2025-03-08 52 8
| Sat 8 Mar 2025 in 52,8: 52.9998085, 8.3465904 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox |
Location
On a field in Dötlingen, Germany.
Participants
Plans
Lack of any plans. Impulsive decision to use the sunny afternoon for a nice bike ride and to check out whether it would be possible to step on aforementioned field. The only hint of any prescience on my part was that I stuffed two jackets into my bike bag before riding off in a very thin shirt.
Expedition
Inbetween some rather rough weeks I greedily grabbed the opportunity of a bikeable saturday-afternoon/evening hash. I packed the aforementioned jackets and a water bottle and swiftly rode off, picking a well-established route through Oldenburg and then the most obvious way towards Sandkrug and Kirchhatten. This went quite well and I enjoyed the sunny and warm afternoon. Beyound Sandkrug was unknown territory for me, but I could still follow the main road toward the center of Kirchhatten, where I took a small road which led me to the fringe of the township, granting a nice view over fields, meadows, some forest and the occasional farm. A quick glance at the phone confirmed that I was heading in the right direction and I wove my way through the beautiful scenery for some ten minutes, until the street crossed a small creek. Where the creek cut through the fields it created a small offset in height and I felt confident that this had to be the 53rd parallel, somewhat sloppily assembled.
It wasn't, and I had to backtrack some meters to reach a path that would let me access the field with the hashpoint. While I pushed my bike through the soft sand, I became aware of a rised hide with wooden walls and glass windows, pretty much overlooking the geohash. Feeling no desire to get confused with a deer/wolf/badger/whatever and shot, I approached the stand in my most humanly manner (counting on the bicycle to support my claimed identity) to check out whether it was occupied. It wasn't. At least, it was locked from the outside and no one answered my shy greeting noises.
Having taken care of this I more closely inspected the vegetation on the field in question. It consisted of dried yellow-brown crops with some thick roots, definitely not growing any longer. I dared step on the field and shortly reached the spot.
About today's coordinates had been joked that it would be possible to throw a stone into the next graticule. Indeed, the spot was only about 22 m away from the 53rd parallel, within the rounding limits of the Android app (see proof image). I threw some stones until a pissed-off rabbit started running. While the roundabout landing zone of the stones definitely was across the graticule border, I could not re-identify the actual stones.
While I fooled around the sun started to set and it got colder very quick. I therefore set off on my way home, mostly along the same route. No one will be able to prove any causality between the still-open icecream shop in Sandkrug and my much slower progress during the following kilometers...
Tracklog
Photos
Once outside Oldenburg, it looked like this most of the way.
The landscape beyond Kirchhatten.
Some scrap metal figures along the final approach.
A cut in the landscape.
No hunter in there - or a very angry one.
The site of the geohash. The crops look like they don't mind me stepping on them anymore.
The spot.
Proof. Note the irritating rounded latitude.
Stupid grin in bright afternoon light.
Surroundings.
Glad I brought two jackets...
