2009-02-22 51 10

About

Between reed-like plants next to a fast-flowing muddy creek in a rural area north of Erfurt, between Niederspier and Otterstedt

Expedition

Participants: Danatar, dawidi, ekorren, Hans, Thomcat and Tomcat

writeup not complete, please expand:

(Regensburg-Würzburg by dawidi, Hans, Tomcat)

Ekorren Since it was sunday, which meant that there was no earlier connection than the 5:36 train, I set my alarm to 3:45. Had it been a weekday, I had probably started at 4:20. I had failed to prepare everything in the evening, so there was some more hectic searching, as I couldn't find everything I had planned to take with me, including games we could play on the train - what we finally didn't do anyway. Around 5:15, I shut down the computer, grabbed my bags and got on my way. I had planned to take a quick bike detour through the inner city to buy my ticket at a different ticket machine where it would be an interesting collectors item. When I left the building, I found - a few centimetres of snow, covering a wet, partly iced surface. That came a bit of a surprise and it meant there wouldn't be such a thing like a quick bike detour. In fact, quick was a word which would only be appropriately usable in a context of falling. So, instead I took a slow direct ride to the station, bought a ticket from the standard machine and got on the train to Stuttgart. Nothing remarkable happened on the way, anyway. At Stuttgart I decided to take an earlier train to Heilbronn (as opposed to waiting for the direct train to Würzburg) - the main reason being that I hadn't had breakfast, and I would prefer the food obtainable at Heilbronn station on a sunday morning over that you get at Stuttgart. You see, I somehow know my stations. After a short stopover at Heilbronn I finally got on the train to Würzburg, where it arrived in time at 9:22. It wouldn't be before 10 that we would continue, so there was plenty of time to look for the others.

When I came down into the passengers tunnel, a steady stream of pedestrians came from platforms behind, and just as I joined the stream to the exit, I saw - known faces. And a backback with something attached to it that looked like it could fly. Which meant, I already had found the Regensburg group before even reaching the station building.

The Regensburg group was heading for a geocache near to the station which I had planned to visit on the way back anyway. So I went with them, finding a bucket which was not the geocache first (but filled with water and decayed yoghurt, leaving the place in an ugly smell after being opened), but the real box couldn't hide much longer. We went back to the station and easily found Danatar who was already waiting for us.

Thomcat My and handy German phrasebook and I walked from the city center in Hildesheim along the pedestrian boulevard to the train station, where I was unable to make the machine understand he wanted a "Happy Weekend" ticket AND speak english at the same time. So, 39 Euros out of pocket and onto the train. Most signs and announcements are in German, but I got by pretty well, until the nice lady came up and asked for my ticket. "Oh, this ticket is not good for ICE," she told me. Faced with being thrown off the train or paying for another ticket, I opted for the latter - I have hashes to go to and people to meet! I then settled down and enjoyed the scenery, which went from nice to cold to less nice... we had crossed into former GDR.

Danatar took the tram to the main station, where he searched for the others until they returned from the geocache. The train from Würzburg to Erfurt passed through the Thüringer Wald mountains, which were covered deeply in snow.

In Erfurt, we quickly located another geocache and then started to solve the riddles for a third one. While the others calculated the coordinates, Danatar went to meet Thomcat at the platform. After a quick introduction (and a meeting of the Cats) we bought food and boarded the train to Niederspier.

(Erfurt-Niederspier)
(Niederspier-hashpoint-Wasserthaleben)
(Wasserthaleben-Erfurt)

Thomcat Arriving back in Erfurt, I received an education on how to work the train information computer, and then received a no-ICE intinerary back to Hildsheim. That done, I waved goodbye to my fellow hashers. The light was soon lost, and I arrived in Göttingen in darkness. Not quiet darkness, but a darkness filled with the sound of many happy Eishockey fans - Hannover had won their game, and the faithful were headed the same direction as I. This turned out to be a very good thing, as they held a train in Nordstemmen for the throng - and me! I took a short walk back to the hotel from Hildesheim Hbf. Thanks again for a great geohash!

(Erfurt-Würzburg by dawidi, Hans, Tomcat, ekorren, Danatar)
(Würzburg-Regensburg by dawidi, Hans, Tomcat)
(Würzburg-Tübingen by ekorren)

Gallery

First meeting point
Arriving at Erfurt
Erfurt train station: Two T^homcats meeting. No matter-energy-transformation took place.
Ready to depart from Erfurt
On the train to Niederspier - finding a free seat?
Arrival at Niederspier
Niederspier Central Station
Go this way
Maybe not?
Well, maybe later.
Walking to the hashpoint
Cross that bridge.
Isn't that brown soup supposed to flow in the creek instead of on the way?
It's somewhere here
hashtrees
Coordinates reached⁶
Danatar marks the spot
Probably the first hashcake without illegal ingredients
Station of Wasserthaleben


Sun 22 Feb 2009 in Goslar: 51.2803137, 10.8701622 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox