2020-07-18 54 10

Location

on an unchecked meadow in Groß Kummerfeld, Schleswig-Holstein

Participants

π π π (talk)

Expedition

I'd wanted to do a hash in 54,10 for some time, but my semester ticket for the train is only valid up to Boostedt, the first station in this graticule when coming from the south. So a reachable hashpoint had to be fairly close to that train station, which is in the very corner of the graticule. Such an opportunity presented itself on 18 July, the hash being 7.4 km by bike from the station. I was unsure if I wanted to go since I was in the middle of studying for an exam that took place five days later, but decided to venture out since no hash had been so reachable since February 2019 and I didn't want to wait another year or longer.

I missed the deadline for a train, which only comes once an hour, two times by doing other stuff, but I wanted to get the 4:34 pm train. I packed all my things and wanted to make sure I had my headphones after my disastrous journey to the 54,9 graticule on leap day, but I couldn't find them. I searched everywhere, but ultimately missed the deadline again and so had to borrow my sister's headphones and settle for the 17:34 train.

After I set off, I immediately realized that I'd managed to leave my water bottle on the kitchen table. So when I arrived in Boostedt after a 45-minute train ride on which I started a new audiobook, I firstly bought some apple spritzer along with a pretzel and a Berliner to eat on the way in a local supermarket. I ate the pretzel on the 25-minute ride to the hashpoint, which lay 60 m into a meadow of thigh-high vegetation. I ate the Berliner and set off into the field, trying not to step on too many plants. I took the usual photos, but annoyingly had to restart my camera app after every one.

Back at my bike I noticed I had more than 45 minutes left until my train left, so I decided to do the nearest Geocache. But unfortunately, I had to cycle 2.3 km to get there, because it lay on the other side of the meadow. So when I arrived, I only had a few minutes left to search, and couldn't find it in the low vegetation of the hedgerow where it was supposed to be. I left and noticed I was several minutes behind the 24-minute estimate for the ride. So I raced the 7 km to the train station and became angry at Google for leading me through a 1 km long uneven field path that was definitely not the fastest route, and which I sped along at full speed. When I took a wrong turn shortly before arriving, I was concerned I wouldn't make it, but in the end I arrived just in time (for once!) and didn't even have to stop before entering the train, thoroughly exhausted. I arrived home almost exactly three hours after I left.