22 August, 2018

Geohashing expedition 2018-08-22 52 -1

This checkin to geohash 2018-08-22 52 -1 reflects a geohashing expedition. See more of Dan's hash logs.

Location

Field with public footpath, East Adderbury.

Participants

Dan Q

Plans

I’m keen to get to level 2 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement, and this far-South-of-graticule hashpoint represents an opportunity to achieve that. I’ll be at work during the day, but – energy levels permitting after what’ll have been a long day! – I’ll find a way to get up here and see if I can get to the hashpoint, aiming to arrive probably around 18:30.

Expedition

It had been a long day at work, but it looked to be a beautiful evening and I promised myself a pub dinner if I made it to the hashpoint, so I set out by car and by foot to East Adderbury, the village nearest to the hashpoint. The village itself is stunning: lots of old stone buildings, a very traditional bridge, and beautiful green spaces. I spotted not one but two candidate pubs (The Red Lion and The Coach & Horses) as I passed through the village, which was a reassuring start, and then pressed on down a lane which quickly became a narrow trail, waving to some cows along the way (why do I always seem to meet cattle on my hashing adventures?).

The trail was full of blackberries so I wasn’t short of a snack, but it soon became clear that it wouldn’t get me any closer than 35m to the hashpoint. I returned to the entrance to the cows’ field and, hopping a stile, crossed it. The cows looked puzzled as I paced around, getting to ground zero, but didn’t object. After shooting the traditional silly grin, I turned tail and headed back into the village and to the Coach & Horses, which proved to be the very essence of a British village pub: a husband and wife couple running it, dogs everywhere, a jar of pickled onions behind the bar, and more beers than you can shake a stick at.

I did enjoy a rather unusual conversation at the bar, though –

 Me: Can I get a ham, egg, and chips please. And a pint of bitter shandy.
 Barman: One egg or two?
 Me: Oh! Two, please.
 Barman: (Pause) We haven't got any eggs.
 Me: Uhh. Okay; no eggs then.
 Barman's wife: We've got one egg.
 Barman: We've got one egg.
 Me: I'll have one egg, then.
 
 (I go and sit outside; after a while, my meal arrives. There are two eggs.)
 
 Barman's wife: I found another egg.
 Me: ...

A fuller description of the entire adventure can found in the vlog I made along the way.

Tracklog

Download full GPX tracklog

Video

I filmed my adventure in a vloggy format, complete with doubling-back, talking to cows, and anecdotes about pub food. Watch it on YouTube or on QTube.

Photos

Achievements

Dan Q achieved level 2 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement

by visiting coordinates in Swindon, United Kingdom and 2 of the surrounding graticules.

A footpath - this looks promising... — A footpath – this looks promising…

Dark clouds overhead. Hope the weather holds!

Pub with WiFi password visible. — Take a look at that WiFi password! (Also, good-looking pickled eggs!)

Dan drinking shandy. — Pint of shandy while I wait for my chips with no, I mean one, I mean two eggs.

Ham, egg, and chips. — A well-earned dinner at last. With eggs. Two of them.

Review of The Coach and Horses

This review of The Coach and Horses originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

The Coach and Horses, The Green, Adderbury, Banbury OX17 3ND, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Good food at spectacular prices. Friendly staff and free WiFi. A serendipitous find as I was exploring the village on my way back from a geohashing expedition: I’d certainly come back if I find myself in this neck of the woods again.

2018-08-22 52 -1 Geohashing expedition to East Adderbury

Dan’s successful geohashing expedition to a field of cows near East Adderbury (and one more point on his Minesweeper grid!). More details.

Also available on YouTube and on QTube.

No.33: Twatt

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

Earlier this year, 2 friends and I decided to take on a hitch-hiking challenge to raise money for a charity called ‘The Campaign Against Living Miserably’. Last Friday Magnus, Sergio and I set off from Brick Lane with the intention of reaching the town of ‘Twatt’ on the Archipelago of Orkney – we gave ourselves…

52Reflect

An especially-good post by Robin as part of his 52 Reflect series in which (among other adventures), he… hitches a lift on an aeroplane! Well-worth reading!

The Mystery Button-Box

Earlier this year I found a mystery cable. But today, I’ve got an even bigger mystery. What the hell is this?

I found it in a meeting room at work, tucked away in a corner. Aside from the power cord, there are no obvious interfaces to it.

My best bet is that it’s some kind of induction-based charger? I imagine some kind of device like a radio microphone or walkie-talkie that can be pushed-in to these holes and the button “spring” is just about closing the hole when it’s not in use. But the box is old, based on the style of plug, cable, and general griminess of the hardware… not to mention that it’s got a stack of PAT test stickers going back at least 11 years.

I’ve plugged it in and tried “pressing” the buttons but it doesn’t appear to do anything, which supports my “induction charger” hypothesis. But what does it charge? I must know!

Edit: The only Electrak I can find make lighting control systems. Could it be something to do with lighting control? I can’t find anything that looks like this on their website, though.

Edit 2: Ah-hah! Looks like it’s some weird kind of electrical socket. You put the key-shaped plug in and “twist”.

Electrak plug — The plugs apparently look something like this, although I can’t find any here.

Edit 3: Hang on a minute… the most-recent PAT test sticker indicates that it was tested in… November 2019. Now my working hypothesis is that this is some kind of power supply system for a time machine we haven’t yet built. I’ve asked a number of colleagues what it’s for (i.e. what plugs into it) and nobody seems to have a clue.