| Blogs > bondjam33 > The pursuit of happiness |
|
Geocaching and sightseeing go together, Not quite the weather for the beach but a pleasant Autumn day in Barnstaple, N.Devon so we decided to do a geocaching trail round the town, taking in some of the amazing history of one of the oldest boroughs in the UK - founded in 930 AD. For those who don't know geocaching is basically treasure hunting with a GPS. People hide caches and give the GPS coordinates along with clues to get you to your destination. Today there was a bit of a twist as the first eight locations had to be found to give clues to solve which gave you the coordinates of the final cache. Through the town square and one clue is found on the clock tower. Into the old town and one old school endowed for the education of 20 poore girls (maids); by the Mayors wife in 1659 Next stop the Old Branham Pottery building - part of the heritage trail and a beautiful example of a building constructed in the local Marland bricks made from locally quarried clay and exported all over the world. Alms houses abound in the town. They were set up to house the poor. Old servants and those who left tied cottages when their service ended, were often granted tenancies in their old age. Mrs J's aunt lived in an alms house until she was well into her 90's. These almshouses are still kept up by charitable donations to the Rotary Club. The holes in the doors of the almshouses were made by musket bullets when the almshouses were used as a refuge by Royalist forces fleeing the Parliamentary forces in April 1646. The trail leads out of town along the river Crossing the river and headed back towards the town with dusk just beginning to fall. The cache is finally found (no pics of this as it is a secret) and back into the town just as the lights come on. You never really see how beautiful the buildings in your own town can be until you really look. Barnstaple really does have some lovely old architecture. A good afternoon spent finding clues,solving a puzzle and taking a 3-4 mile walk in the most pleasant of surroundings. Time to head off to a local hostelry for a meal and a pint or two of real ale.           |
||||
|
Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a day, great pictures too 
| |||
|
I've never heard of geocaching till this blog. Very interesting. Would be good to do an orienteering version of it also. Is it like our car rally's here with maps that find things and a prize at the end, but on foot? Do you drive as well during this exercise? Do you all meet at the end and have a dinner together? Sounds like a great social idea with a bunch of similarly inclined people. Judgment Day will be interesting - and all paths lead there.
|
×
×