2023-09-27 55 -4

Location

In a field near Milngavie, roughly 3km from the town centre.

Participants

KerrMcF

Plans

After his university lecture and volunteering session, KerrMcF plans to walk to the geohash point, hopefully earning the Juggernaut achievement. The weather is forecast to be quite stormy so this will only happen if that changes by the time.

Expedition

KerrMcF

During my volunteering, I noticed that, although it was raining, the weather seemed bearable. I'd previously checked on a mapping service if a Juggernaut was possible and it seemed to be but I would have to walk across a golf course and through two fields other than the one that the point is actually in. When it reached 3pm, I left my bag at the charity shop and began my walk.

The walk to the golf course was easy but the rain was getting heavier as I walked. I also had forgotten to charge my phone whilst I was in the charity shop as I had planned so I decided that using it to take more photos than necessary would not be a good idea. Once I reached the golf course, the rain was pouring quite heavily. I continued on across the empty course and suddenly the ground got very wet very quickly. I accepted that I was probably going to get absolutely soaked by the end of my walk and continued on.

After 12 minutes of squelching across the golf course, I reached a road, which I followed for about 5 minutes, before entering a field. I had been unable to see from street view and satellite images if I would actually be able to cross over into the adjoining field via this one without leaving the 1:20 limit for the achievement and was quite worried that this would be where that attempt would end. I spent probably around 10 minutes trying to find any possible gap in the barbed wire fence that I could cross over but the overgrown plants and trees made it difficult to make any progress. I was about to give in when I decided I should try to see if I could cross into the farmyard to the left of this field and access the second field from there. A few minutes of searching led to the discovery that, although there was barbed wire between the field and this farmyard, it was low enough to step over without difficulty and that there was a gate leading directly to the field I was looking to get into. Doing this meant I could cross both of these fields without breaking the restriction and it would all come down to whether or not the final field had livestock in it or not.

The Scottish Outdoor Access Code does allow access to land in which there is livestock, however, I would personally be hesitant to enter a field if the point was surrounded by cows due to their curiosity and inquisitiveness. When I reached the entrance to the field I could see that there were about a dozen cows in it, but that they were all in a different section of the field separated by a small row of rocks (that they could definitely pass over but seemingly chose not to). I entered the field and reached the point before leaving and returning back to the charity shop on foot to pick up my bag.

On the way back I considered taking a photograph for the Drowned Rat achievement as I certainly felt like one, but just before I was able to take the photograph, my phone battery died. I have, therefore, attached a photograph of my jeans after I had returned home as I believe this demonstrates the drowned-rat-ness of the situation. The journey there and back from the charity shop took 85 minutes with an additional 35-minute walk home bringing me to a total of a 2-hour walk in the rain which was fluctuating between a drizzle and torrential downpour.

Photos

Group of cows near the hashpoint, keep forgetting to take photos on the actual point
Reached the geohash
Walked to the point and back
Route taken
Route with juggernaut limitations added (1:20), succeeded on route to hash
Proof for Drowned Rat achievement