2022-10-05 53 10

Wed 5 Oct 2022 in 53,10: 53.9341469, 10.1065389 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

in the Segeberger Forst, one of north-western Germany's largest forests, in Forstgutsbezirk Buchholz, Schleswig-Holstein

Participants

• π π π (talk)

Expedition

Hadn't been out much the last few days, so I decided to go for this one (despite the journey being over two hours) because I love forests so much. I took the train to Bad Bramstedt, passing Bad Bramstedt Kurhaus station – here, I saw that a few segments the fence surrounding the huge abandoned hotel right next to the station were tipped over. I absolutely love Lost Places and urban exploring, and considered getting off, but wanted to get to the hash first, since otherwise I'd have to wait for the bus. So I continued and rode the bus from Bad Bramstedt for another 25 minutes, getting off in the middle of the Segeberger Forst, Schleswig-Holstein's second-largest forest by far and one of its two unincorporated areas. I cycled along the street until I reached a forest path. There was a closed wooden gate saying the forest was closed to the public, but it was not locked, so figured I was unlikely to meet anyone anyway and continued on.

The path was bumpy, strewn with puddles and hard to cycle, but the forest was beautiful. After 2 km on tracks of varying quality, I reached the spot closest to the hash and continued into the trees. There were yet more paths, disused and overgrown but walkable, so I trod one until the end, when I only had to cross 70 m more metres of forest floor. I hashdanced a bit, settled on a location and admired the pristine prettiness of nature, consisting mostly of deciduous trees and saplings (I think people rarely venture this far off the path this deep into the woods).

I went back to my bike, picking up some plastic bottles on the way, and checked that I was still in time to catch my bus back. I decided to cycle a different forest path back, which proved challenging as it consisted of deep troughs in the earth, impressed by heavy forest machinery. I reached the gate after 2 km, and to my dismay found it closed. I knew I had to hurry to reach my bus, so I hoisted my bike across a lower part of the fence (it got wedged several times), then climbed the gate. I sped along the street to get to my bus in time, but after checking the timetable again relaxed since it left later that I had remembered. I cycled the last stretch at a leisurely pace and arrived at the stop two minutes before the bus's time. But just as I parked my bike, I saw my bus drive past me and sort into the turning lane. I'm not sure whether the driver saw me at the stop, it might be that he didn't realise I wanted to get on before he had to sort into his lane (the bus stop is located right at a crossroads). But why did the bus even arrive two minutes too early‽ I hate when this happens! If they sometimes arrive sooner than planned, how am I supposed to know when to be at the stop‽ Same with trains. Should I just always be there a few minutes early, just in case? What a waste of time! Anyway, I'll spare you further rants. I waited a few minutes at the stop in case it was a different or a delayed bus, but of course in vain.

Since the bus only arrives every hour and there's no other connection in the right direction (home or the Lost Place), I had to cycle ~18 km along a busy street to Bad Bramstedt Kurhaus. On the way, I stopped at a shopping center to get myself a Franzbrötchen and throw away the plastic bottles from the forest. When I arrived at the former Hotel Gutsmann (see here and here for articles), I noticed that not only was the fence partially down, it actually stood open. I walked around the side, which already looked ruinous, overgrown and hopelessly forlorn despite only being abandoned since a harmless fire in 2013. All windows and doors had been nailed shut, but I found a door that had been pried open. Here begins a whole nother adventure, which I will maybe write about another time. Short story: I explored the huge site, whose floors were entirely strewn with rubble and trash and where not a single thing was still intact, for 1.5 hours (people must've been rampaging and pillaging in there for a long time for it to look like it did). I would've stayed longer, but my phone's flash wasn't working and I had no other source of light, so I could not take pictures in the completely dark basement and first floor, where the most interesting areas were, and vowed to return at a later time. The hotel would not disappear soon, though of course they might reinstate the fence at any time (unfortunately, I did not manage to come back before I went on vacation a few days later). I left when my A1 train arrived, which took me home.

Photos

will follow shortly (15 + x pictures)

Achievements

Land geohash, Public transport geohash, Geotrash