2013-03-03 53 7

Sun 3 Mar 2013 in 53,7: 53.0160004, 7.1443803 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Near the village of Vlagtwedde

Participants

Elwingelfje (talk)

Plans

Go there by car, walk a little bit, write some postcrossing cards, be back in time for dinner.

Expedition

It was actually quite easy. For the first time in human history (ie in my somewhat skippy checking of Geohashing) the hash in the Emden graticule was actually in a spot feasible to get to without travelling at least 100 km. As I had to work at 15:30 PM this was quite convenient. So I decided to go for it!

It was really quite easy. I drove the A7 until Winschoten, then turned right towards Vlagtwedde. Then, in that village, I turned left towards Bourtange (wonderful old fortress town - but as I'd been there before I've not visited it now). Because the Dutch police on taking pictures while driving (whyever would that be) I haven't got any of the journey there. To compensate I took pictures of a few things in my car (before setting of) and took some extra near the hashpoint.

Exactly as I surveyed, I first came across a small canal to the left and then to a lock in a bigger canal. Since the road from there looked earthy and muddy I decided to abandon car and continue on foot. I didn't really fancy explaining to the local farmers the point of geohashing while they pulled my car out of the muck.

It was exceptionally quiet and a bit bleak. The only people I met were a few cyclists. I also met three horses (behind a fences). I looked first for a bend in the canal and then for a kind of 'dip' in the opposite shore that was near the hashpoint. Lo and behold, there turned out to be no fence around the hashpoint! Apparently farmland near Vlagtwedde is so quiet that this is not necessary. Since the hashpoint was at the very edge of the field in the middle of some tractor tracks I figured it wouldn't hurt if I actually went there. (I wouldn't have done that if there had been a fence or plants that I could have trod on. The Dutch law concerning right of way says that you can't go somewhere if there's a fence or ditch obviously restricting access, or if you can damage the produce; I decided that none of these were applicable here.)

Yay, hashpoint reached! I wrote some postcrossing cards when I was back at the track and mailed them from a mailbox in Vlagtwedde. And that was that - a succesful hash. But none yet in my home graticule of Groningen unfortunately. Soon...