2021-08-28 40 -4
| Sat 28 Aug 2021 in 40,-4: 40.4640886, -4.3864027 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
A few kilometers from the ESA Cebreros ground station (Deep Space Antenna 2).
Participants
Plans
Expedition
I knew the area, so no new roads to discover, but I knew it were nice roads for motor cycling. I also new that the geohash location was not far from the European Space Agency (ESA) Cebreros ground station. I had not thought about the fact that on my way I would earlier pass by another ground station, the NASA Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex. I got aware of this when I saw the big NASA dish and decided on the spur of the moment to stop and take a photo (I had taken a photo of this Antenna from far during the expedition 2021-07-16_40_-4). I did the same when later passing the ESA station.
The expedition followed the typical pace. I could get in reasonable walking distance to the geohash on paved roads, then there was a path I could follow for some time. There was almost no wind and also no traffic on the nearby road, so the silence was only disturbed by the sand crunching under my boots.
Finally I had to leave the path and walk into the wilds. Whenever I have to walk through high gras, ticks come to mind. However, I have heard they like shadow and humidity, so they are probably not a big issue here in central Spain. I should possibly be more concerned about snakes. I always wear boots and long trousers, though.
Unfortunately, the geohash turned out to be on private property behind a fence. It was a nice expedition anyway.
Tracklog
Photos
The 70 meter dish DSS-63 of the NASA Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex near Robledo de Chavela.
The 35 meter Deep Space Antenna 2 of the ESA Cebreros ground station near Cebreros.
Parking place for the Goldwing. The path I have to follow starts in the background, where the guardrail ends.
Here we go.
Here I have to leave the path. It's the only option between two fences.
Yet again walking through high gras.
The geohash turns out to be behind the fence to the left. This is as close as I can get, 35 meters (the diameter of the ESA Deep Space Antenna 2).
Quite a quiet neighbourhood.
Walking back to the bike, the sparse population becomes visible (which is the reason why the ground station was built in this area in order to avoid radioelectric interference from mobile telephony).
Looks like I meet thistles on almost every expedition, last time in 2021-07-31_39_-3. And I met them again and again in subsequent expeditions, but did not take a photo until 2022-01-09_40_-4.
