2023-12-31 49 11

Location

In the woods near Freiröttenbach

Participants

Expedition

It's New Years Eve! So I am still on vacation, and I am on a 5 days streak. I would call that generally a good basis to do an expedition.

Sadly, today's point isn't great. It's not far away from the Freiröttenbach bus stop, but service to that stop is quite limited - especially on New Years Eve. It seems to have service every 3 hours (taking me 2 hours of travel time), and it's a so called 'Rufbus' - meaning the service is only going to take place if you call at least an hour advance. All in all, this gives me 40 minutes in Freiröttenbach to get the hash and get back to the bus stop, or having to wait there for three hours. (And call ahead to say I'm sorry, I missed the bus, please send another one. Yikes!)

I pick a connection arriving at 3pm in Freiröttenbach, already packed for my New Years Eve party I'll go to after the hash. With that additional equipment, I struggle a bit to fit in the 'Rufbus': For the trip towards Freiröttenbach, 3 other travelers have called in, making the bus operator decide to order a taxi instead of driving a usual bus. But 4 passengers is quite high for this taxi, and my luggage is always in the way. We manage to close the doors to depart, but it's not comfortable.

When I arrive in Freiröttenbach, I start walking towards the hash. I encounter some fence-like ribbons lining the path through the forest. As there was no physical boundary between the path and the pasture closer to the hamlet, I assume they are to keep wild boars out. I will need to leave the path to approach the hash, so I hope they end soon. I don't get that wish, but a larger tree has fallen on a part of this fence and has ripped it down, giving me the opportunity to cross. I gladly take it, and soon start meandering the final meters to the hash.

The hash really doesn't like to be found today. My readings are very poor, and keep changing without obvious reasons. Even my hand-held compass (that I did remember to bring today!) isn't really helping because the GPS is so bad today. So I settle with 1-2 meters today, and hurry back to the bus stop. I really don't want to get stuck here!

I arrive at the bus stop with ~5 minutes spare. Another successful expedition, and a great way to bridge my streak into the new year (and 2024-01-01 49 11 is hopefully going to be spectacular!)