2021-08-23 53 9

Location

on a field in Hitzhusen, Schleswig-Holstein

Participants

π π π (talk)

Plans

going there by train and bike

Expedition

Another 20 days went by without an expedition (although I came extremely close to attempting 2021-08-13 53 9: I was in Kaltenkirchen for an appointment and it would've been sub-2h, but I'd forgotten my bottle and was using an uncomfortable bike because mine had a flat tire, so ultimately decided against it) – again the longest hash drought since February.

This hash was only 310 m (one field over) from 2021-07-09 53 9 just a month prior – another amazing coincidence! These things recently seem to happen way more often than they statistically should, even when accounting for selection bias and cherry picking.

I took the train to Bad Bramstedt and then wanted to cycle 3.2 km to the hashpoint. I initially had 17 minutes at the hash, but the train was 4 minutes late and I managed to make the exact same (opposite?) mistake as last month: In July, I'd first cycled into the road where the hash lay now, right up to the hashfield, and this time I cycled almost a kilometre too far, up to the road where the hash had been the last time. Why do I keep messing this up?

When I arrived at the hashfield, I only had eight minutes left, and I already guessed I might not make it in time when I saw it was planted with dense fully grown, 4 m high maize, and the coordinates were 50 m onto the field. I walked 130 m along the edge and then fought my way through to the hashpoint – the leaves were extremely coarse and constantly brushed against my face, and I often had to bend the stems apart and got tangled in the waist-high weeds growing in between. The 50 m took me over five minutes. At least the maize was so high that I couldn't accidentally tread on or break any of the stalks, but I did hear some noises and momentarily got scared that a harvester-thresher might suddenly break through the stipe forest.

Anyway, I found the location, took photos with Jackie and Eagle (who adamantly insists on being named second for some reason), and then made my way back. In the end, I'd spent 15 minutes in the maize and, arriving at my bike, noticed that my intended train departed right now. I'd gotten some bruises on the upper cheek from the rough leaves, and took my time cycling back. The next train left 46 minutes later, which would mean I'd arrive only slightly later than if I cycled the whole way back. So I bought a lye roll and some sweets in a supermarket and enjoyed them on my way to the station and on a bench while listening to my audiobook until my train arrived and took me home.