2009-06-08 49 8

Mon 8 Jun 2009 in Mannheim: 49.3825761, 8.9113854 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Expedition

ilpadre

Expedition total: 6 hours, cycled km

My topographic map of the area around the hashpoint showed the coordinates to be on a hiking trail, and I was looking forward to an expedition with my new bike to a beautiful spot in the Odenwald.

Heidelberg - Neckargemünd (km 0 - 12):

I used the same route as in my 2009-01-28 49 8 expedition. The Neckar valley looks much nicer in spring. To get to the hashpoint, I had to drive through the old town of Neckargemünd. I've never been there before, but it's worth a visit. There were impressive colorful flower decorations all around the city.

Neckargemünd - Waldwimmersbach (km 12 - 26):

The route led through hills and the wide open space of countless fields that somehow reminded me of the Rhön - with an equal number of serious slopes. I really need to get fit again. I soon reached Lobbach, then Waldwimmersbach (a part of Lobbach municipality). I found the training grounds visible on satellite view (after trying to take a shortcut and getting lost), from where I would have to follow hiking trails through the woods to the hashpoint.

Waldwimmersbach - Hashpoint (km 26 - 33):

This was one of those expeditions where a GPS would have been really handy.

I didn't look at the map I brought with me and blindly followed a hiking trail which soon (after about 1 km) turned out to be the wrong one. Well, back to where I started.

At my second approach (using my map this time), I followed the right track (along the Lobbach creek), but missed the point where it should have separated into two paths, with one leading uphill to the hashpoint. I figured it must have been overgrown and decided to follow the trail until I reached the edge of the forest near Haag. I knew that from there it would be easy to find the right trail, because it extends all the way to Haag, in a neat, straight line, and thus should be easy to identify.

And I found it, with a massive deer stand at the entrance. I followed the track until I reached... the point where I turned around at my very first approach. I checked my map with a minute-long wtf face and concluded that they must have changed the course of the tracks a few years ago, connecting two formerly separate and abandoning the one with the hash (which is a rather steep one). This would also explain why I missed it all too easily at my second approach.

I now was at the point where I considered to take a consolation ribbon and just get out of that, without doubt, cursed forest. Then I remembered a newly created trail blocked by a huge pile of debris and it indeed turned out to be a shortcut to the track of my second approach. This time I knew I was looking for an overgrown, steep, abandoned hiking trail, and I found it exactly where it should have been.

The Way Back:

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  Entering Neckargemünd

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Image:2009-06-08 49 8 calendargirl.jpg