved us lots of time. Further we planned for two 'backup hashpoints' (as we liked to refer to them), which we could extend our travels to in case one of the eleven hashpoints was unreachable.

Participants

Plans

While doing their mandatory hash review meeting (a.k.a. drinking hashbeer) after the 2015-07-28_47_16 hash, B2c also told Crankl about how he recently read on the geohash wiki that a guy had once performed a tenfold multihash by plane. It surely would take such extreme measures if anyone would want to reach more than eight or nine hashes, they thought. Even Relet, one of the most seasoned of hashers reached but eight hashes in one day by car, utilizing german motorways and whatnot.

But then again, sometimes and with decent luck, 2 hashpoints can be reachable in under one hour, so there had to be some headroom on improving that number. B2c joked that, although they didn't have access to a plane, they had the next best thing, referring to the old hashmobile that was resting in the hashcave. Micsnare surely would have had a good laugh at that one, that's for sure ;)

Anyways, as the evening grew older and the heat still wouldn't die down and it took yet another pint to cool the two of them, things started to go south fast. Maps and apps were queried on smartphones, texts were sent and plans were made. The madness they knew oh too well struck easily yet again, and things spoken lightly back then where hard to be made undone the next morning. Up came that cursed Friday 3:30pm deadline that would determine their future: laid back weekend or into the breach again? B2c crossed his fingers, still hoping he could stuff Pandora back into her box, as he opened geohashing.info to check the weekend locations. At first he breathed a sigh of relief as the Saturday locations didn't look promising at all. "Saved by the bell?" he thought as he went on to check the Sunday locations. But as we all know the geohash goddess is a cruel mistress - what she giveth with one hand, she taketh away with the other, and with a smile at that too. The hashpoints he stared at would show up on his smartphone only a couple minutes later pretty much like that:

F***.

So on Saturday the three of them sat down for lunch at the restaurant Glacis Beisl to plan out the details. B2c laid out some preliminary plans he had come up with before them. 14 possible hashpoints lined up in two rows spanning four countries, the distance between them covering more than 1500 kilometres of roads, taking up at least 22 hours to get to at least eleven of them. Two backup hashpoints if some weren't reachable. And then there was that problem in the whole equation called St. Pölten. If they were to make that hashpoint it would greatly reduce the time it would take to complete the whole endavour, as they wouldn't have to drive to the westernmost hashpoint at Munich but could call it quits at Landshut and drive to Plezen already. But the hashpoint was located kilometres deep in the forest up on a hill, with only a small access road leading up somewhere near it. No problem on a sunny day in broad daylight and with lots of spare time. But in the middle of the night and with a hard 24 hour countdown breathing down your neck, this hash was a liability. If that one was unreachable, it would cost them about two hours of precious time and, if things for some reason took a turn to the worse, the whole run. Well, they thought, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and decided to try it.

From there on they split up their to-do list and arranged to meet up at around 10pm at Crankls flat.

Micsnare: print out maps of the hashpoints, prepare posters, post to wiki as we go
Crankl: all things edible, and then some.
B2c: route planning

Expedition

They met up at Crankls flat at around 21:30pm like the exception being the rule, for some reason everyone was early for this one. Crankl had bought stuff like there was no tomorrow, packing three insulated lunch bags full of sodas, sandwiches, energy drinks, chocolate, and much more, that would feed a family for a week. Good thing though because B2c, easy going as ever, came along with nothing but two smartphones and a backpack full of stuff nobody needed in the end ;)

And so they ventured into the unknown, yet in good spirit but unbeknownst of the shape of things to come. Dear reader, do you dare to embark too? Well, too late to turn back now, isn't it?

Wien (AT) -> St. Pölten (AT)

This one went down the drain so terribly it deserves its own page. Read more on the dedicated St. Pölten page if you're in for the gory details - otherwise read on!

St. Pölten (AT) -> Linz (AT)

After the let-down the St. Pölten hash was, so much better was the Linz hashpoint. After an extended drive on winding federal roads and a somewhat rainy trip on the A1 Autobahn (motorway), they arrived at the hashpoint around 0:45am. It was conveniently placed in a meadow near a barnyard next to some farmhouses. They took a short break, drank some tea and ate some snacks, as at that time they were already on the road for almost three hours. After pinning a poster to a nearby tree they continued their trip with renewed energy. First hashpoint down, yay! Only ten more to go... This of course also meant that they had to extend the trip to Munich, adding another three hours and nearly pushing the ETA for the last waypoint to 22pm. *Sigh*. And off they went.

Linz (AT) -> Passau (DE)

After an uneventful trip they left the A1 near Attnang-Puchheim and continued to the end of the town until they reached a blind alley. However it had started to rain and although they brought raincoats they weren't too happy about the prospect of stumbling through the rain and darkness. Although they had hoped the hash would be easily accessible, judging by their map which showed the hash being located in a row of trees next to a field. However, a fence with barbed wire was surrounding the whole area. Now everyone knew there was one elephant in the room: if they weren't able to get to this exact hashpoint, they could pack up and drive home, because they already lost too much time in St. Pölten that even if they were to grab another one of the backup hashpoints, they wouldn't make it in time to another nine hashpoints. So they ran around in the now pouring rain trying to access the forest. Luckily Crankl found a hole in the fence a couple hundred metres down the road. They had to march through hip-high and wet grass and shrubbery, climb down a ridge and, of course, tried to dodge the occasional raptor attack. Micsnare was the victim of the day and got her jeans ripped. At long last they managed to get to the hashpoint at around 2:40am, got some proof and pictures and fought their way back to the car. When they got there the rain stopped immediately (of course), allowing them to switch into dry clothes and shoes and tend to their wounds. After they had recuperated themselves they drove to a nearby 24/7 gas station, put another 60 litres into the hashmobile and drove off to Landshut.

Passau (DE) -> Landshut (DE)

After the extorting trip Micsnare and Crankl took a well-deserved nap while B2c was crunching numbers as he left the A1 at Salzburg and continued into Germany. If from now on _everything_ went well, they could still make it. But it was already past 4am, and they had only reached two hashpoints so far. And up until now pretty much nothing worked out for them. As they approached the hashpoint the rain set in again, and the last part of the road was just a track into the woods. Under normal circumstances B2c wouldn't have driven the old hashmobile over sticks and stones, but at dire times like these they couldn't afford to walk another two kilometres by foot. He clenched his teeth and stepped on the gas. Lots of painful noises emerged from somewhere under the car as he drove over the bumpy and muddy track, making him almost immediately regret his decision. But now he only hoped that nothing would break too terribly as they approached the third hashpoint. When they reached the end of the track and changed back into their still wet and cold outfits, they began to question their actions. However they quickly got something else to think about when they noticed that they had parked the car next to some beehives and the insects began to swarm the lights of their torches. *Buzzzzz!!* And shortly after into the woods they fled. Now this hash turned out to be exceptionally tricky, as after a couple of minutes their smartphones lost pretty much all GPS and broadband coverage and they were completely clueless in which directions they were heading. Luckily the GPS signal came back online now and then, allowing them to reach the third hashpoint at 4:24am. After taking pictures and recording proof, they noticed that they had completely lost all orientation in the dark. So they strayed around for about ten minutes desperately looking for clues where they had come from when they finally hit another track and, from there on, where able to spot the parking lights of the car shortly thereafter. What a relief!

Landshut (DE) -> München (DE)

Back in the car they turned up the heat so they could dry their now completely wet clothes and shoes while the continued towards the München hashpoint. While on the outside the rain was still pattering against the windshield and the sun started to come up, inside the car fatigue started to set in. Luckily they managed to get to the next hashpoint relatively easy, as half of the way was made up of the A8 Autobahn (motorway) and the other half was a federal road leading up next to the hashpoint. Of course they had to steer the car over some dirttrack again, stumbled through the woods (no torches this time, finally daylight!) again and got no GPS or broadband coverage. Oh well, they were already used to it at this time. Back in the car they decided to take a brake at the next roadhouse. Easy enough they found one a couple kilometres east of München where they could refresh themselves, had some breakfast and an unhealthy amount of coffee. Now they started to lighten up again, as the weather started to lay down and they had now finished the westernmost expedition. They joked, that from now on, they are theoretically already on their way home.

München (DE) -> Plezen (CZ)

This was the longest part between two hashpoints by far. They skipped over both the 'backup hashpoints' Regensburg and Nürnberg and went straight (well, rather diagonally) for the Plezen hashpoint in Czech Republic. This part was clocking in at a hefty 250 kilometres and nearly three hours of waytime, but fortunately most of it was covered by german motorways where B2c could unleash the hashmobile's 'dark forces of combustion' (copyright: Relet), eventually cutting down the time estimate more than half an hour and making up for some time they lost. This by the way also disproved B2c's sneaking suspicion that some rock or bump had broken the car, as the travel (and probably the hashers too) would have come to an untimely demise otherwise. Crossing the border at Strazny it was only a short trip to the next hashpoint - they thought. However, whoever codes those map navigation algorithms thought otherwise (and needs to get fired ASAP) and sent them straight over the next track through the middle of a forest. Hilarity in the car ensued, as at that point dirt tracks were no longer problem but more of a running gag and they had come to terms with their fate. When they stopped near the hash eventually and were able to put up another poster they took their first real break as Micsnare and Crankl had calculated, that if they kept up a decent pace they would make it back to Vienna around 10pm. Eating sandwiches and a couple of small snacks, drinking tea and sodas they learned to value the riches Crankl had packed. After about half an hour they went through all their things, sorted some stuff, packed up the rest and left the place around 10:30am. Fifth one down!

Plezen -> Tabor -> Jihlava -> Brno -> Olomouc (all CZ)

The next four hashpoints really felt like ages to get to, as there is no west-to-east motorway in Czech Republic. They had to drive over small roads with some better 'state roads' mixed in sometimes for a good measure, but overall prolonging their travel time. Also the landscape was repeating itself over and over for more than five hours - and its not that there were particularly interesting things to see. Lots of fields and rural villages and crazy drivers overtaking other cars in the most amazing ways possible. The Jihlava hash was the most important thus far, marking the more-than-half-hashes-done milestone for them and inspiring them to push forward. Another notable mention was the Olomouc hashpoint which fell only a couple metres short of a road - if they were to reach an arm out of the window they could have done it without leaving the car. But they needed another break anyways, as the travel was getting longer and longer for them and the hashpoints before were really annoying to drive to. At some point during the neverending CZ trip, Crankl got so tired that he decided to count Skodas to stay awake. At around 200 within 45 minutes he stopped, coming to the conclusion that there must be some kind of law in CZ, that every family is obligated to buy at least one Skoda model.

Olomouc (CZ) -> Bratislava (SK)

As they were nearing the end of their travel they noticed that the first comments on the wiki where appearing on some of the pages - Micsnare's constant updates to the wiki frontpage obviously had stirred up some interest at that point, as there were already seven or eight expedition pages posted.

Here we would like to express a big shoutout to all you guys who posted and encouraged us, it really meant the world to us at that time! We where already really exhausted and thought of leaving it at eight or nine hashpoints at times, but those comments made us pull it off in the end. So again a big "Thank you!" to all of you, without you we probably wouldn't have made it that far!

When they finally left Czech Republic (yeah, motorway! Oh how easy we were to impress at that point!) and went to cash in the next to last (and only ) hashpoint in Slovakia they where getting hyped. They had nearly done it, only two more left to go! This hashpoint was also conveniently located in a cornfield next to a small farmer's village in the middle of nowhere. You know the deal: one post to the wiki, two pictures for proof, three high five's, four minutes back to the car, five farmers questioning what we're doing, six-th gear wheelspin, seven radiostations and not one decent song, eight-y miles to the next hash, nine-teen hours on the road (ok, I made that one up ;), ten hashes down for the count! And as the dust cleared, they where already on their way into the sunset with Vienna looming on the horizon and the last hash calling out for them!

Bratislava (SK) -> Wien (AT)

With their adventure drawing to an end and success being within reach the hash goddess wanted to remind the hashers who they were up against. Dark clouds arose and the beautiful evening turned pitch black with lightning ripping in the distant skies. Hurrying to the last hashpoint the hashers were confronted with road deviations and a muddy access road which was impassable and had them re-route another way around a field to get to the hash. When they finally made it there (again: in the middle of a field full of some strange crops) and had proof of the eleventh hashpoint, the floodgates above them opened and made them scurry back to the car. And so they ended up the way they started more than twenty hours ago: in the dark and rainy night, wet to the skin and tired as a dog. But one thing was different: now they all had a big smile on their face :D

Original Post from the hashpoint to this page:

Touching base. ;) -- B2c (talk) @48.0012,16.7057 20:48, 2 August 2015 (GMT+02:00)

Fun Trivia

This elevenfold multihash happend exactly one year after Bysmyyr performed his multihash (tenfold) by plane.
38 hours of sleep deprivation makes everything other people say to you sound funny. Even on the next day.