2024-12-22 53 8

Location

On a highway embankment in Oldenburg, Germany.

Participants

Expedition

I was already halfway there, beheading a pine tree in my parent's garden. Thus, it would have been a shame to miss this opportunity. From former visits to similar spots in the vicinity I remembered that there was a pedestrian path right next to the highway, up on the embankment.

Throughout my acrobatics on ladder and tree it was mostly dry, except for the occasional short spell of light rain. At about 15:30 it started raining. Seriously. At about 15:40 I started cycling towards the geohash and got wet very quickly and thoroughly. Nevertheless, I parked my bike behind one of these strange fitness centers that are illuminated in a ghoulish dark blue light. When I approached the embankment it became clear that this stretch of the highway wasn't equipped with a convenient path. Instead, there was a slope of roughly 100%, covered with ivy, rotting leaves, some trees and blackberries. I had to scale approximately 6 meters and quickly learned that it wouldn't be done in a bipedal fashion.

So, I crawled on hands and feet, sometimes sliding down again a bit, but avoiding any serious contact of clothing and mud (except for my shoes. And socks. And the lower parts of the pants. Details). Finally I arrived at the top of the embankment. But instead of even a small strip of horizontal ground, the slope runs straight into the noise barrier, a soil-filled construction of wood which presumably should cater to plants and flowers. Those were absent, but a thick wall of dirt seems to do quite a good job dampening the highway noise. And I could grab the wooden boards to keep myself from toppling down during the hash dance.

And quite a dance it was. Apparently, GPS signals also succumb to the dampening effects of a wall of dirt. I had to climb to and fro and the blue dot indicating my position erratically jumped around, until it appeared exactly at the spot and stayed there. I then carefully (but not very gracefully) descended the slope and rode home, collecting some more liters of rain in the process.