Bath, England

The town of Bath in England has a long history, at least back to the Romans. The area has a natural hot spring that they used to create a Roman-style bath house, but that is a topic for a future post. The rest of the town is interesting with plenty of bath-related locations and other interests.

An entrance to baths, but not the Roman Baths

Near the Baths is Bath Abbey, a Saxon abbey built in the 800s. It was the place where Edgar, the first king of England, was coronated by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in 973. At least, that's what the sign on the back of the cathedral says.

Bath Abbey (next to the Roman Baths!)

View from a nearby walkway

We discovered an interesting statue by the church. It's called the Rebecca Statue, depicting the Biblical woman who provided water for the servant of Abraham (and eventually married his son). The statue was sponsored by the local temperance society in the 1860s, so naturally the inscription is "Water is Best!"

Rebecca Statue

The streets have plenty of Roman and Romanesque architecture.

An archway

Christian Science Reading Room

The River Avon runs through the town. Along the river is Parade Gardens, a small park with a bandstand. We did not go in the park but saw it from the road above.

Parade Gardens

Over the river is Pulteney Bridge, which looked to us like a covered bridge made of stone. 

Pulteney Bridge

When we got to the bridge, we discovered that it is a regular traffic bridge with shops built along it!

On Pulteney Bridge

Nearby is the Bath Market, which houses many small shops and kiosks selling various wares.

Bath Market

At the center of the market

Market Pillar

After visiting the Roman Baths, we got Roman ice cream at The Real Italian Ice Cream Company. They have gelato made from local ingredients, so the authenticity is suspect. The treats were delicious nonetheless!

A gelato from any other cream tastes as sweet

Another famous thing about Bath is that Jane Austen lived there. We made it to the outside of the Jane Austen Centre, where I got a picture with the lady.

That was really her, wasn't it?

Nearby is a gravel path like the one that Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth walked along in Persuasion.

Gravel path to the fancy homes

On our way out of town, we discovered a Krispy Kreme donut shop. Krispy Kreme is a chain in America that makes well-loved donuts. This shop had flavors we had not heard of or tried before. We bought some as a treat!

What's this doing here?

We could have spent a lot more time in Bath, seeing the Edwardian fancy homes and such. We were happy with our quick visit. Roman Baths in the next post!

Geocaching January 2023

The geocaching year started on January 2nd for me, finding CAM 2021-Wincopin Trail. "CAM" is Caches Across Maryland, a challenge to find ten special caches before a picnic in May. Obviously this one is two years old so I am not getting any credit toward a future social event. Which is fine with me.

View from the cache--though most of the woods looks like this

A nearby drop-off

I probably should have saved this next cache for next month, but I needed an easy cache on a rainy day. I found My St. Patrick Day Cache - DEAD END... which is indeed on a dead end road. The cacher placed it on March 15, 2020, so it's not exactly St. Patrick's Day. Close enough!

View from the dead end looking out

Let the Lights Shine on You... is hidden in a hotel parking lot. The title suggests that the cache is under a lamp post cover but the nearby lamp post did not have a cover! I still made the find.

Light shining on the hotel

Last month I tried to find If I Weren't a GRC on a rainy day. I was not able to make the find quickly and went on to another cache. I came back and looked around the guard rail (GRC=Guard Rail Cache) but not IN the guard rail. I had enough time and light to find the container. Yay!

Somewhere over there

Gateway to Odenton is a very small cache hidden right by a CVS Pharmacy and the circle that claims to be the town center. The find was quick and across the circle is a new donut shop called Shipley Do-Nuts. I went over to get a treat but they were sold out for the day...at 11 a.m.!

Almost like a gate!

On my second attempt to get donuts, I went to the donut shop first (at 9 a.m.) and had to wait half an hour in line to get treats. They were worth it. Then I found Can You See It?, a quick find in a nearby roller rink parking lot. The lot was not busy at 9:45 on a Thursday morning.

The shop

The donuts

Don't stare directly at the sun...have your camera do it!

The Cow Attribute Cache is one of those unusual containers that are delightful. It's hidden in an industrial park, so finding it on a Sunday was easy.

A good spot to hide a cow?

My May Hide: The Puppet... was another easy find on a rainy day, just what I want to fill in blank days in my calendar.

Over there, but further than you'd think

On a shopping trip, I snuck over and found RAKMD08:give someone a hug coupon, another in the Random Acts of Kindness Maryland series. I saw in write-ups from previous cachers that the cache had no log to sign. Rather than do that random act of kindness, I did a deliberate act of kindness. I bought a bit of paper and a plastic baggie to fix the situation. 

Starting a new log

Hidden around here somewhere

RAKMD10:leave a happy note for someone to find is also near the shopping center, which I visited a few days later to buy the weekend groceries. The walk was a little longer and meandered along the Middle Patuxent River.

View of the river from the cache

On a trip to the Silver Spring Home Depot, I found New Year 2022 - The White Dot Cache... in a nearby parking lot. Since it was Sunday morning, things were quiet in the offices.

Free chair with geocache find!

The kids had a day off from school so we went to Annapolis to see the state capitol. Nearby is a tiny park with a geocache called Fleet Street Park by cds. The park has plenty of benches and one interesting sculpture.

Garden sculpture!

RAKMD09:donate a book to a library or hospital is an easy find near Busy Grass Pond along the trails in Kings Contrivance. My main problem was all the dog walkers out on a Tuesday morning! 

Busy Grass Pond

Under the threat of rain, I found an easy cache while I was shopping for a birthday present. CCE - Singing Bison is hidden in a typical spot, practically a drive-thru cache.

An easy find

RAKMD07:tell silly jokes to make someone laugh is something I do quite often, to the weeping and lamentation of my children. The find was easy and kind of close to Busy Grass Pond, but not close enough to see the water.

Pretty much like any other woods anywhere else

In a different neighborhood is Dromedary Way, featuring a camel!

He's blue because he's not in the desert

The multicache Two Smileys for One is located in Zion Cemetery, located off Route 1 in between Jessup and Elkridge. I found some information from one of the headstones and used it to make the find nearby (just outside of the cemetery).

Zion Cemetery

After failing to find another RAKMD cache, I found the nearby Coffee Can Dash #4. I spotted deer in the woods along the way!

Sighted from a distance

This looks closer than I really was

View from the cache

I found RAKMD05:pick up litter (CITO) which is a bit further on from the last cache. The cache is on a beach on the Middle Patuxent River.

A view to a cache

On the last day of the month, it rained so I went for an easy cache at a train station parking lot: MARC the Spot - Odenton. "MARC" is Maryland Area Regional Commuter, so usually you see "MARC Train." I still like the pun.

The trains are at the other end of the parking lot

With the conclusion of the month, this is the first month where I've cached every day (counting previous years' cache finds). I would try to do the same for next month, but February 29 will have to wait a year.

Food on the St. Marys City Trip

On the way down to St. Marys City, we stopped at Sandy Pony Donuts, a small chain (three stores!) of custom-donut makers. We each got a donut, five different one. I had the Blueberry Pie (blueberry glaze with powdered sugar and graham crackers). One son got the Blue Moon (blueberry glaze and cinnamon sugar), the other ordered Salted Caramel (caramel glaze and pretzel bits). My wife ordered Sand Dune (cinnamon sugar) while my daughter had the Ms. Sandy (honey glaze and cinnamon sugar). They were delicious.

Smoothies too!

Five fine fried foods

Just before arriving at the historic park, we stopped at a MOD Pizza where my son got a pizza with strawberries on top! It was too horrifying to take a picture of.

That night, we went to Pax River Ale House. As usual, we ordered the pretzel appetizer, which was more like bread sticks but still delightful. I had a nice hefeweizen with the fish and chips.

Sign over the door

One stick was already eaten!

Fish and chips and beer and water

Afterward, we went to Bruster's Real Ice Cream. They make their own ice creams and have a walk-up window. We enjoyed a good variety of flavors from cake batter to butterscotch ripple.

The shop

A cool customer

Happiness

Not sure which face to make

My butterscotch ripple