Bike Ride 62 - Groot-Marico to Home

The last day of our 3 day outing, and it turned out to be quite a long day with all the stops we made on the way home.

We woke up after a good night's rest, and I got myself and Trish a cup of coffee and tea from the kitchen. Had it with some rusks we had over from the previous morning.

I went to the store room and got out my bike, and parked it with all the others on the lawn. then we sat down to a scrumptious breakfast, which contained some venison livers. It was delicious. Then we went back to the room packed all our stuff and then made our way home. Slowly. We stopped for photos at  8 Places (7 for the BMW Challange) and 3 geocaches.

We first went back into Groot-Marico for the Town Photo (Photo 1), and then got some petrol. Then made our way to Swartruggens (Photo 2) for a town photo and geocache. I must say the toll road costing R75.00 is ludicrously expensive, and must be the worst toll road I have ever ridden on. It is bumpy as hell.

We stopped at the Selons river bridge for a quick smoke break and geocache, and the onward to Boshoek for another town photo. We also stopped at a "Welcome to" sign by Pokeng (Photo 3).  I found it funny when I thought of "Welcome to Pokeng (nothing)". There was a huge stadium to our right as we approached Boshoek from the south. I thought it might be a 2010 World-cup stadium, but I was later to learn that it was not as we saw the real 2010 stadium later on in Rustenburg.

Photo 1

Photo 3

Photo 2

We took our Boshoek town photo by the post office (Photo 4), and then also stopped at a small antique store just up the road to buy some small souvenir of our trip. Trish got a "Love is patience" tile, and I saw a small knife which I wanted to add to my small collection.

Then it was through Rustenburg on the  R104, and we stopped at Kroondal for our next photo (Photo 5). We also looked for a place to have a drink, but we saw non to inviting. Then by mistake we got onto the N4 and off again at Buffelspoort where we had something to eat and drink at the garage. There were lots of other GS riders stopping at the garage, and riding past. There must have been some weekend thing on the go nearby for them. We took a photo here as well, but it was not part of the BMW Challenge (Photo 6).

Photo 4

Photo 6

Photo 5

Then onward over the N4 to Marikana, where we took a town photo in front of a hardware store. Then carefully road further in to get to Wonderklip, but since there was a sand road going to Wonderklip and Wonderklip is a tar town challenge decided to turn around, as the dirt road looked a bit dodgy. But looking at the GPSr I saw it was only 3 or 4 km away and the route around would take us a lot longer. Also if we did not do the town now then we would not be back this way in a long long time. So we turned around again and rode there along the train tracks and past a big mine. We were also stopped at a train crossing before leaving Marikana by a passing train.

Must say we did not feel to safe riding through Wonderklip. There was some uneasiness for both Trish and I so we decided to rather turn around and take a photo at the hospital sign as we entered Wonderklip. After the photo we got back on the bike and looked forward to the tar road ahead. It took us at lease 4 km before we hit the first patch of tar. I dont think a RT will make it there in one piece. The dirt road is quite bumpy.

Photo 7

Photo 8

Once we hit the N4 is was plain sailing all the way to Tant Malies where we stopped for a smoke break, and decided to get some Dutch goodies from the Windmill on the other side.

Its lekker to e on a bike. There was a long queue of cars to get through the tunnel, and us with 2 other bikes just split laned past them all, and without the need to stop got through the tunnel no problem.

We drank a quick milkshake at the Windmill, and then bought our goodies inside, and then did the last leg of our journey home. We arrived home just after 5PM. A long day ... but a good day.

We did a total of  980 km in the 3 days, and a total of 13H30 hours moving time.

 

Solving a (formula based) Sudoku puzzle using LINQ

Last weekend (the 19th January 2012) we went to a geocaching event in Heidelburg here in South Africa. While at the event a new cache was published, and it consisted of a Sudoku puzzle with a twist. No numbers were given.

The puzzle looks like this:

We were about 5 people who solved the puzzle in about 30 minutes, and once back at work I showed a work collogue (lets call him Bob) the puzzle and we started chatting if it would be possible to write a LINQ query to solve this puzzle.

Bob showed me the MSDN Blog artice Using LINQ to solve puzzles and we used this as a basis to solve this Sudoku puzzle.

But first I wanted to understand how this LINQ query worked by simplifying the problem.

So I did the following:
I drew a small 3 by 3 grid and entered some numbers.

I entered "random" numbers from 1 to 9 into each cell. At this stage I am simulating one section of the Sudoku puzzle, so that when I write the LINQ query I can understand it better. It is much simpler to work with a 3x 3 grid and understand what is going on then working with a 9x9 grid.



Once I had the numbers then I made up some of my own formulas as follows:


As it happened I did enter 3 circular references. This helped me understand how the "from" and "joins" work later on. (See further below).









I started with the brute force method as per the MSDN blog, and the code looked like this:

         var solveForNumbers =
          from a1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from c1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from c2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from c3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          where (a1 == b3 - 4)
              && (a2 == a3 - b2)
              && (a3 == b2 * c3)
              && (b1 == a3 + a1)
              && (b2 == c2 - a3)
              && (b3 == a1 + a2)
              && (c1 == a3 + c3)
              && (c2 == a2 * b2)
              && (c3 == b3 - b2)
          select new
          { a1, a2, a3, b1, b2, b3, c1, c2, c3};
Solving the puzzle this way took around 110 seconds on my laptop. For the big puzzle to be solved would take exponentially longer.

I then started as per the MSDN blog post to move the "where" clause into a "joins". I wanted to see the speed improvements along the way.

I moved the 1st entry "c3" into a join as follows:
         var solveForNumbers1 =
          from a1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from b3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from c1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from c2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          join c3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b3 - b2 equals c3
          where (a1 == b3 - 4)
              && (a2 == a3 - b2)
              && (a3 == b2 * c3)
              && (b1 == a3 + a1)
              && (b2 == c2 - a3)
              && (b3 == a1 + a2)
              && (c1 == a3 + c3)
              && (c2 == a2 * b2)
          select new
          { a1, a2, a3, b1, b2, b3, c1, c2, c3};
 I reran the test and now it took only 12 seconds.

With some help from Rankadu I moved them all across and ended up with this code:
        var solveForNumbers1 =
          from b2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          from a1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
          join a2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a3 - b2 equals a2
          join b3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a1 + a2 equals b3
          join c3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b3 - b2 equals c3
          join c2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a2 * b2 equals c2
          join b1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a3 + a1 equals b1
          join c1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a3 + c3 equals c1
          where (b2 == c2 - a3)
              && (a3 == b2 * c3)
              && (a1 == b3 - 4)
          select new
          { a1, a2, a3, b1, b2, b3, c1, c2, c3};

Some explanation is required here:

The reason b3, a3, and a1 are left in the "from" portion is that there is a circular reference to that value.

b2 == c2 - a3
and c2 == a2 * b2
and a2 == a3 - b2
(b2 depends on c2, and c2 depends on b2)
(b2 depends on c2, and c2 has a2, and a2 depends on b2)
 
So there is no reliable way for the "join" to know what the value is therefore it must be left in the from section of the code.

The ordering of the joins.
When a join is added the values of the formula must already be known at the time (previously defined).
Since c3 == b3 - b2, the value b3 and b2 must be defined before the c3 join.

This proved to be a 4 hour re-factoring job once I got to the 9x9 grid.







Once I had this in place and the tests running, I now knew how to solve the 9x9 grid.

While I was testing the proof of concept on the 3x3 grid Bob got going with the 9x9 grid brute force (or "where clause" method).

This is the result:
        var solveForNumbers =
            from a1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from b9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from c9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from d9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from f9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from g9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            where (a1 == e5 * e8)
                && (a2 == h1 - 2)
                && (a3 == c5 * e8)
                && (a4 == h9 - 1)
                && (a5 == d7 - e2)
                && (a6 == f1 + g7)
                && (a7 == e3 - h2)
                && (a8 == h6 + a9)
                && (a9 == g3 / g6)
                && (b1 == d1 - a9)
                && (b2 == g2 - h1)
                && (b3 == e5 - 4)
                && (b4 == c7 + 1)
                && (b5 == d7 - 7)
                && (b6 == i5 + d6)
                && (b7 == f8 + 1)
                && (b8 == a1 / i5)
                && (b9 == g3 + 3)
                && (c1 == i2 * a7)
                && (c2 == b4 * a7)
                && (c3 == c6 + 6)
                && (c4 == a2 * f5)
                && (c5 == c6 + 7)
                && (c6 == f8 - i3)
                && (c7 == d6 - 1)
                && (c8 == h8 + 1)
                && (c9 == g4 / c1)
                && (d1 == a7 * 3)
                && (d2 == i3 + a7)
                && (d3 == c2 - e2)
                && (d4 == f4 * i2)
                && (d5 == c4 + 2)
                && (d6 == h9 * e8)
                && (d7 == c4 * a2)
                && (d8 == d1 - a7)
                && (d9 == c1 * d4)
                && (e1 == i1 - e3)
                && (e2 == e3 + 3)
                && (e3 == d1 - g9)
                && (e4 == f1 + d1)
                && (e5 == d1 * 3)
                && (e6 == a5 + 4)
                && (e7 == g6 * h7)
                && (e8 == d9 - 7)
                && (e9 == i3 / e3)
                && (f1 == a3 / i2)
                && (f2 == b7 * e8)
                && (f3 == b6 * d3)
                && (f4 == h2 + 1)
                && (f5 == d1 - 2)
                && (f6 == g5 / b5)
                && (f7 == e3 * h3)
                && (f8 == h2 + h9)
                && (f9 == i1 - 3)
                && (g1 == c5 - f5)
                && (g2 == a6 + 2)
                && (g3 == e6 / a9)
                && (g4 == e8 + 7)
                && (g5 == d6 * a7)
                && (g6 == b1 + 1)
                && (g7 == h1 - 2)
                && (g8 == h5 - f4)
                && (g9 == a8 - a4)
                && (h1 == d2 - i2)
                && (h2 == h4 / i9)
                && (h3 == c7 - 2)
                && (h4 == f9 + 4)
                && (h5 == h2 + 6)
                && (h6 == d8 * 2)
                && (h7 == h1 - e9)
                && (h8 == f5 + 7)
                && (h9 == a1 - b8)
                && (i1 == f3 - b1)
                && (i2 == c9 / h7)
                && (i3 == i1 - c1)
                && (i4 == a6 - 6)
                && (i5 == d5 - d8)
                && (i6 == f6 + 2)
                && (i7 == c7 + 2)
                && (i8 == e3 + i2)
                && (i9 == f6 * g7)
            select new
            {
                a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7,a8,a9,
                b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,b8,b9,
                c1,c2,c3,c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,c9,
                d1,d2,d3,d4,d5,d6,d7,d8,d9,
                e1,e2,e3,e4,e5,e6,e7,e8,e9,
                f1,f2,f3,f4,f5,f6,f7,f8,f9,
                g1,g2,g3,g4,g5,g6,g7,g8,g9,
                h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,h7,h8,h9,
                i1,i2,i3,i4,i5,i6,i7,i8,i9
            };
This brute force method will take a hell of a long time to get the answer.

I ran it for an hour and the results at that point was only:
a1 to h9 all 1s and
i1=1, i3=1, i2=1, i4=1, i5=5, i6=1, i7=5, i8=5, i9=7
That is just over 33 000 iterations.

I took this code home and then over 4 hours of re-factoring the "where clauses" into "joins", and then re-ordering the joins I got to this code:
        var solveForNumbers =
            from i2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from i5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from h2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from e3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            from a9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9)
            join a7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e3 - h2 equals a7
            join d1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a7 * 3 equals d1
            join b1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d1 - a9 equals b1
            join g6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b1 + 1 equals g6
            join d8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d1 - a7 equals d8
            join h6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d8 * 2 equals h6
            join a8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h6 + a9 equals a8
            join e5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d1 * 3 equals e5
            join b3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e5 - 4 equals b3
            join f5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d1 - 2 equals f5
            join h8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f5 + 7 equals h8
            join c8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h8 + 1 equals c8
            join c1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i2 * a7 equals c1
            join e2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e3 + 3 equals e2
            join i8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e3 + i2 equals i8
            join h5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h2 + 6 equals h5
            join f4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h2 + 1 equals f4
            join d4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f4 * i2 equals d4
            join d9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c1 * d4 equals d9
            join e8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d9 - 7 equals e8
            join a1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e5 * e8 equals a1
            join b8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a1 / i5 equals b8
            join h9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a1 - b8 equals h9
            join a4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h9 - 1 equals a4
            join g9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a8 - a4 equals g9
            join f8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h2 + h9 equals f8
            join b7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f8 + 1 equals b7
            join d6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h9 * e8 equals d6
            join b6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i5 + d6 equals b6
            join c7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d6 - 1 equals c7
            join b4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c7 + 1 equals b4
            join c2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b4 * a7 equals c2
            join d3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c2 - e2 equals d3
            join f3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b6 * d3 equals f3
            join i1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f3 - b1 equals i1
            join e1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i1 - e3 equals e1
            join f9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i1 - 3 equals f9
            join h4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f9 + 4 equals h4
            join i3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i1 - c1 equals i3
            join c6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f8 - i3 equals c6
            join c3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c6 + 6 equals c3
            join c5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c6 + 7 equals c5
            join g1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c5 - f5 equals g1
            join a3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c5 * e8 equals a3
            join f1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a3 / i2 equals f1
            join e4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f1 + d1 equals e4
            join d2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i3 + a7 equals d2
            join h1 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d2 - i2 equals h1
            join g7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h1 - 2 equals g7
            join a6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f1 + g7 equals a6
            join a2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h1 - 2 equals a2
            join c4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a2 * f5 equals c4
            join d5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c4 + 2 equals d5
            join d7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c4 * a2 equals d7
            join a5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d7 - e2 equals a5
            join i4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a6 - 6 equals i4
            join g2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a6 + 2 equals g2
            join b2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on g2 - h1 equals b2
            join e6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on a5 + 4 equals e6
            join g3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e6 / a9 equals g3
            join b9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on g3 + 3 equals b9
            join b5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d7 - 7 equals b5
            join e9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on i3 / e3 equals e9
            join h7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h1 - e9 equals h7
            join e7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on g6 * h7 equals e7
            join i7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c7 + 2 equals i7
            join g5 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on d6 * a7 equals g5
            join f6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on g5 / b5 equals f6
            join i9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f6 * g7 equals i9
            join i6 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on f6 + 2 equals i6
            join h3 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on c7 - 2 equals h3
            join f7 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e3 * h3 equals f7
            join f2 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on b7 * e8 equals f2
            join g4 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on e8 + 7 equals g4
            join c9 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on g4 / c1 equals c9
            join g8 in Enumerable.Range(1, 9) on h5 - f4 equals g8
            where
                (e3 == d1 - g9) &&
                (a9 == g3 / g6) &&
                (h2 == h4 / i9) &&
                (i2 == c9 / h7) &&
                (i5 == d5 - d8)
            select new
                {
                    a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8, a9,
                    b1, b2, b3, b4, b5, b6, b7, b8, b9,
                    c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6, c7, c8, c9,
                    d1, d2, d3, d4, d5, d6, d7, d8, d9,
                    e1, e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7, e8, e9,
                    f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6, f7, f8, f9,
                    g1, g2, g3, g4, g5, g6, g7, g8, g9,
                    h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, h7, h8, h9,
                    i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8, i9
                };
I ran the code and then the answer was calculated in a mere 8 seconds.

Conclusion:
1) LINQ can be used to solve different types of puzzles.
2) Using joins greatly reduces the time spent to find the answer.
3) Formulas in the sheet which refer back to themselves cannot be added to a join, and can only be used in the "from" section. This means the LINQ query must *guess* these values. The less guesses there are the faster the answer will be calculated.

Todo:
1) The LINQ query above only solves this one single Sudoku puzzle. It would be interesting to come up with a generic solutions that would work for any Sudoku puzzle of this type.
2) It would be interesting to see if I can get to a general Sudoku LINQ solver for a normal Sudoku puzzle.
3) Better understand *how* the joins speed up the calculation.

On the Bike to Heidelberg and back via Nigel

The 16th December is one of many public holidays in South Africa.

Trish had wanted for a long time now, go and do a some historical geocaches. The most historically themed geocaches seemed to be in Heidelberg, about a 40 minute ride / drive from Edenvale.

The idea was to make a bike trip out of it, doing mostly historical caches. Doing more research I found 2 in Alberton, and so the plan hatched to ride from Edenvale to Alberton, anti clock wise around Suiker bos rand, into Heidelberg. Then back home via Nigel and Springs.

If all went well this would bag me about 8 to 10 caches, but it was more about the outing then the geocaching.

We found one in Alberton, and DNFed (Did Not Find) the second. I entered the co-ords of a one stop, where Trish could have a smoke break, but as it happened it was not the one on the Alberton to Vereniging highway, but the one from Alberton to Heidelberg highway.

I had a feeling we we were going in the wrong direction, but since I did not know the area, I thought the GPSr might know  a shorter or better road. Once we got close to the highway it was I realised what had happened, and decided to just go with the flow, and go past the eastern side of Suikerbos Rand to Heidelberg.

The ride on the N3 towards Heidelberg was quite uneventful, except that my head was bobbing around like one of those little men in the back of old cars. We did a geocaching about the woman and children dying in the concentration kamps in the Boer war, and then entered Heidelberg.

I have been past the town many a time in my life, but I think this is the first time I have actualy entered it. It seemed small,and quaint, but there were signs of the big city as well. Nando's, Wimpy, and FNB. 

After attempting a geocache or two, we looked for a place to eat. We wanted something small town. We tried the "Plaashuisstoep Coffee Shop". But it was closed. Trish had seen some sign boards, and we went looking for them again, and that is how we found "Her Majesteas Salon" (link)

Its a small quaint little place, with lots of interesting hooks and crannies. We sat down, and of the over 100 teas they had I ordered my plain old Rooibos tea. Trish had coffee. My tea arrived in a glass teapot, and not in one of these modern tea bags. Oh no, it was once of those tea leaf holders my parent used to use. After the drinks arrived we ordered toasted sandwiches. The sandwiches were tripple layered, and well worth the R45.00 odd each. It filled the spot.

After lunch we explored the house a little the walls were almost half a meter thick, and when I asked the lady when it was built, the answer was shortly after the stone church around 1860, and this it was the second oldest building in Heidelberg.

We bought my mom a arm band, which was in the "R10.00 or less basket, but by the time we got to the till it was R75.00. "Oh well, mom will like it so lets just get it".

We did a few more geocaches in Heidelberg, most notably one at the grave yard, where the last person who was shot in the Boer war is buried. Then it was off towards Nigel, and then home via Springs.

As we passed East Rand mall, I thought it might be a good idea to stop off at the Pet shop. I want to Trish an African Grey for Christmas. We looked, but they didn't have any babies. They did have a breading pair for R2900.00, but Trish wasn't interested.

Although our bums were sore from sitting, we decided to go past another pet shop in Kempton Park, and see if they had any. Also none available there.

All in all we did about 175 km on our trip. We were both tired, and went for a nap once we got home.

Easter Weekend's Diablo game, and some geocaching

Well, we did play Diablo II over the weekend, but it was a lot slower going then I had expected. The plan for to quickly finish off the current Nightmare game and then by the end of the weekend finish the complete game again at Hell difficulty. One of the problems we had was that Glenda's character could not be found in any of the backups I had made. So Glenda took one of Trish's level 78 sorceress. Our Characters were only about level 62 when we started. The playing characters were thus 2 sorceresses, 1 Amazon (bows) and 1 Necromancer. It was a bit of a problem for us playing as we did not have someone with swards up front. We stated latish on Thursday afternoon about 6PM and played until just after 10 PM. Nightmare level was still not finished.

Saturday morning stated early at about 8AM and by night time we had finished Nightmare. We decided to try the cow level, but we were killed very quickly. We restored our characters as they were just before the cow level and started Hell. By around 10PM we had just killed "Blood Raven" in the graveyard, and decided to leave the evening there. We left the game running on Trish's machine so we could carry on the next day. Saturday we continued from around 8AM, again till about 10 PM.

Sunday morning we did not play as it was Easter-Egg-Hunt for the kids at Ouma's house. We met up with my sister and Tante Tanneke. Tante Tanneke made lovely mushrooms from eggs and tomatoes. The kids enjoyed the easter egg hunt as well. Just after 1 PM I got an SMS from the video store that we had to return the borrowed videos. Wow did not realize that it was that late already. So we left in a hurry and took back the videos. We got another one for the kids to watch that day as well, while we played Diablo.

We continued our game again at about 3 PM and the plan was to play to about 10 PM. I did not want to make it to late, as I was hopingto go geocaching around Cullinan the next morning.

10 PM arrived and we were very close to completing Act 1 on nightmare. So we all decided to just finish of Andariel and then stop. Just before 10H30 she was dead and Act 1 completed.

At this point Glenda's sorceress had not yet leveled as she was much higher then ours, but by now she had less then 10% experience to go to level. So we decided that we would play a little more until she at least leveled.

We started Act 2 in the sewers and had some amazingly good battles down there. Matt's Bones were of good use keeping back the enemy, and my Valkry also helped lots.

With just a little to go on Glenda's experience we ventured out into the dessert and down one of the tunnels and that is where the wheels came off. We all died going to level 2 in one of the tunnels. It took us to 2PM in the morning to get back our bodies and getting Glenda to level.

At this point we decided not to go geocaching in Cullinan as we had to be back by 2PM for when Neville arrived, and the house looked like a bomb had hit it. There was also a little bit more of cleaning to do in the bottom room.

Monday morning we got up at around 9AM and started cleaning the house, and taking the PCs back to their normal places. Cleaned the bottom room, as well as the rest of the house.

Neville arrived at about 3PM and luckily he wanted to go do some geocaching. We did quite a few I had already done, but there was one "Spot a Boeing" that I had not yet done. We did a few more in the west end of Edenvale as well.

Tuesday afternoon, after work, we did a few more caches in the Kempton Park area, where there was another one I had also not done.

All in all a good weekend.

Side Note: Hell level in Diablo II is a lot more difficult the the other levels. One thing that makes it more difficult is that a lot of the monsters are immune to one or other thing. But this adds a interesting twist to the game, as one can no longer just shoot bows or whatever at them, one needs to change quite often from fire to cold to poison quite often to kill them. Although it is much more difficult I like this level a lot more then the others.

Fixing the granny flat, Easter, Diablo, and geocaching

Today I stayed home from work, so we could get a tiler in to tile the kitchen and bathroom portion of the granny flat. I left home at 7AM to go find a tiler, and drove around quite a bit between CTM and Tile Africa to find one. Eventually I found someone at Tile Africa. He wanted R500.00 for the 12 m^2 but I said R400.00 which he accepted. He subcontracted the mixing of the cement out to another guy.

Very quickly he was 2 rows further down then we were on Saturday, and he also did a very good job around the washing basin, and toilet. In the morning he said he should be finished by 3 PM but in the end I took him to the taxi rank at about 6 PM. Somewhat later then he estimated, But none ever the less a job well done.

Once the kitchen is done I will use Alex again to tile the walls of the kitchen.

Next weekend is Easter, and every second year (or so) we play a game called Diablo II from start to finish. There are 5 of us playing. Trish and myself, with Jerome, and Matt and Glen. Sometimes we have vistors join us for a day or so (Rog and Nik), but they are not as hardcore as we are. We start setting up Thursday night, play 10+ hours on Friday, 10+ hours on Saturday, Sunday afternoon about 5 hours, and then 10+ hours on Monday.
The first year (2005) we completed the complete game including the cow level in the 4 days.
Last year (2007) we completed the 1st 4 chapters and only got halfway up the mountain before the end was the weekend drew our adventures to a close. Each year we play the one level up from the previous one. So this year we should be starting on Nightmare level.
Will add feedback by next weekend on how Diablo went for us.

The weekend after Easter we will start cleaning up all the building rubble. And there is quite a bit of that lying outside the new front door to the granny flat. With a bit of luck it will be rented out by the end of May, or early in June.

P.S. We reached out 140 geocache this weekend, by attending an event in western Johannesburg, and the hightlight was meeting Erik the geocache reviewer for South Africa, all the way out from the USA, who is/was here on holiday.