2009-09-14 50 9

Mon 14 Sep 2009 in Fulda: 50.1439232, 9.9817829 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Today's location is in shrubbery next to a horse pasture near Elfershausen, between Hammelburg and Bad Kissingen.

Country: Germany; state: Bayern (Bavaria, EU:DE:BY); administrative region: Unterfranken; district: Bad Kissingen

Weather (18:00): Light but constant rain

Participants

• Danatar
• srs0
• thepiguy
• Rey

Expedition

Danatar

After work I drove towards the hashpoint. I didn't find the note I had prepared with the coordinates on it so I used the GPS's overview mode to find the way to Trimberg, then at about 17:15 I parked the car near the train station when the track's quality diminished. I continued on foot along the track which quickly changed into a narrow piece of meadow with tire tracks along a field. A narrow piece of wet meadow, that is, it was raining lightly all the time. After passing a woman playing with her dog I reached a pasture with three horses on it only a few dozen metres from the hashpoint. Directly next to the pasture an apple tree was growing with apples lying on the ground under it. I picked up one of those and went to the horses. They were very shy at first and ran away (once when I almost slipped on the wet grass, and then when I moved my umbrella too fast) but they soon came to be fed and petted. I went to get more apples, took a few bites out of the best-looking one and shared them with the horses.

Next I went to the Fränkische Saale river (on the other side of the pasture) to take some pictures before looking for the hashpoint. When I took the GPS out of my pocket I found the note with the coordinates. It must have magically eluded my first search but now I could go and find the exact spot instead of a satellite-image approximation (which would have been difficult). After a short moment I stood at the edge of a patch of wet shrubbery, 4 metres from the hashpoint. Hm, close enough? thepiguy and srs0 would only arrive about 20 minutes later and I didn't want to stand around that long, so I squeezed myself through a small opening (with cocklebur) under the bushes and then followed the GPS to get to the exact spot. Then I saw something... oh dear!

It was a deer (Capreolus capreolus) and, judging by the lack of antlers, a roe doe. It had been there for a while, and something had fed on the neck and the hind quarters. When I sat down next to it to take pictures of my GPS, I heard a loud buzzing and then saw a large insect fly around the carcass. It looks like a wasp but it is bigger... it's a hornet (Vespa crabro)! Hornets are rare, even counted as an endangered species, so I was happy to see one. Since I knew that they aren't dangerous (except if attacked) I stayed where I was. The hornet soon landed on the deer. After taking pictures of my GPS, the hornet and the dead deer I left the shrubbery.

At 6 pm I saw srs0 and thepiguy walk towards me.

thepiguy, srs0

The two had to leave work at 15:30 if they wanted to have any chance of getting to the hashpoint within an hour of Danatar's expected arrival, so they left work early and rushed to the train station. With six minutes until the train's scheduled departure, they had not even reached the train station! At five minutes, they quickly bought two tickets, ran to the farthest platform at the station, and got on the train. One minute to spare!

In the end, the train ended up leaving just over five minutes late, so they didn't need to worry as much as they did. The train was extremely full until the first stop, Rottendorf, at which point the train was suddenly nearly empty. I guess not many people were heading to Schweinfurt (or farther)!

As they approached Schweinfurt, srs0 noticed that their connecting train was supposed to have left almost ten minutes earlier. They were worried they may have missed it, and it only comes every hour (or less). However, upon arriving, they saw the train was still there! They ran across, jumped on the train, and within a minute they were going again.

So started the next problem. The train they were on was run by Erfurter Bahn, and was two small cars. However, the two cars were splitting at Bad Kissingen. Srs0 continued to panic, as he often does, and tried to find a map detailing which car went where. When the person who checks your tickets got on the train, he surprised them with asking them if they spoke English, and then managed to confirm they were on the right train. Finally, srs0 could relax (thepiguy wasn't worried much).

Arriving at their destination train station, they got off to a light rain and walked in the general direction of the geohash. They found Danatar's car, and left a message (XKCD) in the mud in front of it. They then continued, ending up on a distinctly non-road path that google maps had said was a paved pathway. They saw some horses up ahead, and then, off behind the horses, they saw Danatar!

All three

Upon meeting up, srs0 and thepiguy went and found the hashpoint for themselves, while Danatar remained with the horses. They found the dead deer and took care to take pictures of the gps without the deer in the background. Apparently Danatar had other ideas though, as per the picture gallery below. You have been warned!

Backtracking to meet with Danatar again, thepiguy and Danatar stopped to pet the horses while srs0 took pictures of them. The horses were very friendly, and seemed to be happy for the company. Soon, they headed back towards Danatar's car, and srs0 "bribed" Danatar with tasty chocolate to give him and thepiguy a ride home. Four pieces later, they were on their way! They got home an hour and a half earlier than the train would have been, thanks to Danatar (the connections back to Würzburg would have been less than optimal). Thank you yet again Danatar!

Achievements

thepiguy & srs0 achieved level 5 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Würzburg, Germany and 5 of the surrounding graticules.

Danatar & thepiguy earned the Hashhorse Ribbon by finding a horse and stopping to pat it near the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the Land geohash achievement by reaching the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the No Batteries Geohash Achievement by reaching the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the Midnight Geohash achievement by reaching the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14 in the middle of the night.

Rey earned the Earliest geohasher achievement by arriving first at the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the Sunrise Geohash Achievement by reaching the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14 to smile at the first rays of sun to cross the horizon.

Rey earned the Camping geohash achievement by camping at the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14, from sundown to sunrise.

Rey has visited an Easy Geohash by reaching the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14 without really trying.

Rey earned the Geoflashing Achievement by stripping off at the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the Beast of burden geohash achievement by reaching the geohash under the power of one or more living, non-human animals at the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Rey earned the Trail of blood consolation prize by being too injured to reach the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14 ..

Danatar, srs0 & thepiguy certifies that Rey earned the Coffin Potato Achievement by occupying a coffin at the (50, 9) geohash on 2009-09-14.

Pictures

WARNING! Some of the following images are of a graphic nature. Those with a weak stomach should hope they read this warning before looking at the pictures.Too late, harr harr

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  Hashhorses running to meet Danatar

• 

  Danatar feeding the hashhorses

• 

  the Fränkische Saale

• 

  Rey the Reh

• 

  Rey at the hashpoint

• 

  Vespa crabro and Rey

• 

  Where are they going?

• 

  thepiguy and srs0 arriving

• 

  thepiguy took a slightly different picture...

• 

  Awww!

• 

  Pretty!