2018-08-04 50 3

Location

Next to a music school in Kortrijk, West Flanders province, Belgium.

Participants

Expedition

Today's hash in 50,3 looked pretty good. It was located reasonably close to home, in a graticule I hadn't hashed in yet, and it seemed to be in an easily accessible location in an interesting town. Since it was also very close to Kortrijk's train station, I figured I might as well go by train, so I checked the timetable and found out that a trip from Delft to Kortrijk would take a little over three hours and (on the cheapest ticket) cost 44 euros. Driving would take a little under 2.5 hours, but the fuel costs would be around 60 euros for the round trip, so I decided to just bring a book and have a relaxing train ride.

However, when I tried to purchase the ticket online, I found out that 44 euros was for one way only! This changed the equation quite a bit: by driving I could save 28 euros and at least 1.5 hours, and also easily visit some other towns nearby. I like travelling by train, but not at such prices!

The drive to Kortrijk was rather uneventful. Although today was supposed to be Black Saturday (the day when almost everyone living in the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France travels southward at the same time to spend their holidays together), the roads were very quiet and I did not run into traffic anywhere (not even around Antwerp). Once in Kortrijk I parked the hashmobile in the car park right next to the hash and found the exact spot with a bit of GPS dancing. I took some pictures and then explored the town. It was very warm and sunny (as it has been for the past several weeks) and it wasn't busy at all. Afterwards, I drove on to visit Roeselare and Tielt, and then went home again.

Two days later, and I've discovered that this was actually the first successful expedition in this graticule! I hadn't even bothered to check at first (since it's located in a relatively busy corner of the world), but so far there's only been one previous expedition, which didn't reach the coordinates. I hereby claim the Virgin Graticule ribbon for 50,3!

Photos

The music school in Kortrijk.
The hash was located in its bicycle rack.
Found it (with a bit of dancing).
Lloyd posing on a bike parked at the hash.
Nearby was this be-your-own-DJ set. It really works!
War monument and belfry in the city centre.
City Hall. There was a wedding going on, hence the classic bus (for the guests) and the cream-coloured Jaguar E-Type (for the bride & groom).
The beguinage.
The Broel Towers (part of the medieval city walls).
A weird piece of art. It's a "Public Individual Voluntary Automatic Jail": put in one euro, get inside, close the door, and enjoy being locked in a cage in public for five minutes.