Difference between revisions of "2018-08-07 51 -1"

Latest revision as of 21:56, 26 February 2020

Dan Q also wrote about this expedition on his blog. For more details and higher-resolution pictures, see this expedition's log at https://danq.me/2018/08/07/geohashing-expedition-2018-08-07-51-1/

Location

A field South of Oxford.

Participants

DanQ (talk)

Plans

My meeting this afternoon got cancelled and my nearest hashpoint is only 6.5km (4 miles) away from my office. I can get this!

Expedition

After a productive morning's work, I was genuinely slightly disappointed that a meeting I was scheduled to have this afternoon had to be rescheduled. But on the other hand... that meant that I could get away with extending my lunch break slightly and getting out to the hashpoint! I'd initially worried that it'd be inaccessibly buried on private land when Google Maps and satellite photography showed it to be deep in a block of cornfields, but OpenStreetMap came to the rescue and showed a public footpath somewhere in the very close vicinity of the target coordinates. And so, jumping aboard my bike, I set out!

600m from the coordinates I ran out of road and switched to the footpath, which I was pleased to discover was in reasonably-good condition: many underused local footpaths are not being very well-maintained at the moment and are often overgrown, but I was even able to bring my bike along this one and into the first field, although I had to push it rather than ride and I soon learned the error of my ways when the terrain got even rougher and I reached a narrow bridge - too narrow for my bike - spanning a dyke and entering the second field. Both fields had recently been cleared of corn, and whatever route the official footpath was supposed to take became rapidly unclear, but that's probably for the best because I'm pretty sure I wasn't on it by the time I reached the edge of the next field.

The hashpoint seemed to be along the fence somewhere so I followed it along - waving to some nearby cows - until my phone told me that I was under 3m from the spot. Hurrah! I snapped a panorama photo and started heading back, pausing a few times when I realised that I really, really couldn't find where I'd left my bike. On the cycle home I passed a Gasometer which, because I'm told they're super-rare in the USA, I thought I'd snap a picture of for those of you who 'hash on the other side of the pond to oggle at.

Video

I actually remembered to shoot video of this expedition (well, all within a kilometre of the hashpoint and mostly within the last 350 metres!). It's mostly just me rambling as I ramble, although there's (brief) explanation of the Surprise Gasometer for those of you who live in countries where you don't routinely see these interesting structures: Watch on YouTube or below:

Photos

Just 6.5km from work to the hashpoint... if only my bike could fly...
On my bike and ready to go!
This footpath is in better condition than I expected it to be. I can even get my bike down it.
Rough ground in the first field: should have left my bike back at the road!
Definitely as far as the bike will go today. On foot, from here...
Success! No "proper" GPSr with me today, so screenshot only, no tracklog.
Silly-ish grin at the hashpoint (with cows in the background).
Panorama from the hashpoint. Ignoring the pylons, there's a whole lot of nothing.
Surprise gasometer I spotted on the way home! For the benefit of hashers in the States, where I gather these are even rarer than they are in the UK, and who might not have seen one before.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{User:DanQ/Template:DanQBlog | url = https://danq.me/2018/08/07/geohashing-expedition-2018-08-07-51-1/ }}
-<!-- If you did not specify these parameters in the template, please substitute appropriate values for IMAGE, LAT, LON, and DATE (YYYY-MM-DD format)
-[[Image:{{{image|IMAGE}}}|thumb|left]]
-Remove this section if you don't want an image at the top (left) of your report.   You should remove the "Image:" or "File:"
-tag from your image file name, and replace the all upper-case word IMAGE in the above line.
-And DON'T FORGET to add your expedition and the best photo you took to the gallery on the Main Page! We'd love to read your report, but that means we first have to discover it! :)
--->
 {{meetup graticule
 | lat=51
@@ Line 19: / Line 11: @@
 == Location ==
-<!-- where you've surveyed the hash to be -->
+A field South of Oxford.
 == Participants ==
-<!-- who attended: If you link to your wiki user name in this section, your expedition will be picked up by the various statistics generated for geohashing. You may use three tildes ~ as a shortcut to automatically insert the user signature of the account you are editing with.
+* [[User:DanQ|DanQ]] ([[User talk:DanQ|talk]])
--->
 == Plans ==
-<!-- what were the original plans -->
+My meeting this afternoon got cancelled and my nearest hashpoint is only 6.5km (4 miles) away from my office. I can get this!
 == Expedition ==
-<!-- how it all turned out. your narrative goes here. -->
+After a productive morning's work, I was genuinely slightly disappointed that a meeting I was scheduled to have this afternoon had to be rescheduled. But on the other hand... that meant that I could get away with extending my lunch break slightly and getting out to the hashpoint! I'd initially worried that it'd be inaccessibly buried on private land when Google Maps and satellite photography showed it to be deep in a block of cornfields, but OpenStreetMap came to the rescue and showed a public footpath somewhere in the very close vicinity of the target coordinates. And so, jumping aboard my bike, I set out!
+m from the coordinates I ran out of road and switched to the footpath, which I was pleased to discover was in reasonably-good condition: many underused local footpaths are not being very well-maintained at the moment and are often overgrown, but I was even able to bring my bike along this one and into the first field, although I had to push it rather than ride and I soon learned the error of my ways when the terrain got even rougher and I reached a narrow bridge - too narrow for my bike - spanning a dyke and entering the second field. Both fields had recently been cleared of corn, and whatever route the official footpath was supposed to take became rapidly unclear, but that's probably for the best because I'm pretty sure I wasn't on it by the time I reached the edge of the next field.
+The hashpoint seemed to be along the fence somewhere so I followed it along - waving to some nearby cows - until my phone told me that I was under 3m from the spot. Hurrah! I snapped a panorama photo and started heading back, pausing a few times when I realised that I really, really couldn't find where I'd left my bike. On the cycle home I passed a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_holder Gasometer] which, because I'm told they're super-rare in the USA, I thought I'd snap a picture of for those of you who 'hash on the other side of the pond to oggle at.
+== Video ==
+I actually remembered to shoot video of this expedition (well, all within a kilometre of the hashpoint and mostly within the last 350 metres!). It's mostly just me rambling as I ramble, although there's (brief) explanation of the Surprise Gasometer for those of you who live in countries where you don't routinely see these interesting structures: '''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3mMjo4NxMo Watch on YouTube]''' or below:
-== Tracklog ==
+<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3mMjo4NxMo Watch on YouTube</youtube>
-<!-- if your GPS device keeps a log, you may post a link here -->
 == Photos ==
-<!-- Insert pictures between the gallery tags using the following format:
-Image:2012-##-## ## ## Alpha.jpg | Witty Comment
--->
 <gallery perrow="5">
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Start screenshot.jpg | Just 6.5km from work to the hashpoint... if only my bike could fly...
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Setting Out.jpg | On my bike and ready to go!
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Path.jpg | This footpath is in better condition than I expected it to be. I can even get my bike down it.
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Field 1.jpg | Rough ground in the first field: should have left my bike back at the road!
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 As far as the bike will go.jpg | Definitely as far as the bike will go today. On foot, from here...
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Proof.jpg | Success! No "proper" GPSr with me today, so screenshot only, no tracklog.
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Hashpoint.jpg | Silly-ish grin at the hashpoint (with cows in the background).
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Hashpoint panorama.jpg | Panorama from the hashpoint. Ignoring the pylons, there's a whole lot of nothing.
+Image:2018-08-07 51 -1 Suprise gasometer.jpg | Surprise gasometer I spotted on the way home! For the benefit of hashers in the States, where I gather these are even rarer than they are in the UK, and who might not have seen one before.
 </gallery>
-== Achievements ==
+== Further reading ==
-{{#vardefine:ribbonwidth|800px}}
-<!-- Add any achievement ribbons you earned below, or remove this section -->
-<!-- =============== USEFUL CATEGORIES FOLLOW ================
-Delete the next line ONLY if you have chosen the appropriate categories below. If you are unsure, don't worry. People will read your report and help you with the classification. -->
-[[Category:New report]]
-<!-- ==REQUEST FOR TWITTER BOT== Please leave either the New report or the Expedition planning category in as long as you work on it. This helps the twitter bot a lot with announcing the right outcome at the right moment. -->
-<!-- Potential categories. Please include all the ones appropriate to your expedition -->
-<!-- If this is a planning page:
-[[Category:Expedition planning]]
--->
-<!-- If all those plans are never acted upon, change [[Category:Expedition planning]] to [[Category:Not reached - Did not attempt]]. -->
+This hashlog is also published (along with more and higher-resolution photos) at https://danq.me/2018/08/07/geohashing-expedition-2018-08-07-51-1/
-<!-- An actual expedition:
 [[Category:Expeditions]]
--- and one or more of --
 [[Category:Expeditions with photos]]
 [[Category:Expeditions with videos]]
-[[Category:Expedition without GPS]]
--->
-<!-- if you reached your coords:
 [[Category:Coordinates reached]]
+{{location|GB|ENG|OXF}}
---><!-- or if you failed :(
-[[Category:Coordinates not reached]]
--- and a reason --
-When there is a natural obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - Mother Nature]]
-When there is a man-made obstacle between you and the target:
-[[Category:Not reached - No public access]]
-When you failed get your GPS, car, bike or such to work:
-[[Category:Not reached - Technology]]
-When you went to an alternate location instead of the actual geohash:
-[[Category:Not reached - Attended alternate location]]
-(Don't forget to delete this final close comment marker) -->


Tue 7 Aug 2018 in 51,-1: 51.7210189, -1.1785690 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox