I feel I’ve ground to a halt with Utterland. I know full well that I can do a heck of a lot more with the territory, but my inspiration has temporarily dried up.

I’ve been focusing on getting the road and rail networks sorted, but apart from places like Welle, Solsburg and Galmosen, not put a lot of detail into towns and cities (yet). I do realise that this is a long-term project (years), but would really appreciate some constructive input, hints and suggestions on how to go on from here. I’m not much into the Wiki thing; I want to focus on the mapping.

I have drawn and linked up several roads in northern Vinnmark, particularly around Hanviller, Vinn, Köln and Kongshavn. This means that it is now possible to get “directions” to those places. I have also cleaned up some of the motorways and primary road system around Berles and the aforementioned towns.

Love the new route generator, which shows the gaps in the international roads network in sometimes quite dramatic fashion. Have a look at the distance between the Utterland town of Luikenberg and the Isztiarnorszag town of Szarvasko. Approximately 150 km as the crow flies, but an eye-watering 2080 km by road. (http://opengeofiction.net/directions?engine=osrm_car&route=55.216%2C46.454%3B54.081%2C47.702#map=6/52.683/44.165).

Do I advocate linking our countries’ road networks? Depends how everybody feels about that.

I’m thinking about a descriptive Wiki page for the Firth of Hetzer, but there are quite a few territories adjoining it, so don’t want to go it alone. An appeal to the owners of Shilesia, Koban, Welstand-Westrijk, Isztianorszag, Vinnmark, Tircambry and Wesmandy, to add to what’s currently a red-link feature.

!http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/File:Zuid_Utterland_Smalspoorbanen.jpg

Although Utterland is still a little bare, I’ve progressed to putting in a narrow-gauge railway system in the hilly south. The map shows black lines as the ZUS network, red the (at times rudimentary) mainline network, and green the international connections.

I have yet to map the capital city, Uisteren, as well as most of the towns on the network. Just wanted to see how it works.

Apologies, I can’t seem to get the image to display. Help.

I find these diary entries very useful as they give me, a newcomer to this world, pointers on how to proceed. This week, I have deleted the network of motorways and primary roads, with a few exceptions, as they did not connect anything. I am fairly happy with the road system in the north of Utterland, which is where I started mapping.

I have been scratching my head over the southern section of Utterland, but when I looked at the work done by my neighbour @bhj867 in Vinnmark I had a go at mapping hills, rivers and lakes, some of them hydro-electric schemes. Most of my major towns seems to be at the water’s edge, looking at Solsburg, Welle and Galmosen - Uisteren will follow suit.

Thanks all for the pointers and inspiration.

Am contemplating establishing a shipping company to run a ferry or cruise service up and down what is now the Firth of Hetzer. It would start (or finish) at Solsburg, going via Ligota, Kirchenburg, and Koban down towards the shores of Vinnmark, Welsrijk, Tircambry, Wesmandy, Ionadalba and beyond. The first link, between the small harbour at Hetterstrecht and Koban, is already there. Anyone else interested? It would be something along the lines of the Norwegian Hurtigruten. All input and advice welcome of course.

Just wondering with all the water flowing into Lake Hetzer (western Uletha) nowadays, where is it all going? I gather there was a plan to create a gulf in eastern Vinnmark. Else, we’d have to reverse one of the rivers flowing into it. Throwing it into the group of territories fronting this beautiful lake.

The eastern part of the city of Solsburg in western Utterland is beginning to take shape. It has a fortress, Fort Merken, which is glowering west, across the water at Fort Solsburg. The two fastnesses used to belong to two different and hostile factions. The western faction tried to cross the river many a time, but always ran up against the ramparts of Fort Merken. These are now clad in parkland, but the riverside street, De Bierkaai, is an obscure reference to this animosity. Fighting “De Bierkaai” means engaging in a futile battle, which you’ll never win.

I’ve made a start on the city of Solsburg, the biggest conurbation I have mapped in the week since I acquired Utterland. Solsburg stands at the southern end of Lake Hetzer, and straddles the mouth of the river flowing into it. The west bank has Fort Solsburg standing proud, surrounded by the old city, still within its ancient city walls. Also contained is Solsburg Cathedral, midway between the Fort and West Burgh Museum. West Burgh used to be the palace for the rulers of Solsburgh. The modern railway passes to the south of the city walls, after crossing from the east. The old railway, now a preserved line, runs from the northern end of the city walls to Woudendijk. This line is not exactly scenic, as it now passes through an industrial estate and under the towering edifices of the West Solsburg power station.

As I start to build the eastern part of Solsburg, I hope to be able to flesh out on the area’s history - which I expect to be very interesting. Solsburg lies only 15 km south of Ligota in Szlunsk and 35 km south of Kirchenburg in Welstand-Westrijk, a border town and a garrison town. Watch this space.

The north of Utterland is beginning to take shape, with the first major town now on the map. Welle has an ornate former palace in the city centre, with a lovely park area with ponds behind it. The city fronts Schuttelermeer (lake), and is overlooked by the dark hills of Wellerwoud forest to the east. The border area to Koban (excuse absence of diacritical marks) is marked by wooded hills, whilst further east the forest boundary to Isztiarnoszag is an area for logging. The villages of Loosteren, Schering en Inschlag and Peringen are all centres for this.