2008-08-01 51 7

Fri 1 Aug 2008 in 51,7: 51.9442926, 7.7976532 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Expedition

Arvid went there, by bicycle, starting in Enschede. Total distance cycled: 162km. The plan: cycle to Münster, and a bit more, and then back. The hash itself was in Kreis Warendorf, the municipality east of Münster. Tracklog

So, I left home around 10am to get the longest bicycle hash so far. The weather was nice, the wind was sideways and stronger than I expected, and I kinda forgot this part of Germany actually has hills. While riding I realized I didn't bring any paper maps. But I knew I had spare batteries for my GPS so what could possibly go wrong?

Well, I didnt load the part of the map where Münster is, onto my GPS. And I already knew that, because a couple of months ago, I went to Münster by car, also trusting on my GPS to navigate in the city, finding out I didnt load that part of CityNavigator onto my GPS... There is something with not making the same mistake twice.

So, all I had was a line to follow, and coordinates. Not only no paper map, also no digital one. Luckily I draw tracks I want to ride quite exact, so I could still follow that through Münster and go to the hash. The hash was, as expected, very near a small road. Google (maps&satellite) said it was just east of the road, and Garmin Mapsource told me it was just west of the road. It was just west. Being in the ditch next to the road.

Time to go back and have something to eat in Münster. And I wanted to eat something at the square around to the Cathedral. But I had no idea how to get there. I found out "Germans most cycling friendly city" has lots of cobblestones in the citycenter. Which is really really the worst possible road surface possible, especially on a recumbent bicycle. It feels like a chiropractor at work.

After a bit of roundgoing I found it, and there was some sort of market at the square. The most notable was the Red Cross, asking for blood donations. I think you could donate there right away, but with nearly 70km to go and now knowing the amount of hills I had to go on again... didn't seem like a good idea.

The wind had turned on the way back, so I had headwind/sidewind again. After 120kms I really started to slow down. I had eaten enough, drank enough, but I was happy if my cruising speed was over 20km/h, so it was a long, long way back home.

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  Entering Germany

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  It was a bit more windy than I expected

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  And a bit more hills too

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  Exact coordinates! Finally!

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  This is the spot. Yes, that ditch.

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  On the left the spot, looking up north

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  View down south, spot on the right

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  View over the ditch.

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  View up north on the road next to the ditch.

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  Distance cycled to the hashpoint

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  The stupidly grinning geohasher

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  Very useful, a GPS with map abilities, but no map.

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  I went off the edge of the world!

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  Bicycle against a tree

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  An apple tree to be precise

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  Proof of day&time

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  I couldn't resist. It actually is a busstop about 300m from the hash.

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  Back to Münster

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  Distance cycled until I sat down for a sandwich in Münster

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  Vampires at the square, err Red Cross asking for blood donations

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  Next to the cathedral

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  Germans using wind&sun for power

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  Entering the Netherlands again