12-Sep-2003 -- When futzing around with my GPS on a campsite during my holidays in France, I found out that the nearest confluence point was only seven kilometres away.

I knew that all French points had been visited already, but I was curious and wanted to see this point for myself. So I took the car and drove away. I followed the D34d in the direction of La Bresse and went left, where I followed a partly paved road in the woods. I passed some people who were busy walking to a little lake in this wood.

At the end of the road I arrived at the D61. I went right and parked the car on a parking spot between the summits of the mountains Kastelberg and Rainkopf at a height of about 1300 meters. At this point some cows of the typical Vosges-breed were grazing here. They have a lot of black spots on their white body.

Between these two mountains with bold summits, a small path can be found which goes to the valley. After a while following the path, I left it and tried to go more directly to the confluence point. At some places the route appeared to be steep and rocky. Halfway there I crossed a meadow, one of the few places where I could look at the village far below. The rest of the surrounding area is all wood.

Descending for almost an hour I finally came close to the confluence point. I surprised some walkers when I came out of the dense wood with the GPS in one hand and a camera in the other. I was glad that the point was near the path and not in the rocks. Because of the high trees, the slope, and the density of the wood, it was impossible to get all zeroes on the display. I tried to make the perfect picture for at least half an hour. I think that the spot is about 10 meters from the path. My pictures are taken from this path.

I decided to follow the path more when I went back to the car. It had a lot of hairpins. When I turned off my GPS and switched it on later, it was impossible to get enough satellites in sight for a long time. Nevertheless, I arrived at the car after more than an hour of brisk walk. Despite the 10 degrees Celsius and windy weather, I did sweat a lot. But the few views were beautiful and the whole operation could be considered as successful.