#5: [06-Aug-20]

#4: [04-Sep-17]

#2: [06-Oct-10]

#1: [24-Jul-02]

31-Jul-2016 -- I was intrigued by this point, because satellite imagery - plus the reports from the two previous visitors - showed that it had undergone significant changes in recent years. When Staal and Van der Hulst made the first visit in 2002, the point was in a grassy clearing in a patch of forest. Archived satellite imagery (from Google Earth) showed that it stayed this way until at least June 2008. By October 2010, however - the time of the second visit (by Wojciech Czombik) - some construction was underway just to the north of the point. More recent satellite imagery showed more extensive construction; by April 2015 a large building complex had been built.

What, I wondered, was this building complex? An office park? A warehouse? A school? And what did it look like ‘in person’? Fortunately, I had an afternoon to spare (during my 2-day visit to Vilnius) to make the drive down to the town of Druskininkai (close to the border with Belarus) and back. Being a Sunday afternoon, I figured that no construction would be underway during my visit.

I first tried approaching the site from a road from the north (as satellite imagery showed that this was the main road access to the site), but I was blocked - about 400 m away - by a gate and a fence. However, a large sign on the fence showed an illustration of (what will be) the completed project, along with the words "Sportininkų rengimo centras; Užsakovas: Kūno kultūros ir sporto departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės”. Translation into English (via translation software): "Athletes Training Centre; Customer: Physical Education and Sports under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania”. So there was the answer!

But I still needed to get to the point, so I got back into my car and tried another approach - this time from the south. I parked at 53.99659°N 23.99876°E, about 400 m from the point - where I saw a hiking trail leading northwards. I followed this trail on foot, found a footbridge over the Ratnyčia creek (saving me having to wade across it), and continued up the hill to the construction site. When I got to the fence, I was about 20 m away; however, I was able to crawl under the fence to get ‘all zeros’, which was just south of a concrete foundation for a not-yet-completed building. Comparing my photos to the project illustration sign (that I’d seen earlier on the northern fence), I concluded that - when the site’s construction is completed - the Degree Confluence Point will lie just outside the southern wall of the southernmost building - perhaps on a footpath outside.