2021-08-16 41 12

Mon 16 Aug 2021 in 41,12: 41.9784907, 12.4124395 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

On the outskirts of Rome, just beyond the GRA.

Participants

Just me, [Jeremy Cherfas] on my own.

Plans

Set the location in Google Maps, get in the car, drive there.

Expedition

I cannot remember when I latched onto geohashing, but it seems like I have been checking my local targets forever. I subscribe to RSS feeds of the geohash location for three graticules — the one I’m in and two adjacent — and most days I take a lazy look. Most days amount to nothing. Two of my graticules contain an awful lots of sea, and the third is the furthest away, so in all this time I have never actually set out to find one.

Today was different. A quick glance showed the Rome location just outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare, the ring road around the city. It being August, the streets are almost empty and I knew there would be no problem finding parking on my return, so off I went.

The whole thing was pathetically easy. The location was effectively on a road, Google Maps took me straight there, and there was as little excitement as is possible on an “adventure”. The location is in an area of new housing that is mostly dormitory space for people who work in Rome, pretty charmless and baking hot today. I stayed only long enough to snap a photo or two.

My reward, apart from an inner glow, was a delicious ice cream (salted caramel and crema) at an extremely good artisanal gelateria just around the corner.

Of course I should have done the whole thing on a bicycle (in 37°C heat) or walked over hill and dale, or lost my way and had to bivouac overnight, but there will be time for that in the future, and I will keep checking the RSS feeds most days.

Photos

• 

  The location

• 

  The ice cream