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the Degree Confluence Project
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Italy : Toscana

1.3 km (0.8 miles) W of L'Aquerino (Prato), Pistoia, Toscana, Italy
Approx. altitude: 1046 m (3431 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 44°S 169°W

Accuracy: 3 m (9 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: View to the South #3: View to the West #4: View to the North #5: View to the East #6: GPS Reading #7: Ground Zero #8: The Confluence Hunters #9: Prato #10: Nearby Spider Nets with Dew

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  44°N 11°E (visit #3)  

#1: The Confluence from 20 m Distance

(visited by Rainer Mautz and Der Schneemann)

19-Oct-2019 -- Friday after work, I took a train from Zurich to Milano and another one further to Forence arriving there at 9 PM. As usual, I had brought my bicycle with me in a special bicycle-bag, such that I could directly cycle out of the train station after reassembling my bike.

After spending the night in Florence, I got an early start with the first daylight. The confluence is 50 km from the city, where the first half towards Prato is flat, built-up and crowded. In contrast to the second half, where very pleasant cycling began: a tiny mountain road winding up to the chestnut forest at 1000 m altitude.

Unfortunately it was foggy and wet, such that I had no views (neither down to Florence nor at the confluence). I had to leave the network of asphalted roads for the last kilometre. These mountain tracks where steep and slippery. At a distance of 500 m I decided to abandon my bicycle and hiked further uphill.

I found the confluence at a forest edge on a meadow with ferns. The location of the confluence is on a slope of a mountain, almost on its top. In 150 m distance, there is a fenced area with a small house and horses – but due to the fog, it is not visible in the pictures.

After the visit, I kept going further north through the Apennine Mountains, spending one night in the tiny high-altitude village Pianelli. The next day I finished my bicycle trip in Fidenza and took a train back to Zurich. I didn’t visit any other confluence points, because I normally don’t revisit confluences. This was the nearest land-based confluence from home which I hadn’t visited yet: 424 km (beeline) or 607 km by road. Now the nearest confluence is 52°N 7°E in northern Germany with 520 km beeline distance.

CP Visit Details:

  • Distance to a road: 1000 m
  • Distance to a track: 300 m
  • Distance of bicycle parking: 500 m
  • Time to reach the CP from the main road: 25 minutes
  • Time at the CP: 11:04 AM
  • Measured height: 989 m
  • Minimal distance according to GPS: 1 m
  • Position accuracy: 3 m
  • Topography: mountainous
  • Vegetation: deciduous trees, grass, ferns.
  • Weather: foggy, 14° C (felt temperature)
  • Given Name: The Foggy Snowmann Confluence

The story finishes here.


 All pictures
#1: The Confluence from 20 m Distance
#2: View to the South
#3: View to the West
#4: View to the North
#5: View to the East
#6: GPS Reading
#7: Ground Zero
#8: The Confluence Hunters
#9: Prato
#10: Nearby Spider Nets with Dew
ALL: All pictures on one page