#4: [25-Sep-05]

#1: [19-Sep-02]

23-Sep-2004 -- This is the 19th out of 29 confluences on our tour from Germany to China, the story continues from 20N 74E.

On the thirty-second day of our tour we started from Lonavla near Pune in the late morning. After visiting the famous and impressive Kahla Cave we continued our trip on the Pune – Kolhapur Road. Approaching the Confluence it looked like the exact location would be in the high mountain range of the Western Ghats. Indeed, at a distance of 2 km from the point, we went over a mountain pass at an elevation of 902 m. But on the other side of the pass was just a short downhill and soon we were in flat farmland again. The degree of difficulty for this confluence could be rated 0, if 0 means the easiest access to the point. At a distance of 590 m from the main road, there is a turnoff leading directly to the confluence point.

The CP is located about 8 m from the little road (by keeping in mind that the accuracy of the GPS also was about 8 m). Local farmers were just harvesting the nearby cornfield. A little seven-year old girl was sitting on the confluence point and watching the pots filled with water and food. Jens, my old schoolmate accompanied us at this visit. We had picked him up from Mumbai airport with his bicycle. We travelled together for two days, and then we split up again, because he wanted to start his bike tour to Bangalore. In the evening we reached the town Karad about 70 km south of the confluence and spent the night there.

CP visit details:

• Time at the CP: 16:00 a.m.
• Duration: 40 min (until we were back on our route)
• Distance of car parking: 8 m
• GPS height: 828 m
• Description: In the Western Ghats on a flat spot. Mountains all around. Famland, mainly corn fields, many different trees around. Populated area, many people in the fields and cows also around, dense vegetation. A small overhead-powerline is crossing the confluence.
• Given Name: The Jens's First Confluence

Story continues at 17N 74E.