The end of the 2015 season

Geograph Blog ::

The end of the 2015 season

It won't be long now, another week or so, before my travels are curtailed when it gets too dark to get anywhere I need to. The year went totally the opposite to the plans, the primary being to break a record on my map. That would be increasing my maximum distance between two points, a new myriad or a compass point record. Due to various circumstances those didn't happen, although all required around an 80 mile plus trip each way. Various helpers became unable to help and no replacements could be found, so in the end it was just down to me and my own efforts. However, I got new squares at least once a week since about last summer, meaning a rise on the leaderboard from about 60th to 50th, although I had no plans to do so. But plans can often become undone by reality and replaced with alternatives.

Instead of any planned records, apart from the usual supply of pre-Worboys signs which miraculously keep turning up seven years after I found my first one, I worked my way round the compass heading for new gaps in my coverage until the end of the season. Meanwhile every now and then I'd score a second Geograph, the best I could do as I didn't know what they were until I'd been adding photos for years so no adding photos in time for firsts. Once I knew it was over, either private land or high tide territory many miles away also requiring a chart, GPS and waiting till it became uncovered by sea. I did notice a few of the firsts where I had seconds weren't quite right, for various reasons which would now be classed supplementals, but discovered the rules were different then and they didn't classify them as such at the time. I returned to Hertfordshire, land of the second Geograph (I have well over a hundred there), and again found I'd added another where there was just one photo originally, and when I checked it was a building but placed in a field. I used satellite view as it wasn't on a road, and turned out to be not a supplemental but in the adjacent square, so I sent a message. This was confirmed, and I now have a first Geograph , one which had been sitting there for nearly three years ready to be reclassified. I'd had a few photos which would have qualified had I either uploaded them earlier or taken them slightly earlier, some for other squares which hadn't been green as they also reclassified earlier photos and someone spotted it very quickly and got it again. But the time had passed when they could have been done, and simply by virtue of going there and doing it meant something, just the one, had been taken in time without my knowing.

The final long trip was simply to exploit the A4 west of Reading once I'd found a way round the constant gridlock in the centre. I aimed for Newbury initially, and then saw it was only eight miles to Hungerford on a 60mph road which was similar to when I went from Pampisford to Newmarket. Once I turned round and checked my map I saw a grey line which turned out to be the county border, and finally broke a record which wasn't even on my list (mainly as it can't be seen on the map here), getting into a new county of Wiltshire . That was good enough for me, it was only 60 miles or so and hope to break one of the others next year. I basically got everything else I hadn't planned and none I had, which in many ways reflects much of my life till now.

Highlights include Andover , finding very old direction signs in Cranleigh , a very rare public toilet sign , Aylesbury (as I soldiered on despite the delays) , and everything else that kept me busy in 2015. I am a born collector and had run out of collections until my new map here came along.