2024-01-12 53 9
| Fri 12 Jan 2024 in 53,9: 53.8131277, 9.7481457 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
in a forest in Barmstedt, Schleswig-Holstein
Participants
Expedition
I'd already written half the report when my browser decided to completely wipe it … I'll do my best to reconstruct it.
At first, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go for this one since I'd have to wait for 40 min in the cold in Barmstedt, but I ultimately decided I could just spend the time in the hashforest or looking at some of Barmstedt's old architecture.
So in the afternoon, I took the A3 train to Barmstedt and started cycling the km to the hash. My bike's tyre had deflated again a few days before, but after I'd pumped it up it had seemed to hold the air reasonably well, so I hadn't really thought about that before setting off. Naturally, my tyre quickly started to flatten again and about halfway, I had to stop and got to work with my hald-held air pump. But it seemed to do nothing, so I continued to cycle slowly (yes, I know you're not supposed to do that with a flat) until I reached the hashforest. Here, I quickly had to dismount since the path basically consisted of two frozen lakes with a small strip in between, too steep to cycle and not risk falling in.
For a while, I tediously pushed my bike along the small patch of land, then left it at the edge and continued without it. I played around with the ice a bit, testing its strength and thickness (~4 cm) and concluding it would likely not hold my weight (though I did dare to stand on it right at the edge). Underneath many of the long frozen puddles, ice bubbles were trapped and made interesting patterns. I eventually reached the main forest path, continued north until I found a spot to cross a frozen ditch, then walked through the snowy forest for ~ m. My phone, as it often does in the cold, had suddenly decided its battery was empty even though it was actually half full. Fortunately, I had prepared for this and brought a power bank. While I waited for my phone to charge, I walked in approximately the right direction until I encountered an impassable hurdle: The entire forest in front of me had frozen over; it was just an ice sheet with trees sticking out. I wondered what I'd do if the hash was in there, it would probably be my first Kingdom for a Boat. But the hash turned out to be a little to the right where there was visible ground.
I hashdanced a while until my fingers got too cold, took pictured and went back to my bike, this time through the forest (though there turned out to be another path). When I reached my bike, I checked the time – the train left in 15 minutes! I hurriedly decided not to cycle through the forest and pushed my bike back between the frozen paths. Cycling felt awful and was slow going, I soon noticed I wasn't going to make it at this pace. A few minutes later, my tyre finally came off my rim on one side and cycling became impossible, so I resorted to walking the last km to Barmstedt Brunnenstraße station.
Soon after I arrived, I was surprised to see a train coming, but it only went to the next station and then back to Elmshorn. I took it and, seeing as I now had almost an hour until the next train, left my bike at the platform and went to stroll around town. I decided on a small roundtrip that lead me past some nice old houses and the church with its tall spire, though I couldn't go inside because some youths were currently in there. When I arrived back at the station, my train was already there, but my heart immediately sank because through the window I spotted my sworn archnemeses: The AKN ticket controllers. As far as I know, there is only one pair of them since I always meet the same ones, and I do of course always have a valid ticket, but there is still a stupid rule that says you can't take your bike between 4-6 pm, even though there's loads of space for them and the train was mostly empty.
I tried to reason with them even though I was confident they'd reject my pleadings, and sure enough. Their stated reason was "If your bike fell over and injured a person during off-time, it'd be our fault", and if that wasn't ridiculous enough, when I said I'd secure it with my lock, they literally replied "well, there could be an act of god". I'm not making that up!
So I had the choice between paying the 20€ fine or waiting another hour, and although I was cold and very hungry, I of course chose to wait. I spent the second hour at the station watching Youtube videos, trying to warm my frozen hands with my body, and exploring the area along the tracks and next to the station, which is probably off-limits for anyone not working there, but the relevant sign was damaged so you couldn't actually read that part. I was surprised how far I could walk without any sign or gate or anything stopping me. My train finally arrived and took me home, ending this desastrous expedition that turned out to last more than twice as long as I had planned.
Photos
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Achievements
Land geohash, Public transport geohash
