2016-05-31 52 -3

Tue 31 May 2016 in 52,-3: 52.1324343, -3.6929796 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Rhwng ac i'r gorllewin o Llanwrtyd ac Abergwesyn, Powys, Cwmry.

Participants

Sourcerer

Plans

Set out as early as possible from friends in Colwyn Bay and head for mid Wales.

Expedition

Here is the short version.

I've washed off the dried blood, emptied my pockets of twigs and pine park fragments and showered the resinous detritus out of my hair. This was a long expedition. Road access to mid Wales is not great and the country is bigger that you might think. Setting out at 10:50 in beautiful sunshine, it took until 15:00 to reach the parking place. The outward walk in hazy sun and a stiff breeze took 1 hour 40 minutes. The return was the same but there was a good pause for sandwiches and a drink. The total distance walked was 9.1 km. The entire track log was 682 km. I got home well after midnight.

Now for the detail. Track Log

After a four hour drive, a 4.5 km walk and a 340 metre climb there was no way this point could not be reached. It was located in a dense commercial pine plantation.

Now to the stupidity distance!

Baby pines are soft like fur coats in Narnia. Mature pines stand like pillars in a cathedral and the low branches have all fallen, leaving wide aisles. Of course I got middle age pines with a mesh of intertwined branches. A few were still soft. Some were brittle and snapped easily. The rest would have made good whips for small boys in a Dickensian novel. Masochism is not a normal aspect of my character so this was a new experience. It worked best to squeeze the head forward between the branches and allow the stabbing snaps and whiplash spring-backs to damage the rest of the body. To add interest the ground underfoot was soft and spongy, consisting mainly of very deep sphagnum moss. Luckily it was dry apart from occasional trick pools. So slightly bloodied, after 250 metres of pain, I reached the hashpoint, got a photo and failed to get 3G access. Later I discovered it was turned off in the phone. The return was slightly easier following the trail of snapped twigs and mossy footprints.

This was interesting terrain. There were peat crevasses of unknown depth. Small streams had made gorges in the peat. These were narrow, unstable and had near vertical sides. Some were covered with branches and leaves making traps for animals or geohashers. To be swallowed by a peat crevasse followed by a wet land collapse would be an interesting way to meet ones doom. You'd be found three thousand years later, well preserved, with a Crox poster!

Photos

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  Arrived. @52.1342,-3.6846

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  Entire Journey

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  Near the Hashpoint

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  Stupidity Distance

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  Altitude

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  Irfon

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  Tiny waterfall

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  Bilingual sign

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  View of Mid Wales

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  Forestry track

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  View of Mid Wales

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  Storm damage

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  Peat crevasse

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  Peat crevasse

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  Storm damage

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  Stupidity terrain

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  Blood and flowers

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  Blood

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  Selfie

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  Forestry track

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  Irfon

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  Irfon

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  Irfon

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  Irfon

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  Bo pool car park

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  Welsh language

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  Welsh dragon

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  Irfon

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  Irfon

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  Forestry Commission Wales

Achievements

Sourcerer achieved level 3 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Mid_Wales, United Kingdom and 3 of the surrounding graticules.

Sourcerer achieved level 4 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Manchester, United Kingdom and 4 of the surrounding graticules.

Sourcerer achieved level 6 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom and 6 of the surrounding graticules.

Sourcerer achieved level 6 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Bristol, United Kingdom and 6 of the surrounding graticules.

Sourcerer earned the OpenStreetMap achievement by contributing to OpenStreetMap based on their expedition to the (52, -3) geohash on 2016-05-31.

Expeditions and Plans

2016-05-31
Los Angeles, California	McKay	Just off the road, just off the beach in Malibu.
Mid Wales, United Kingdom	Sourcerer	Rhwng ac i'r gorllewin o Llanwrtyd ac Abergwesyn, Powys, Cymru.

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Sourcerer's Expedition Links

2016-05-23 52 1 - 2016-05-31 52 -3 - 2016-06-01 52 1 - KML file download of Sourcerer's expeditions for use with Google Earth.