2008-11-26 48 8

Location

Today's location is in Pforzheim, on Kleiststraße. Access is not restricted as can be seen here.

South of the hashpoint at Kleiststraße 2A is a transport and recycling agency. Kleiststraße 2 is a slaughterhouse.

Somehow special is also that, although a rather small city gave name to that graticule, the first expedition took place within that particular city.

Expedition

Danatar

Planning: It's not far from the train station, so I might go there. There would be a train starting at 8:37 and arriving at 11:14 (if on time in Bietigheim) or 11:44 (more reliable).

But I need Ekorren's permission ;-) Perhaps he can even join me? Anybody else?

11:44 is not the only time for me, it's the earliest, I have to be back home at 18 o'clock, i.e. return train at 14:13 or earlier.

Okay then. If I arrive at 11:14, I'll wait at the hashpoint, else I'll be at the train station. - Danatar 18:10 CET

Expedition: I went to the train station some minutes before 8:30 and bought a Bayern-Ticket, which allows me to take trains in Bayern (Bavaria) the whole day, at the vending machine. Wait... the hashpoint is in Baden-Württemberg... damn! I joined the queue in front of the ticket counter to exchange the ticket (although it has "not exchangeable" written on it). While waiting, the minutes ticked away, but finally I heard the vendor say to the client in front of me "... and then you can take a Bayern-Ticket". I jumped between them and sold my ticket to the client (thus saving him from the 2 Euro bought-at-counter surcharge), then I went back to the ticket machine, bought the correct ticket and ran to the 8:37 train. Phew...

At Bietigheim-Bissingen, the train was 10 minutes late, so I had to wait there for half an hour and arrived at Pforzheim at 11:44. I scouted the streets around the train station and returned at 12:05 to fetch Ekorren. On our way to the hashpoint, we stopped at a Holocaust memorial to look for a geocache. At the hashpoint I chalked "the internet was here" on the ground while Ekorren placed his paper marker and a book for bookcrossing. After some pictures, we returned to the train station.

I took the 13:13 train but had to wait half an hour in Bietigheim-Bissingen and another hour in Heilbronn. I arrived in Würzburg at 17:22, having finished Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit (A great book!), which I had started this morning, some minutes earlier.

Ekorren

Planning

I've done the nearest worst thing that could happen: I had to explain geohashing to my mother. Problem is, that a) I had promised to help her with kitchen remodeling, and b) the people from the heating billing will need to get into my room during the day.

I know how you feel about explaining geohashing to your mother, I had to do the same. - Danatar

Can't get worse if you want to go geohashing, can it? Actually it could have gone worse, because I seem to have got clearance at least. I've no idea yet what that clearance will cost me (not money-wise, though). For the least I know I'll be very busy tonight.

There is a special discount ticket for the trains from Tübingen via Horb to Pforzheim, which makes the trip very affordable. The earliest train it is valid on will arrive at Pforzheim Hbf at 12:05.

Going there

It was easy. So how shall I fill this section?

Somehow I managed to shift all obligations away from that date, so I was free to go. I packed my bike and the usual luggage and, around 9:55, left home. I wouldn't need the bike to go to the hash, but as I had the full day and Pforzheim itself is, opposed to it's beautiful surroundings, totally not worth a visit, I planned to take it as a start for a cycle tour.

Three minutes later I arrived at our station, bought a ticket and found a place for the bike and myself in the train. It's a direct local train through the Neckar and the Nagold valley, crossing a remote part of the Black Forest, and it takes two hours to get there.

Nothing remarkable happened during the trip, just some panicking people who tend to believe that a) they boarded the wrong train, b) the train forgot the car they sit in when leaving, or c) the train is late and they'll miss their connection (no matter whether they need one or not). Myself I think b) and c) would be a bit more realistic if the scheduled departure time had already been reached. Still, this isn't really remarkable as it happens all the time. Especially on this line.

The train reached Pforzheim in time, so there wasn't even a chance to miss a connection because of a delay. Some people probably were disappointed as, once more, the railways didn't give them an excuse to go on a rant.

When I got off, I couldn't see a trace of Danatar but just as I had decided to go to the hash on my own in case he's already there, he suddenly appeared from nowhere. So we consulted the map and went off. The hash was easily found an reached - it was on an open road space just in front of the slaughterhouse. We left our markers (chalk on the spot, paper a few metres further where it was possible to fix it), took photos to document the visit and walked back to the station.

After Danatar had left, I went on my cycle tour which was really nice - the weather wasn't as cold as expected and it was sunny all day. Nevertheless, I had to shorten it considerably as the terrain slowed me down a lot more than expected. With lots of horrible slopes and some bad dirt track, my average speed dropped below 14 km/h. I usually reach 20 in hill terrain. There was no more geohashing - not even a visit to a retro point I had considered to take as a destination.