2009-01-24 52 7

Sat 24 Jan 2009 in 52,7: 52.3650009, 7.3806584 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Plan

Arvid had two possible hashes at .5km difference according to google. One in the Netherlands very close to a known road, and one in Germany where he'd never been before. He chose the one that's the same way as last week, in Germany. About 45km one way, in a field, of course. Hey! I can make that a nice 100km ride. So I'll cycle a bit around to map roads for openstreetmap.

The weather was dry. Which really couldn't be said from the day before. Maybe, maybe there would be some sun in the late afternoon.

Achievements

• Arvid cycled 100.4km (had to do an extra round in my own neighbourhood to get to 100)
• Crossed a border.
• I'm up to eleven! I feel very Campagnolo/Spinal Tap.

Expedition

Arvid's tracklog by bicycle.

At 13:30 I left home to get one of them saturday 4pm hashes again. And since this was in a field, and not in some woods, this should work out.

At the start I really noticed a lot of backwind, without even trying I was doing 30 or over. This isn't good news for the return trip... I saw some deer on the way to the hash, I tried to shoot them, with my camera, but I missed. I also came along a thermometer from a bank that said 4°C.

Anyway, all went well and I crossed the highway 2km from the hash at 15:15. Since I was stupid enough not to put any food in my pockets, I hadn't been able to eat anything until then. So I did that there. 2km in 45mins is walkable, so no hurries.

About 10 minutes later I went on, and... found out the "road" I had planned was a collection of holes filled with water in the sand. Well, time enough. At 15:35 I was at the crossroad closest to the hash, looking at the tree where I would park my bike against. But... too early! I went on a bit to map some roads out there. 10 minutes later I went back, parked my bike against the tree, and tried to mark that spot, although it's still 250m from the hashpoint.

There were a lot of windmills out there, and these things have something in there that makes a high pitch noise. It's quite annoying. There wasn't a lot of wind out there, so even at 4°C it didn't really feel cold. Or my clothing is really awesome.

I walked to the hashpoint, made some pics, and had some more to eat. At 16:05 I left for home again. After some detours through Bad Bentheim and Gildehaus, I arrived home at 18:20. There was a little bit of blue sky on the way home. And a rabbit tried to keep up with me, running in a ditch. Animals are weird. Also, there were on the local roads all groups of people with small pushcars and some dogs. Anyone any idea what they were doing? Is it as silly as geohashing?

PS

The next day when I inspected my bike so I was sure I could go to work with it I found out my front fender was... challenged. It was only still attached to the front fork, and the part on the front side of the front fork had gone. Must have happened somewhere in Bad Bentheim or Gildehaus with the cobblestones, I think. It's still in one piece on the picture at the hashpoint. Luckily, I still had a brand new front fender. So I put that on. I added fenders to the list of consumables.

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  General impression of how 70% of my route looked.

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  Tag.

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  Bike, tree, hashpoint 250m further in the field.

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  View to the south from where I parked my bike.

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  Success!

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  View from the hashpoint back to bike, tree and windmills.

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  The hashpoint!

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  Happy hasher.

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  Now with tree and mills in the background

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  Time&date.

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  Follow the light.