About Me
39 / m / 52,1Hi, I'm Ian, and contrary to my username I have yet to discover anything magical about myself!
I've only just started Geohashing, but hope to do many more in the future.
Currently I don't have a GPS device, so am relying on GoogleMaps and good old paper OS maps to locate the hashes.
I live near Norwich, England (right here 52.646387,1.411553 in fact!) and hope Geohashing will help me discover some nice bit of countryside around Norfolk, and hopefully some friendly fellow-geohashers at the same time. If it gets me doing more exercise in the process then it's all good :-)
I have access to car, motorbike, bicycle(s) and kayak(s) so I'm hoping to use them all at some point in the future to achieve a variety of ribbons, as well as using public transport and my own legs!
About 1/3 of my home graticule is water (North Sea or the Broads) so if I can find someone with a boat then that will increase my range of possible hashes; otherwise I will attempt to make a hash or two around the rest of the UK if they aren't too far out of the way on my weekend travels.
I don't currently have a GPS device, so I use the satellite view on Google Maps to identify the hashpoint. It's generally good enough to get within a few meters and that is sufficient for my personal satisfaction (especially if it's in the middle of a field and there are no barriers in the way). Similarly, I try to take photos at the hashpoint but more for my own reference than to 'prove' to anyone else that I was in a particular place on a particular day.
My Geohashes
I've been on 5 successful geohashes in 1 graticule, with one failure. 5 of my geohashes were by car, with 1 by bicycle.
A map of my various Geohashes can be seen here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=101290173710370388783.0004795ada0544beb1488
My first Geohash! Not very adventurous as I took the car and only had to walk a few meters off the road to a field near Aylsham. No fences to climb over, no people to tell I was "from the internet", no velociraptors. A bit of a disappointment really. Made note to get there under my own steam and try and meet up with fellow-geohashers next time...
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MagicIan earned the Land geohash achievement
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A bit of gap since my last one, this one just required a short detour in the car on the way home from work. There were a couple of signs telling me to keep out, but that didn't stop me as there was nobody else around. The hashpoint required a short walk in the middle of the sewage works so the smell was pretty nasty, but there was a surprisingly pleasant view which made up for it.
I am really lame at this. Another one that didn't really involve much effort and I didn't make it to the hashpoint. It was on private land and there was a big gate which suggested I probably shouldn't trespass. At least I got to know my way around this bit of Norfolk a bit better.
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MagicIan earned the No trespassing consolation prize
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Hooray - a proper hash at last. It required a fair old cycle, most of which was on the Marriott Way north of Norwich. It's a converted railway track and part of National Cycle Route #1 from Hull to Harwich. I thoroughly pleasant ride in the sunshine, but with cool temperatures The hashpoint itself was in the middle of a field and not too hard to find. Given it was a weekend, I hung around for a bit to see if anyone else would turn up (especially the clocks went forward that night) and played some patience in the meantime, but when I started to get cold it was time to move on. I took an alternative route back which was great as I discovered some really nice places on the way.
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MagicIan earned the Bicycle geohash achievement
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Finally a hash that wasn't in the middle of nowhere. In fact, better than this, it was probably one of the busiest places in the whole graticule - The Forum in the centre of Norwich. The Forum (http://www.theforumnorfolk.com/) is home to several organisations and is a focus for a wide range of learning and cultural activities in the centre of Norwich. It houses learning organisations, café, restaurant and takeaway facilities, as well as the state of the art Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library. Again, I went on a detour after work and hung around the hashpoint from around 17:30-18:00. I sat upstairs in the library reading a magazine, with an XKCD sign on the glass panel in front of me, hoping someone else would see it. I left it there with an explanation on the back after I left. I'd like to think the librarian didn't just throw it in the bin at the end of the day...
Two in a row!! ...and I'm on a roll - 4 hashes in 8 days. The hashpoint wasn't too far from work, and even better it was on a road so a chance to achieve the Speed Racer ribbon. It was quite a lazy hash to achieve as there was very little chance of meeting anyone else in the process, yet I quite enjoyed it as it allowed me to investigate some more bits of countryside that I hadn't seen before. Even better, the roads to the Speed Racer hash were great driving roads which made it all the better to achieve it. I stopped just short of the point to take a photo at the farm, waited until the road was clear and then accelerated up to the national speed limit (60mph on the country road), taking a photo as close as I could, and then braked and pulled into a gateway to the field in order to take a photo of me and my noble steed for the achievement.
