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the Degree Confluence Project
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Belgium

1.2 km (0.7 miles) E of Wichelen, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Approx. altitude: 6 m (19 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 51°S 176°W

Quality: good

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

#2: GPS picture #3: The confluence and yours truly, by Michèle #4: Looking east #5: Looking south

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  51°N 4°E (visit #1)  

#1: Looking north

(visited by Michel Deschuyteneer and Michèle Depret)

08-Apr-2000 -- After our visit to 51N 03E, Michèle and I were eager to get rapidly to the next confluence. We stopped for a quick bite at a fast food joint (located at 50°59.15'N 03°50.80'E, for those interested). We were further delayed by a bike race, a popular sport in Belgium. Finally, we spotted the confluence somewhere in fields and walked easily to it by the farm road along the railroad track.

51N 04E is located in Wichelen in the East Flanders province countryside, some 500m south of the river Schelde. Like when we visited 51N 03E earlier that day, the last digit of the GPS reading kept changing and, again, Michèle stayed on the spot where it read (again too briefly) the integer to take its picture. (I wonder whether the exceptional solar flare and electromagnetic storm which was widely reported by the media that day had something to do with the problem.) The actual confluence is hence near where three pasture fences meet. I stand next to the apparent landmark, a well covered with a concrete slab, in a picture of the confluence taken towards the northeast.

Looking in every direction, the green pasture is in the foreground. To the north, we see the houses and factories lining road N416 and the Gent-Mechelen railroad line. Farms and houses are seen in the distance in the other directions, partly masked by the trees to the south.

Back home after an odyssey of more than 300km, we ended celebrating with a glass of sparkling wine.


 All pictures
#1: Looking north
#2: GPS picture
#3: The confluence and yours truly, by Michèle
#4: Looking east
#5: Looking south
#6: Looking west
ALL: All pictures on one page