27-May-2006 -- A quick check on the website revealed that there was an unclaimed Confluence only 23 km from our current camp in the Western Desert and this was just too tempting to pass. Younis (a confluence point virgin) and I set off at 16:00 from the base camp and followed the road to Maṭrūḥ until we came to a pipeline crossing. Turning east, we drove alongside the buried pipe for approximately 14 km until another buried pipe intersected. Driving alongside the new pipe in a southerly direction, we got within 2.1 km of the point.

The flat rocky gravel looked harmless enough but is in fact deemed to be mine fields left over from the second World War, so driving off a designated or mine-cleared track is not a good idea. Driving up and down the pipeline, Younis saw some piles of rocks marking what turned out to be a 2D seismic line that had been mine cleared a long time ago. We drove along this corridor and were amazed when the point turned out to be within this mine-cleared track.

Getting out we took the photos as proof and began heading back. It was not until we were bumping down the rocky pipeline again when the thought entered our heads that someone had been there before a long time ago and could have recorded it before us, if they had known about the website.

Guess that is the bit of luck you need sometimes!