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 61 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 Hashpoint

It wasn't long before the track vanished and only old and mossy stacks of small logs bore witness to the trail's past usage. The track I took from Haag was already visible a few meters above, so I had either already passed the coordinates or was close enough to celebrate my success. I haven't met another hiker during my expedition, so I figured it would be safe to undress and take pictures for the Calender Girl and Geoflashing achievements.

The Way Back

Taking a slightly different route, I followed a nice trail along the Lobbach creek until I reached Lobenfeld. From there I basically took the same way back to Heidelberg, abandoning my plan to make a detour and revisit the Mauer hashpoint.

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  Entering Neckargemünd

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  Before

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  After

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  Neckargemünd town gate

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  Wiesenbach - Donnery: 20 years of town twinning. The bicycles come from both towns.

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  Lobbach 8 km

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  First encounter with the Lobbach creek in Waldwimmersbach

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  In the 10th or 11th century, the town's first mill was built there.

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  Free spring water

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  I like finding faces in everyday objects.

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  First approach - wrong track

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  Second approach - right track

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  I knew I was wrong again here, but I still continued...

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  ...and found a Hochwasserrückhaltebecken!

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  Helix pomatia, a specially protected species in Germany. The French love to eat them.

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  The track leading to Haag

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  That's the right one, finally!

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  The shortcut

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  The path to the hash is on the right.

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Calendar Girl/Geoflashing picture