2009-07-22 50 -0

Location

Next to Pagham Road, Northwest of Bognor Regis

Participants

Plans

Macronencer planning an after-work hash (around 7pm), partly by car from Fareham, parking at the Royal Oak if possible and cycling/walking down from there.

Expedition

Macronencer

This was a bit of an odd third hash for me. I drove most of the way there from work, in the rush hour. I had my bike in the back of the car and I wasn't sure about the weather. I eventually reached the Royal Oak pub where I parked, got my equipment and provisions out and decided I would walk it as it wasn't much over a km. However, I was soon thwarted by the road conditions. There was untrimmed hedge growing along both sides, speeding traffic and a few blind bends. Not being suicidal, I decided to fetch my bike.

As I walked past the pub back towards the car, a nice lady asked me whether I was lost. Not being in the mood for dramatic speeches about the mysteries of the Internet, I told her I wanted to go for a walk but I wasn't sure about the road. She offered the useful advice that it was like that all the way down, so I decided the bike was definitely the best bet. As it turned out, I was wise.

It took very little time to reach the location, but unfortunately I learned something today about Google Maps satellite imagery: hedges can look as if you can jump over them or step through them when in real life they are impenetrable bramble fortifications, perhaps harbouring raptors. I scouted up and down for a while, looking for a way into the field, but found nothing I liked. So I decided to walk back and get as close as I could. In the end, this was 10m, which I counted as a win. By this time I wasn't feeling in the mood to sit and have a picnic with all the traffic zipping by a few feet away, so I decided that no xkcd marker would be forthcoming today.

I cycled back to the pub and put the bike in the car, then went inside and got a cuppa. While I sat there the rain started. Had I walked, I'd be wet now :)

This was not the most fun so far, but I'm pleased that I've hashed outside my home graticule, and it was nice to find the pub (seemed friendly with good food, if anyone's interested).

Next hash for me is probably going to be in Norfolk or Essex as I'm away at the weekend visiting my parents - so I'm hoping for a far-flung graticule, which should make the score card interesting.

Tracklog

Tracklog shows attempts to find parking spots, and parkings and wanderings by the pub before I cycled

Photos

Royal Oak pub
Proof of arrival
The hash point
Not quite a grin. Could it be the fast traffic 3 feet behind me and the puddle right next to me? Or maybe the raptor-hedge?