Difference between revisions of "2012-08-06 52 -3"

Revision as of 16:46, 12 August 2012

Location

While most of the Mid Wales graticule lies far, far away from anything, this particular hashpoint sits on a low hill right by the river Mawddach. Sure, the hill's forested and may not have any paths in it - but that's no problem, right?

Participants

Huinesoron
Huinesoron's mother

Preparation

From Saturday 4th through Friday 10th August, I was staying a short distance south of this hashpoint (my journey there allowed me to hit my first ever hash on the Saturday), right on the border between two virgin graticules, so I had a prime opportunity for geohashing. Unfortunately, Aberystwyth graticule is mostly underwater... and Wales is very bad for internet access... so I had a total of three possible hashes: Saturday, Sunday, and (because we're east of 30W) Monday. Saturday and Sunday were too far. Monday... was just right.

Oh, but no internet means no GPS even on a phone - so this was a map job. I pulled the map off the shelf and... cursed, because the map grid of course isn't aligned to the lat/long grid. Fortunately there were graticule intersections marked, but it was still a lot more maths than I'd been expecting - and the forest was so small! Surely there had to be a larger-scale map.

There was. That one didn't have graticule-intersection marks. Cue some overly-complicated ruler work (and more sums!) to pinpoint the hash (hey, it's been a decade since I last used a map this way, cut me some slack!). At least the second map showed some actual tracks... a tentative route was planned. Three routes, actually. Since the hashpoint itself was off-track, we could compass either from the end of a wall (blue option), a corner in the path (red), or along a contour (yellow).

But this is Geohashing. It was never going to be that simple...

Mapping photos

Sums hurt my head
But this hurts more than the sums
Where we're going
How we (might) get there

Expedition

All Goes Well

We set off from our base of operations a couple of valleys south on a fine Welsh morning - that is to say, the coast was blue skies, a mile inland was under the Shadow of Mordor. Parking was easy at Penmaenpool (home of a toll bridge and a pub that doesn't serve chips - fries, if you're American), and we set off under... well, y'know, clouds.

After a stretch of very straight path, we came to our first utter departure from the plan: a gate at the wrong end of the hill. "Oh hey," I said, immediately christening it Hollin Gate, "this'll be quicker. Let's go in here!"

My mother foolishly agreed. Even more foolishly, she told the rest of our party to meet us in half an hour... I would have said two.

Still, the path up from Hollin was pretty; we kept rough track of where we were (sighting off the gap in the trees at Pant-y-cra, and the clusters of pines that mark the two highest summits), and soon managed to reach the peak of the lowest, northernmost hill. I started to think that 'half hour' wasn't such a wild overestimate after all.

Soon we came to the end of the obviously new path we were on; it was cut by an open, green track that looked significantly older. "Ah," I said, nodding wisely, "I know exactly where we are."

I said that quite a lot, as I recall.

Afon Mawddach
It's definitely in that insignificant dip
Can you tell this used to be a railway?
That's where we're going!
Because it's got a holly tree next to it, that's why
A very nice path that was not at all cursed

The Curse Strikes

So off we went, confidently, down the green path that I knew exactly where OH LOOK a gate. And a gate with a warning sign, no less.

I studied the sign intently and decided that, since it was a clear warning of danger, we were best to give up, say we'd made a valiant effort, and-- who am I kidding? It didn't actually say No Entry, so we climbed the gate and continued on.

The path was now obviously disused, but I was confident I knew where to go. All right, so the uphill track we followed went directly east, rather than turning back west almost immediately, but maybe the map was out of date. Maybe there was an extra track not marked. Hey, is that a cave? I wonder if anything lives there.

Suddenly, like lightning, something darted across the path; I turned just too slow to see it. My mother let out a gasp of pain. I knew instantly what had happened: raptors. The bane of a geohasher's life. I should have known this was too easy.

Walking on in our most careful flight for our lives, we discovered that the mountain was even less friendly than the predatory dinosaurs led us to believe. Without warning, the path simply vanished into a tangle of weeds. I forced my way through, but to no avail: there was no hint of anything resembling an onward path. We would simply have to return to the gate and head out. Caradhras (as I began to compose my report in my head) had defeated us.

Does it actually forbid access? No? Onwards!
Gates look better from the other side
How long since anyone came here?
This is their nest
The crippling scars [Citation needed]
Our more temperate Redhorn Gate

All Photos

(Collection of all the images featured in the above report)

Sums hurt my head
But this hurts more than the sums
Where we're going
How we (might) get there
Afon Mawddach
It's definitely in that insignificant dip
Can you tell this used to be a railway?
That's where we're going!
Because it's got a holly tree next to it, that's why
A very nice path that was not at all cursed
Does it actually forbid access? No? Onwards!
Gates look better from the other side
How long since anyone came here?
This is their nest
The crippling scars [Citation needed]
Our more temperate Redhorn Gate

Achievements

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 == Expedition ==
+===All Goes Well===
 We set off from our base of operations a couple of valleys south on a fine Welsh morning - that is to say, the coast was blue skies, a mile inland was under the Shadow of Mordor. Parking was easy at Penmaenpool (home of a toll bridge and a pub that doesn't serve chips - fries, if you're American), and we set off under... well, y'know, clouds.
@@ Line 61: / Line 63: @@
 Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Hollingate.jpg | Because it's got a holly tree next to it, that's why
 Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Upstairs.jpg | A very nice path that was not at all cursed
+</gallery>
+===The Curse Strikes===
+So off we went, confidently, down the green path that I knew exactly where OH LOOK a gate. And a gate with a warning sign, no less.
+I studied the sign intently and decided that, since it was a clear warning of danger, we were best to give up, say we'd made a valiant effort, and-- who am I kidding? It didn't actually ''say'' No Entry, so we climbed the gate and continued on.
+The path was now obviously disused, but I was confident I knew where to go. All right, so the uphill track we followed went directly east, rather than turning back west almost immediately, but maybe the map was out of date. Maybe there was an extra track not marked. Hey, is that a cave? I wonder if anything lives there.
+Suddenly, like lightning, something darted across the path; I turned just too slow to see it. My mother let out a gasp of pain. I knew instantly what had happened: raptors. The bane of a geohasher's life. I should have known this was too easy.
+Walking on in our most careful flight for our lives, we discovered that the mountain was even less friendly than the predatory dinosaurs led us to believe. Without warning, the path simply vanished into a tangle of weeds. I forced my way through, but to no avail: there was no hint of anything resembling an onward path. We would simply have to return to the gate and head out. Caradhras (as I began to compose my report in my head) had defeated us.
+<gallery perrow="5">
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Nonoentry.jpg | Does it actually forbid access? No? Onwards!
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Onwards.jpg | Gates look better from the other side
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Disused.jpg | How long since anyone came here?
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Acave.jpg | This is their nest
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Raptors.jpg | The crippling scars [Citation needed]
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Disappeared.jpg | Our more temperate Redhorn Gate
 </gallery>
@@ Line 77: / Line 100: @@
 Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Hollingate.jpg | Because it's got a holly tree next to it, that's why
 Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Upstairs.jpg | A very nice path that was not at all cursed
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Nonoentry.jpg | Does it actually forbid access? No? Onwards!
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Onwards.jpg | Gates look better from the other side
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Disused.jpg | How long since anyone came here?
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Acave.jpg | This is their nest
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Raptors.jpg | The crippling scars [Citation needed]
+Image:2012-08-06 52 -3 Disappeared.jpg | Our more temperate Redhorn Gate
 </gallery>


Mon 6 Aug 2012 in 52,-3: 52.7405222, -3.9588775 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox