2014-04-27 52 5

Today, I discovered a national monument I never heard about. That's what makes geohashing fun!

Sun 27 Apr 2014 in 52,5: 52.0703144, 5.2727035 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

A few km from where I live, in a forest. Seems reachable.

Participants

• CO2

Plans

I think I'm gonna cycle there this afternoon. Let's take a look.

Expedition

• Let's see if this app works. Seem to have found the hash. Interesting location. I'll show pics later. -- CO2 (talk) @52.0706,5.2728 08:51, 27 April 2014 (EDT)

Before I left my house, I checked the weather radar and saw it would rain the entire day. So I was preparing for a Drowned Rat hash. But when I actually went out, it started raining less and less, so I stayed quite dry.

Once I got close to the hash, the road suddenly ended with that concrete barrier you see in the first pic. As you can see, there was an easy way around it, and there was nothing indicating I wasn't allowed to go in there. Beyond that fence, the road turned into a few dirt paths. I saw someone walking with their dog, so I guessed the place was open access. I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to cycle there, so I was thinking of leaving my bike right there. But then I saw on my GPS I was still a few hundred meters away from the hash, and it didn't seem like I could reach it in a straight line. So, with bike and all, I went on, trying to pinpoint the location.

As I got closer to the hash, I suddenly saw this large earthen wall. It had newly build wooden fences on top and there was a strange tunnel going into the wall. I parked my bike and decided to explore for a bit. The tunnel went in a curve and opened up on the other side of the wall, where I found a lake with some ducks and an island. Interestingly, due to the curve, the middle part of the tunnel was pitch dark. I had no clue what the wall was for, perhaps to slow down attacking raptors?

In any case, there were stairs going to the top of the wall, so I went there and found there was a path along the top. As far as I could tell, the hash wasn't on top of the wall, so I went back to my bike. As I cycled on the path along the wall, I saw a second tunnel. This one had a stream going through it. I found the hash itself shortly afterwards.

After taking the necessary pictures, I cycled onwards. I encountered some park wardens on the way out, who luckily didn't seem to mind my bicycle. I also found a sign about the earthen wall. Apparently, it was a national monument, and they were doing some work to protect it, as it was quickly being eroded. Interesting.

Back home, I searched for some information about that wall. Apparently, the forest was once owned by a nobleman. He hired some folks to dig out the lake, and the removed dirt was used to make the wall. He had the tunnels made for fun and so he could keep paying those people, to prevent them from getting unemployed. A good guy in my book. Apparently, other than two pedestrian tunnels and one water tunnel, there was also an ice house somewhere in the earthen wall. On top of the wall, above the ice house, there was a water reservoir and on top of that a small building where the noblefolks could enjoy a cup of tea. All of that is part of the national monument.

I saw some building in the distance, maybe that was the tea-house. I am not certain.

Photos

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  No cars allowed. That's a "missing cat" poster, by the way.

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  Tunnel through the earthen wall.

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  Lake behind the wall.

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  Random bridge near the lake.

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  On top of the wall.

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  The geohash with the water tunnel in the back.

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  My trusty steed on the hash.