Yesterday I already had an interesting evening. I spent the time on my phone in the library study room until evening, and when the desks emptied and everything was settling down to sleep so it could wake up to life again tomorrow, I didn’t hang around and was gone. I bought a ticket, and on the way to Tesin I apparently wasn’t a lucrative catch for the conductor.
I could have stayed in the warm station hall, but I told myself it’s not that freezing anymore and I’ll go outside, even though the train from Polish Tesin only arrived at 18:35 and I bought my ticket at 18:05. I’m sitting on the very last bench of platform 2, reading something on my phone.
Then a little boy, about 9 years old, rides up to me on a scooter and asks which platform the train to Karvina leaves from. I checked idos and told him it’s exactly the one he’s on right now, even the right side. I also told him it was running 3 minutes late and that it would be a CityElefant, probably a blue one.
He thanked me and moved a step further away, and later he called someone. I told him it always shows up on the departure board 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. At 18:28 the Pendolino 240 Kosican pulled in on the same track – 2 of the second platform. He came back to me again and said it probably wasn’t the one.
I told him this one doesn’t even stop in Karvina, it passes straight through Bohumin too, and at best he’d end up in Ostrava. So he thanked me again. The Pendolino left at 18:32 and in the blink of an eye Os 2948 popped up. I was watching it as closely as the boy, and when Karvina hl. n. lit up there, he looked at me with a smile, which I returned :).
It was late, both from the original delay and from waiting in Trinec, because for several days now trains between Tesin and Trinec have been running on a single track. And even though I travel there often, I’ve never seen anyone actually working on anything there. Right after that the RegioNova from Poland arrived and I sat by the window facing track 2. I was worried it wouldn’t wait, I’ve had that experience during this closure, but we did wait.
Some girl got on the train right behind me, and even though, it being a single carriage, she could have gone to the middle or the front, she went to the back where I was. And she even sat down opposite me, so that also made me happy :D. Then the CityElefant finally rolled in; before boarding, the boy looked at me one last time and smiled, I smiled back, then I waved and so did he.
It left, and a minute later so did our train. In the morning I got up sometime before 8 am. I was woken by a DAF truck starting up, and after waking up I thought about what to do with the day. The weather promised a sunny day, though with temperatures reaching 4 degrees Celsius at most. In my desktop PC I had a second SSD, my old 120 GB Kingston, with Windows 7 on it – I wanted to lend the PC to my dad until a buyer turns up for it.
That meant I couldn’t use my GeoCaching Tool, and only one option was left: finish the rest of Horni Sucha =), which I already had saved in Google Drive, with the GPX files backed up too. I just needed to print this out again – I had thrown it away, thinking I wouldn’t be going to Horni Sucha again for a while. Not because it was bad there, but because there are so many beautiful places:
- GC5YT2F – #5 Bila – 1.5/2/micro/0 – Up the trodden path on a multi-tree (five)
- GC5EJ5F – MFK Havirov – 2/1.5/micro/1 – akcitengam
- GC5TZ28 – Historie havirovska-Radnice v Prostredni Suche – 2/2/regular/6 – menema kdopmort sjovd
- GC5TFMW – Prostredni Sucha- sutrula – 2/2/micro/0 – don’t look at the sky, in some tree, in a small wood, low
- GC45BRE – Elektrarna Sucha – 2/2/small/3 – 19
- GC2NB8F – STEEL AGE – 2.5/2.5/regular/2 – turtle
- GC5Z6XZ – Havirovske zeleznicni prejezdy V – 1.5/1.5/micro/0 – magnet-guardrail
- GC5Z6ZV – Havirovske zeleznicni prejezdy VI – 2/2/micro/2 – about 1.5 meters high
- GC623ND – #13 stribrna – 2/2.5/micro/2 – tucked into a little hollow of a tree, I’m looking out, hopefully nobody steals me.
- GC623FR – #12 tyrkysova – 2/4/micro/1 – search up top – climb
- GC60KC8 – #11 seda – 1.5/2.5/micro/0 – Magnet
- GC1XG9J – Dul Frantisek – 2/1.5/small/5 – RWE
- GC63P4D – #15 cerna – 1.5/3.5/micro/0 – main path, look up
- GC66RK1 – Au – 2/2/micro/0 – Search by the wrapped one.
- GC5YXXD – #8 hneda – 1.5/2.5/micro/0 – Triple tree near the ground.
- GC6714V – Fe – 2/2/micro/0 – Search in the hollow. PLEASE fasten it back properly. THANK YOU
- GC6670Z – Horni Sucha Hrbitov 1 – 2/2/micro/0 – Search by the big hedge… (naticce)
- GC5YXXT – #9 fialova – 1.5/2/micro/0 – on the trunk
- GC5W2Q9 – #2 modra – 2/2/micro/2 – Behind the tree near the ground, see photo hint
- GC661WT – Slivovice – 2.5/1.5/micro/0 – Search by the yellow box (at the bottom)
I recently sold my old laptop, so I still had a Chromebook, on which I’ve lately been doing pretty much everything PC-related. I turned on the printer; I had printed from it before via Google Cloud Print, but now Chrome was telling me that the printer is offline. In the settings of the Vodafone router I couldn’t find which IP address the printer had on the network (it still only shows me 2 devices, I probably set static IP addresses for them), so I put it into a temp file that I have a shortcut to on my dad’s laptop. You see, he has a new Samsung laser printer, in which I used up all the colour starter toners within a few minutes (I ordered new ones, they arrive on Tuesday). So when the toners were in, all it managed was a warning that the printer could be damaged, and when I took them out, it said, “for a change”, that it can’t print without all the toners. I even switched on grayscale-only printing, but without the colours it just won’t :/. In the end I told myself I have it in Google Docs anyway and set off at 8:36. I thought I wouldn’t make it from Ropice, which is 3.1 km away for me, but I did – the train was 7 minutes late. I would have made it anyway; lately I’ve been breaking my own records quite a bit with my (fairly) brisk walking. On the way I met that boy and girl with their gear – the boy has a yellow pedal-powered quad, the girl a colourful skateboard. The first time I saw them was at exactly the same spot as now, the second time on the first hill from our place, when they were riding down holding hands, and now again at exactly the same spot. But they look great together, they’re both good-looking =D. And at the station in Ropice some 2 girls were cruising around on roller skates. Nature brings spring into people’s lives. At the station an older lady spoke to me; she thought a bus would run instead of the train. Since I didn’t know yet that the train was late, I went with her to the bus stop. I checked m.cd.cz; the closure was only between Czech and Polish Tesin. Idos reported a 7-minute delay. I told her the train would definitely run; she stayed there, saying that if the train came, she would run across the road. She said she had seen the replacement buses driving around here today. When the train whistled and appeared on the horizon, I dashed to the road, the lady made it, and we went off to Tesin. Here I wanted to read in the library and leave at 11:43 for Horni Sucha. First I went to top up my mum’s phone credit at Tesco.
Then I looked at cat food there, but it was all so expensive, with almost no discounts, that I went to Kaufland instead.
You can hardly get a pouch for 6.9 CZK even in a multipack. Only once did Albert have 12x Kitekat for 52 CZK – a 54% discount. Since then there hasn’t been anything remotely that good; to this day I remember those 15 packs of 12 pouches each and how we drove there several times, because as soon as they stocked it, it sold out right away. There I left 138 CZK for 10 pouches and 2 kg of kibble. The library is next door, but I didn’t feel like lugging those 3.2 kg on my back, so I called home to ask whether my sister could drive me to Trinec, ideally to Penny Market for muesli bars, and take the food home. My sister had already left home, so I went for the train, even though I told myself I definitely wouldn’t make it. The ticket was stamped for 10:23, whereas the double-decker left at 10:21, but no matter! At 10:37 there was a direct connection that went exactly where I needed and didn’t stop anywhere. I went to platform 3, sat down, and again the SC 240 Pendolino Kosican arrived on the side where I was sitting. Idos showed me this, but they announced that my Ex 145 Odra was leaving from platform “four”, track 7.
I get there, and some guy with a little girl is taking photos of the Pendolino. A few minutes later the Express arrived, and since there weren’t many people, there was room on both sides where the seats don’t face each other. So I could “bathe” in open space – a nod to the “Odra” river. I settle in, and before Trinec a girl comes by with a minibar trolley; I heard the doors opening, but it didn’t occur to me at all that someone was coming until she was looking at me and said, “Hello, would you like something to eat or drink?” in quite a honeyed voice =D. I just smiled at her and said no, but thank you. Terribly lively and energetic =). I like riding these trains because of them, and dislike it because it’s not easy to keep a tight rein on your wallet =D.
Penny Markets in Trinec – there are 2 of them, one a few steps from Trinec Centrum and another on the opposite street. I get there and look for a hand basket. In a full 360-degree view I can’t see a single one, and in front of me an older lady is putting some money into her handbag =D. I ask her whether she could change 50 CZK into coins so I’d have one for a basket. She looked so annoyed and disgusted that I seriously worried she’d pierce me with her stare, but suddenly she was all happy and searched every pocket for coins, until she finally found them and I didn’t lose anything. I took a basket; the store was so packed you could hardly move. After 2 minutes I leave the basket at the side and go through everything, scanning it as carefully as a barcode reader. I even ask one man, but he refers me to the staff, saying he doesn’t know where the muesli bars are and has never seen them in his life. I go through everything again, and no staff anywhere. In the end I find them among the toiletries =D.
I take several dozen, mostly hazelnut ones, because I hadn’t had those yet, it’s a new flavour, and besides, I like nuts. I go to the checkout, and behind me stands an old man who has only 2 items – aluminium foil and something I didn’t pay attention to. I ask him whether he wants to go ahead; at first he doesn’t want to, but when I offer once more, he accepts. I get a plastic bag, which came in handy; it would have fit in my backpack, but at that moment a bag was quicker to handle. Besides, I wanted to put the muesli bars in the back pocket, which was already stuffed with cat treats. I was hurrying for the train; I had arrived at 10:44, but at 11:14 the Ex 150 Petr Bezruc was already heading back. And I had lost a lot of time by searching every nook and cranny. I pay and dash.
In the end I still wait 5 minutes. At the station a very slim man with white skin 🙂 asks me whether the express to Karvina and Cesky Tesin is leaving now. “Yeah”, and right away he asks if I’d give him a wafer, because he’s insanely hungry. I wasn’t stingy with a few flakes, I let him pick from the 5 flavours I had, and in the end he talked me into 2. I sit in the open-plan carriage again, again the first 4 seats are free (maybe because they’re reserved for disabled passengers), I sit exactly the same way as in the morning, and he sits opposite me. The conductor comes, and he tells her he doesn’t have a ticket. All that was missing now was Maxim Turbulenc :D. The conductor first sends him out to the corridor, but then immediately changes her mind and says he’ll go with her to the front of the train. “I want to stay here.”, and the conductor lets it go and says she’ll call the Police. In Tesin several guys get off who immediately greet him with “heyyy buddy”. My brother came to pick up the cat stuff, and the CityElefant was already revving its engines for me. Even so, 2 RegioJets managed to arrive on each side of the CityElefant. On top of that, Elektrifikace Zeleznic, Praha was driving around there; luckily there was no power cut on the line. There would be plenty of photos, but that Xperia saves them wrong somehow – on the phone the whole photo shows, but on a PC or the web a varying part at the bottom is black :/.
Horni Sucha, I greet you, will you take me in? After all, I know you’re not deaf… The GPS played innocent and made no move to determine my geographic location. So I walked intuitively along the main road and smoothly joined the calculated route. The first cache had 5 FP, namely GC1XG9J – Dul Frantisek. As someone wrote in the log, it’s more of a FrantiKes :). I walked under a bridge structure reinforced almost like the Golden Gate Bridge. The colour had already turned bronze; the bridge in San Francisco has a similar colour, only here it isn’t paint. Oh well. From afar the sign “DUL PREZIDENTA GOTTWALDA” (President Gottwald Mine) stood out. He probably had no idea yet what it would inspire those poor lads to do. “Give me vodka and I’ll sign anything.” Not for nothing was there suddenly a Gottwaldov, which in the past was Zlin. It makes me feel ill, it gives me the spleen. When I think about that last word, I definitely prefer the second part. Walda Matuska was more divine than Bozsky Kaja (Divine Kaja). I turn off past a street lamp and walk past a bunch of garages (I don’t know where there was a housing estate nearby – they probably served the mine’s employees). The rest could be described in just 2 words – cable here :D.
When I get there, right next to it there’s an open garage with 2 cars and a fairly powerful motorbike in front. The cars kept coming and going, and since the GPS was heavily drunk, it showed me it was about 10 m further than it actually was. I thought it would be the first thing that caught my eye, but with the open garage opposite I didn’t want to cause a stir. I keep walking until I’ve passed it, passing 3 street lamps on the way, and there were no more after that. The fact was, though, that each had a different number of conduit pipes going into the ground – 1, 2 or 3. And since RWE may be the electricity supplier, I thought this was where “the dog was buried”, but I was a little afraid I’d end up “kicked like a dog” myself.
In the end I didn’t even touch it. I only tried all the boundary markers, which were there every few meters. But the time I meant to give this cache had its boundaries too.
I had been there a long time, and in the last flickers of hope I looked at the pictures people had uploaded to the cache. Well, only at what the container should look like. I found 1 photo (+2 that caught my attention for other reasons):
In the end it wasn’t a normal “small” container; it surely used to be, but now it was a classic “micro” tube (the cache was renovated not long ago), so I signed the log and ran off so that nobody would HONK at me :).
I crossed the 4-lane intersection straight across and made it to GC63P4D – #15 cerna (black). It was black all the way from Frantisek to that cache. The street lived up to its name. Luckily there weren’t many adults around, just lots of kids, dogs and fences. It wasn’t cool, not even half. I grabbed that cache with just the help of a piece of concrete and got lost in daydreams by the pylons.
Next came gold – Au. Plus a few more photos without commentary.
I didn’t know that at the next cache I would meet the truly most precious Gold. Without delay I head to GC5YXXD – #8 hneda. A girl is standing with her back to me, so mostly I just noticed a blonde braid. And of course a phone in her hand, which made it immediately clear we were both here for the same thing. As I approach, she turns around and I toss out “looking for it too?”. I couldn’t have been more wrong: she already had it and immediately asked whether I wanted the coordinates for the colours bonus cache, since she was heading there now. Such warmth quite melted me right from the start, and I asked whether I could go with her. To my delight she nodded, and I signed the logbook while Lenka signed herself into my heart. I only learned Lenka’s name a few minutes later on the way, by which time 2 more lady cachers had joined us. Because as soon as we set off, 2 nice ladies were almost treading on our heels.
So now there were 4 of us. We went to GC6714V – Fe and on the way talked about Czech geo teams’ trips abroad, about events, about interesting and unusual experiences at caches, and also about TuristaHorsky; I don’t know him, but he must be an interesting creature given his generally negative reputation.
Then on to GC6670Z – Horni Sucha Hrbitov 1, but this cache had long been dead. I felt it wasn’t right, so I suggested to Lenka that we carry on by ourselves, and I think it was better that way. After that I didn’t take many photos, I mostly just talked. Lenka kept the course and navigated, and once we were at the spot, I searched. We did have to go back for # 9 fialova, but that was my fault, I shouldn’t have rushed so much.
We also had a look at #3 cervena; when we got there I ruled it out, saying we wouldn’t manage it, and now I regret that we didn’t try. It was about 4 m up, but the two of us could have done it. #7 oranzova was right up our street, and I thought we were heading to the station. At the crossing we see our colleagues, who immediately ask Lenka why she’s limping. I hadn’t noticed a thing :(, only then did I ask Lenka to shake it out, and she said it doesn’t hurt anymore. Suddenly she grabbed a rock and rolled out a cache.
I just don’t know which one it was, probably the bonus Pasteeelky (not to be confused with Barvicky), for which Lenka had given me the coordinates. We checked the time: we had the last 10 minutes and 1.1 km ahead of us. I really thought we wouldn’t make it, but with Lenka, who had a stone in her shoe, I truly, incredibly enjoyed that run. We ran slowly, but without stopping, and so we covered those 1.1 km in 6.5 minutes.
I only caught my train with my eyes. Lenka, luckily, did make hers; we still had about 2 minutes at the station, so we said goodbye, and I did something I hadn’t planned at all, but at that moment my hand was disobedient. A little later Mrs Ivana and Sarka arrived again. They asked me whether I had found the mystery cache “Nadrazi Horni Sucha“.
The truth was that I don’t solve mysteries much, in fact not at all in recent months, and they gave me the coordinates. But I felt comfortable with them, so I asked if they could show me where it was. So they walked me part of the way and then went on to the power trail “Cestou do Suche” themselves.
Afterwards feelings were really swirling inside me, and I wrote Lenka quite a long email. A few minutes before her train left, I hopped across the tracks to say goodbye once more and thank her for today, and as the CityElefant was slowly braking, I jumped back, earning myself a HONK from the train from 5 m away, and went home.
The last time I had such a great caching day was exactly 5 months ago, with Sany in Hradec Kralove 🙂 👻 The page moved out and left no forwarding address.. So Lenka, you have many thanks from me too. All that’s left is to add the route we walked: 👻 The domain expired like prepaid credit at Oskar..