2025-02-07 53 8

Location

This Geohash is located in the nature reserve Barneführer Holz in Sandkrug.

A forest with a number of small (but quite significant in north-western Germany) sand hills.

Participants

Plans

Beardygrade

After the coordinates were announced, I was contemplating going there after an orchestra rehearsal on thursday evening, to reach the spot just after midnight. There were any number of reasons against this plan (like having to get up the next morning), but the final blow came when Gaboversta on Discord expressed his concerns that a nightly invasion of the forest might disturb the local fauna. I felt caught and let go of this plan.

Expedition

Beardygrade

It still felt wrong to let this opportunity unused. A hash in the vicinity of Oldenburg, easily reachable by bike and situated in a forest that I know for many years. In the afternoon, I decided to ride to Sandkrug for an extended (no, make this very extended) lunch break. This time I already knew at least three feasible routes that I could use without stopping for orientation. The most beautiful one is a car-less path alongside the river Hunte. When I was almost in Sandkrug, I got word from Fippe who showed interest in going there, too. I then dawdled a bit in a small park in Sandkrug until Fippe told me he wouldn't be there anytime soon. Since I needed to be back in Oldenburg before 18:00, I proceeded to the forest. I pushed my bike along a smaller path and parked it at a convenient spot when I had to leave the path.

I then very carefully entered the forest and homed in on the spot. To allow for some minimal time-shifted interaction with Fippe, I made a 'XKCD' marker out of very rotten sticks on the ground. When I went to retrieve my bike, it wasn't there. Even with an amplitude of 2 metres, the sandy hills there were able to trick me into disorientation. I had to work my way up another one of those soft undulations and was then happily reunited with my preferred mode of transportation.

Having spent more time in the forest than anticipated, I chose another route for the return journey, which mostly follows the railway tracks and has a better surface for faster riding.

Fippe

In the late afternoon, I took the train to Sandkrug and walked the rest of the distance. Beardygrade and I had chatted before and we figured out that we couldn't be at the spot at the same time.

In the forest, I found Beardygrade's xkcd marker at a holly tree, located the coordinates there and recorded proof.

Afterwards, I walked back to the station and took the train back home to Osnabrück.