03-Jan-2017 -- This is the third out of five reports on reaching confluence points during our trip through Colombia. Two of them had not been visited successfully before. The story starts at 5°N 74°W and continues from 6°N 73°W.
Actually we had planned to visit this confluence the previous day, while driving those 102 km from Barichara to Piedecuesta. But while Google suggested 2:33 hours, it took us more than 9 hours due to a truck accident that blocked the road. So when we passed by this confluence at Piedecuesta, it was already dark. We soon sensed that Piedecuesta is not a pleasant city for tourists during the night, we continued to Girón and stayed there in a wonderful Posada.
The next morning I left the Posada at 6 AM and reached the confluence point an hour later by our rental car. There is hardly any traffic at this time so I reached Piedecuesta (20 km) in “no time” on a highway. From Piedecuesta, an unpaved winding road ascends 800 m from 1000 m to 1800 m. The road condition was good enough for a simple Renault Logan.
In order to have at least a bit of physical exercise, I parked my vehicle 1 km before reaching the confluence point and started running from there. But when I reached the nearest point from the road, I found out that the confluence point was not exactly on the road – 33 m were missing!
Due to the steep terrain and due to the dense undergrowth it took me a couple of minutes to reach the point where all positions after the decimal points were zeros on my GPS receiver display.
At the confluence, I encountered several to me unknown plants, but also some banana trees and lianas. In order to take a meaningful overview picture I climbed back to the road and found a spot at 80 m from the zero point with a view into the valley. On the other side of the valley, there are houses within 100 m from the confluence point.
I tried to take the same route back but falsely ended up in Bucaramanga instead of Girón. Nevertheless I made it back in time to have breakfast at our Posada at 9:00 AM
More pictures can be found at mautz.net.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a road: 33 m
- Distance to a foot path: 33 m
- Distance of car parking: 1 km
- Time at the confluence: 7:18 AM
- Measured height: 1790 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 2 m
- Position accuracy: 8 m
- Topography: slope, mountainous
- Vegetation: various trees, lianas, banana trees
- Weather: partly cloudy, 18° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Traffic Jam Confluence
The story continues at 7°N 74°W.