15-Oct-2022 -- This is the last out of seven reports reaching or attempting confluence points during a one-week bicycle trip in Southern Italy. The story starts from 42°N 15°E and continues from 39°N 17°E.
Only a single visit had been documented so far – 21 years ago! The reason for this is most likely its location far in the south of Italy and secondly its difficulty to be reached as it is located in a remote, mountainous terrain with dense throny vegetation and scarp slopes.
From the beach at Marinella, the straight-line distance is only 9 km. Starting from Locri (40 km distance) in the morning, I reached Marinella around 9 AM. Then I stared climbing up the serpentines of the mountain road towards the mountain village Staiti. The road is now asphalted up to the village at a height between 400m and 600m. The village made a deserted impression to me. It is still populated by mostly elderly people, but only a few houses seem to be inhabited. By the way: the tracks through the village make up a real labyrinth. I ended up carrying my bicycle up the stairs at some point.
Above the village, a gravel track continues ascending. Thereby, wild pigs blocked my way ahead. At a distance of 700 m east of the confluence I made a first attempt on foot. But I soon abandoned it as the scarp slopes became too steep for further advance.
My second attempt started 700 m north of the confluence. I first ascended upwards until I reached another track that follows the ridge. But at a distance of 400 m I had to leave the track again and start cross-country hiking. First, I descended over some meadows with grazing cattle. But soon progress became more and more difficult due to the dense vegetation and the steep incline. My unforgiveable mistake was that I was wearing shorts. As an experienced confluencer I should know better. The problem was the thorny bush, that made further approach almost impossible. However, like in a labyrinth, I walked back and forth while still approaching slowly. After some peaking and poking around, I found a solution to avoid the thorny bushes. However, at a distance of 69 m, I gave up and documented the confluence. With long pants, a zero reading would have been possible.
The way back was very difficult for me, as I had to find the way out of the labyrinth of thorny bushes. As I wrote these lines, you may guess that I made it back to my bicycle – although in principle it would have been possible to submit the report directly on the spot via smartphone.
After the visit, I coasted down all the way back to the coast and surrounded the southern cape. I spend the night in Reggio Calabria and took a train back to Zurich the following day.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 3000 m
- Distance to a track: 400 m
- Distance of bicycle parking: 700 m
- Time to reach the CP from the track: 45 min
- Time at the CP: 1:28 PM
- Measured height: 847 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 69 m
- Position accuracy: 6 m
- Topography: mountainous
- Vegetation: various species of trees and bushes.
- Weather: overcast, 24° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Wild Pig Confluence
The story finishes here. I have now visited all Italian confluence points!