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.