User:Joris
I live in graticule 52 4: Noord West Nederland. My home is near the corner of the graticule, so locations in Zuid west Nederland / Antwerpen or Midden Nederland will occasionally be closer. I don't use a positioning device. Instead, I look up the location on a map and plan my route before leaving.
My plan is to go to the Saturday locations whenever possible, provided they are not too far away, and reachable by bicycle, and the weather is decent, and I have no other obligations.
Geohashes accomplished
- (+) 2008-05-24 52 4: The very first geohash meeting, near Hazerswoude.
- (~) 2008-06-21: I visited graticule Zuid west Nederland / Antwerpen. The location was just in front of a chimney factory in Nieuwerkerk a/d IJssel. The target was inside the gates of the factory, so I did not reach it completely. It seems I just missed meeting up with Azijn, who also reached the location but left early.
- (~) 2008-07-19: The hash function led me to a meadow just outside the village Kamerik.
- 2008-07-20 (Sunday): The location coincided with an official youth meeting point, signposted and everything. This was a Sunday, so no meeting.
- (~) 2008-08-02: In a meadow somewhere between Waverveen and Uithoorn.
- (#) 2008-08-09 52 5: I visited graticule Midden Nederland to reach the meeting point in De Meern.
- 2008-08-15 (Friday): In someone's back yard in Wassenaar. I thought it a bit rude to march into the back yard, so I stayed on the road at ~30m from the point.
- (#) 2008-08-16: In Park Groenendaal in Heemstede. A very nice place, just on the edge of a pool and surrounded by trees.
At exactly 16:00, two other guys came marching to the location, staring intently at a handheld device. I said hi. They said hi and continued looking at the handheld device. I said: "Hey, I think this is the right place". They looked at me like I was talking in an alien language, looked at the handheld device and marched on, leaving the location. The lesson I learned from this is that people play many different games involving handheld devices, and I should not assume that random people are playing the same game as me.
- (+) 2008-09-27 51 4: An excursion to graticule Zuid west Nederland / Antwerpen to get to the meeting point in Schiedam. My cycle trip through the center of Rotterdam took more time than I had expected, and I also lost my way a few times in Schiedam. So I arrived 10 minutes late. Surprisingly, within a minute another group of three people came cycling towards the spot, one of them wearing an XCKD shirt. Thus this became the second spontaneous meeting in my geohashing career.
- (#) 2009-05-02: My first hash trip in the new season, and also my first hash in the graticule Eindhoven, Netherlands. As happens so often in life, the journey was more interesting than the destination. I cycled through Schoonhoven and crossed the Lek by ferry. I also passed through Nieuwpoort, a small fortified city. The geohash location was on a quiet country road close to Vianen, right next to the highway A27.
- (~) 2009-06-20: At last again a point within cycling range, close to Ter Aar. Unfortunately on a piece of farmland, about 100 m from the road.
- (~) 2009-06-27: In Bleiswijk, an area almost completely filled with greenhouses. The point is right next to the HSL fast railway. The railway is suspended on poles, and it is possible to walk underneath it along the length. Unfortunately there is a slight bend in the trajectory, so no line of sight into Rotterdam.
Meaning of symbols
(+) Spontaneous Saturday meeting with other people.
(#) Reached Saturday meeting point but found no other people.
(~) Almost reached Saturday meeting point but did not get to exact location, usually because it is on closed or private land.
Statistics
I do not claim official achievements since I usually don't collect proof of my location. Instead, I use my own interpretation of maps and scenery to judge my success.
5 Saturday meetups according to the centurion achievement (2 (+) + 3 (#)).
