2015-10-16 52 0

Fri 16 Oct 2015 in Cambridge, UK: 52.2485925, 0.0818851 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

5) A road hashpoint between Oakington and Girton, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Participants

• Sourcerer
• Benjw
• Tongs/B

Plans

Sourcerer: Expedition five of six spanning midnight.

2015-10-15 52 1 - 2015-10-15 52 0 - 2015-10-15 52 -0 - 2015-10-16 52 -0 - 2015-10-16 52 0 - 2015-10-16 52 1 - ETA 00:25.

Benjw: Not planning to be out and about at that time, so I shall aim for the canonical time of 4pm. Will either walk or cycle, as it's only a few km from home.

Tongs/B: Ordinarily, I'd be at home on a Friday, but I have a meeting I have to go to in London. Bah! However, this is astoundingly close, and I may be able to make it, if only in the evening. My plan is to get to Cambridge station at about 18.30, then take the Citi 3 at 18.42, changing onto the Citi 5 at 19.01 at Christ's College, to get to Girton Farm at 19.17. I'm therefore aiming to be at the hashpoint at 19.30. I might be able to adjust the times a bit if it means meeting someone. I will confirm my plans tomorrow afternoon on Twitter. Tongs/B (talk) 15:47, 15 October 2015 (EDT)

Benjw: Always good to aim for a meetup! -- will therefore aim for 19:30, and can adjust that based on what's put on Twitter. I'll either walk or cycle, as before.

Great! It looks like we'll finally get to meet. The only possible issue would be a train delay. I'm cutting it a little fine, since I'm arriving at 18:34, leaving 8 minutes to get to the bus stop. There are backup options, but that means arriving at 20:00. Would that be too late? It might help you to know what I look like. I'm the one on the left in this photograph. Tongs/B (talk)

I checked with my manager, and it's fine that I get the 17:44. I'll update Twitter if there are any delays. Tongs/B (talk)

Expedition

Sourcerer

• Arrived. -- Sourcerer (talk) @52.2486,.0818 00:41, 16 October 2015 (GMT+01:00)

16 minutes behind schedule, I reached the hashpoint in the road. There was no traffic so I could get the evidence photos parked at the roadside. I drove a little further, turned round at the "self storage" entrance and accelerated up to 40 mph, passing through the hashpoint a second time. This was the speed limit and safe on the empty road. Speed racer achieved.

I never got to the "Old Crown" a little south of the hashpoint. If it's still a pub, this might be a good place for a post expedition chat for Benjw and Tongs/B. This is a sore point. Recently I walked miles to a pub only to find it had been changed into an estate agents. Have a pint for me if you make it to the pub!

Tongs/B

Friday brought with it a new opportunity. Not only was the hashpoint a mere 6km away, there was a chance that Benjw would be there too. I got out of work early to get the 17:44 from Kings Cross. The public transport plan was brittle. I had around ten minutes to change at the station and then fifteen minutes until the only bus left the stops outside Emmanuel College. I made it in four. The Citi 5 went out to Girton and dropped me about 100m from the hashpoint. I worked out where I was meant to go, and walked up the road. It was a few minutes before 19:30. Within minutes, I saw a figure covered in hi-viz calling out from the other side of the road, “Are you from the internet?”

The hi-viz was useful; the hashpoint was in the middle of the road, and in order to take the proof pictures, I had to stand right in the most perilous position possible. Had an unnoticed car come along, the only thing protecting us would have been the reflections from Ben’s clothing. A point which read less than the accuracy of my GPS receiver (3m) was hard to find, so as soon as I saw 2m come up on the screen, I took the photo and got back out of harm’s way.

We had to take a photo of this, the first meeting I’d ever had with an external geohasher. Ben had forgotten his camera, so my iPhone would have to do. The flash on it was blinding, and it was difficult to take a photo of us with our eyes open. One one attempt a poor motorcyclist was zooming past, and could be heard to audibly swear as he mistook our flash for that of a speed camera. We took a picture with the help of Ben’s bike light and chatted for a bit. We walked back a bit only to see the Citi 5 go past us in the opposite direction, with another one not for an hour.

Luckily, Ben knew the location of the nearest guided busway station, part of the longest guided busway in the world. Little lights set into the pavement lit the way there, and after a pleasant walk and a chat we walked past a huge strawberry jam factory, and ended up at the station leading back into the centre of Cambridge. We said our goodbyes, and each went home.

Photos Sourcerer

• 

  Proof. @52.2486,.0818

• 

  Track in Google Earth

• 

  Speed racer

Photos Tongs/B and Benjw

• 

  I made the bus with four minutes remaining, and not another one for an hour.

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  The clearest image I've ever taken of my GPS receiver's screen.

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  The flash on the iPhone is too bright for some people.

• 

  This torchlit scene is the least flattering photo I've taken of myself that I've put on the internet.

• 

  A station on the world's longest guided busway.

Achievements

Sourcerer earned the Speed racer achievement by passing through the (52, 0) geohash on 2015-10-16 at 40mph.

Expeditions and Plans

2015-10-16
Northampton, United Kingdom	Sourcerer	4) In a field south west of Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Cambridge, United Kingdom	Sourcerer, Benjw, Tongs/B	5) A road hashpoint between Oakington and Girton, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Norwich, United Kingdom	Sourcerer	6) In the middle of Freelands (road), Mendlesham, Suffolk, UK - no need to ...

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Sourcerer's Expedition Links

2015-10-16 52 -0 - 2015-10-16 52 0 - 2015-10-16 52 1 - KML file download of Sourcerer's expeditions for use with Google Earth.