2009-08-08 50 -2

Sat 8 Aug 2009 in 50,-2: 50.5645846, -2.4527411 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Successfully found and marked the spot

On portland beach! Just over the causeway from weymouth!

Participants

• Sermoa
• Macronencer

Plans

As far as i know it'll be a normal xkcd saturday meetup at 4pm! i will take the train there and be on the beach for fun and frivolity!

Looks like i can take the train from Winchester at 13:33 and go directly to Weymouth for 15:13. Chance for some coding on the train, win! then i'll walk from weymouth station to the geohash point in time for 16:00.

update: google maps says it'll take an hour and a half to walk from the station. so i'll take the train an hour earlier and still be there for 4pm. i hope some local weymouth people are coming ...? --sermoa 08:21, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

another update: i think the First Bus number 1 goes from weymouth railway station to portland. follow me on twitter for updates of where i am this afternoon!

Expedition

Sermoa's journey

Busy weymouth beach

I took the train from Winchester at 13:06, coding all the way on my laptop (win!) and arrived in Weymouth at just gone 15:00. I walked down to the beach, faffed a while trying to find the right bus stop, ended up getting on the 501 which was an open-top bus so i got some great photos of Weymouth beach (which was PACKED!!)

As you get closer to Portland you see it looming out of the sea in the distance, like a big loomy mountain. one thing you don't get from google maps satellite view is the elevation. i imagined portland would be quite flat but in fact it's a very steep hill.

Beautiful sea view from portland beach

I got off the bus just over the causeway, mostly because i was afraid there wouldn't be another bus stop and i didn't want to go too far into portland. as i walked closer to the geohash i saw mike already busy arranging an xkcd marker with stones. we took some photos of the hash together and then climbed over the steep bank of pebbles to see the beach the other side. WOW!! the view was just astounding! the sun was shining on the water just like Secondlife with the Windlight viewer! the sea was a beautiful shade of blue. we walked down the other side of the bank and just sat on the beach chatting and enjoying the sun and water for about half an hour.

One thing i love about geohashing is you get to see places you might never see otherwise. When most people go to weymouth they probably stay on the overcrowded main beach. this beach was almost deserted and much more pleasant.

We had seen some buses going up the hill into portland. i had a bus day ticket so i quite liked the idea of going up to the top. which we did! my gosh, was the view incredible! we actually only went up as far as Fortuneswell so there's a lot of portland still to see. you could really spend a holiday there. From the top of the hill we had a fantastic view of the geohash point, and chesil cove and weymouth.

Haha cool, i just noticed there is a road on portland called Leet Close! We should have gone there!!

Macronencer's journey

Due to unaccustomed cycling, knackered as a supernova-surviving whelk right now: will write something and post photos tomorrow. My thanks to Sermoa for turning up, and for handling this page!

Gallery

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  Weymouth beach full of people soaking up the sunshine

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  Weymouth marina

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  First glimpse of Portland island

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  Kite surfing in chesil bay

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  The 501 bus i took to get to Portland

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  Nearly at the geohash, i can see mike already there

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  Stones mark the occasion

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  The amazing view from the top of the pebble bank

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  Looking back down towards the geohash

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  Someone out sailing

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  A lone plant growing among the pebbles

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  Google pin and Monica, my hashcot

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  The internet was here!

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  OS grid reference proves the location: SY 6800 3799

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  View of the geohash from the top of Fortuneswell

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  View of chesil bay and weymouth

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  A war memorial at the top of the hill

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  View down the causeway

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  GPS co-ordinates

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  Chuck has found some botany to study!

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  Chesil beach

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  Macronencer made the XKCD part, then Sermoa texted to say she would be 20 minutes so he filled the time by finishing the rest!

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  Sermoa planting her Google marker

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  Saturday Meetup! Hopefully we'll have more than two next time.

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  You could see the marker from the top of the stones. I wonder how many people will walk down to investigate?

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  Sermoa enjoying the seaside

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  The culvert where the map reference was posted

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  The Heights Hotel, where the bus stops at the top of Portland

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  Embedded in tarmac on the way back down the causeway. They stole my idea! And they must have had a time machine too!

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  Beautiful view from the bridge at the Weymouth end of the causeway

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  Sermoa working on her ActiveGeohasher Ruby app, on the way back on the train.