2009-05-09 49 10

Sat 9 May 2009 in Bamberg: 49.6692014, 10.0335969 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

In a field near Goßmannsdorf, the next cities are Ochsenfurt and Würzburg. The crops were small with large leaves, probably young sugar beet.

Country: Germany; state: Bayern (Bavaria, EU:DE:BY); administrative region: Unterfranken; district: Würzburg rural district

Expedition

thepiguy and srs0

thepiguy and srs0 had been in Germany for a little over a week; they were extremely busy, trying to get settled in and starting their new jobs. But they always kept one eye on the internet, biding their time for something to happen, something like this!

They set out at 15:00 with their brand new bikes, a map, the coordinates, a gps and only the vaguest idea of how to get there. They followed the river, or the closest bike friendly path they could find to the south. They were starting to question their orientation when they spotted a sign to a town with a name that they sort of kind of remembered.

The coordinates were ~750m from the main road they were on, and they were way ahead of schedule, so they decided to keep heading south and grab lunch in the next town. Heading back toward the hash, they followed the only directions they had: the gps heading. It lead them past the hash, to ridiculous dirt hill blocked by a fence, then back past the hash again to a small suburb, back up the afore mention hill, into an adjacent field, along a dirt path and finally to a small clearing in between fields that contained a single bike and Danatar!

Danatar

Danatar hasn't been on an expedition for four weeks because of his exam, but with the hashpoint not far away and new people to meet, he just couldn't say no. He took the usual bike track along the Main until Sommerhausen, where he crossed the river. Not much later he arrived at Goßmannsdorf. So far there had been no slopes (because rivers don't like them) and cycling had been nice and easy, but on the last kilometre the road went straight up. Danatar parked his bike at the corner of the correct field and started to walk the last metres when he saw somebody with a bike, coming down another track and waving. It was thepiguy, and srs0 followed a few moments later.

Hash and Home

The three geohashers walked along another dirt path until the gps arrow pointed them directly into the field on their right. thepiguy asked Danatar about the local "walking in some random person's field" rules. He said it was usually ok as long as you were careful not to step on their crops. That said, Danatar then demonstrated to the two international representatives the proper technique for walking amongst crops. That was no problem, since there was enough space between the lines of plants to put a foot down. 50m later, when they had finally arrived, thepiguy broke into his giddy/excited geohasher mode and broke out the Nibs! Every one chatted a little, srs0 began photographing the landscape and it was decided the two foreigners would follow Danatar home since he knew where the actual bike path was!

Everyone had a nice leisurely ride home along a beautiful riverside bike route, and once again back in Würzburg, parted ways.

thepiguy and srs0 couldn't have asked for a better first hash in Germany!

thepiguy and srs0 earned the Globetrotter achievement by visiting hashpoints on 2 continents.

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  Srs0 on the way to the hash.

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  thepiguy meets his first international geohasher!

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  Walking to the hash, we literally followed in Danatars foot steps.

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  I joked about getting the Globalhash ribbon ready and look what Danatar brought us!

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  Yay! Meetup on our very first Germany hash!

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  thepiguy shares his favourite North American geohashing snack!

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  We're here!

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  Murray claims this one as his own!

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  The other geohashers all resting at the side of the field.

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  Dantar explaining the way home to srs0.

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  thepiguy and his new bike racing each other home! (it was a tie)