Strange things by the side of the road
When you drive through the countryside you may occasionally spot what looks like a small pink or red roof on a stick by the side of the road. I had always spotted these but never checked out what they were there for. They are actually oil or gas pipeline markers which show where the pipeline crosses the road or path that you are on. I understand that the pink or coloured 'cap' is so that the markers can be identified from the air, as the routes of the pipelines are flown periodically to check for breaches of the pipelines.

By the side of these marker posts there are usually small signs which give details of the operators of the pipeline, the direction the oil is flowing, how far this section of the pipeline is and the width of the pipeline. This is to encourage reponsible contractors who might be digging up the road nearby to check with the pipeline operators to check exactly where the pipeline runs. Despite these obvious markers, sometimes the pipelines do get hit by dim-witted contractors (scroll down the page if you click on the link)

I used these marker posts to identify the route and I'll explain the logic of working out where they are later on.  ¶ 12:07 pm