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the Degree Confluence Project
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Latvia

3.8 km (2.4 miles) NNE of Kuldīga, Kuldīgas, Latvia
Approx. altitude: 32 m (104 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 57°S 158°W

Accuracy: 20 m (65 ft)
Quality: good

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

#2: east #3: west #4: north

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  57°N 22°E (visit #1)  

#1: south

(visited by the mapsurfer)

06-Jul-2001 -- I was in Lithuania for World Masters Orienteering Championships, and was staying in Kuldiga, Latvia on the way back to Riga, attempting to catch the Saldus Cup orienteering event the next day. I noticed the confluence was only about 5K out of town, and even though it was 22:30 at night, there was plenty of daylight so I decided to go for it.

Most of the land around town was cultivated, and I do not speak Latvian, so I was not optimistic about being able to get to it without trespass, but as luck would have it, the roads I was following lead into a park/reserve about 1000m north of the small town of Mezvalde. I got within 400m on roads by car, then found an old track thru the forest that took me about 100m or so to the east of the confluence.

From there I had to bushwack thru very thick mixed pine and undergrowth forest. The bugs were bad, gps reception wasn't great, and it was now pushing 23:00, and the light was beginning to fade a bit.

I hit a grassy clearing, the gps saying I was about 20m to the south of it, and with the poor coverage I wasn't sure I could get a more accurate fix, and the woods to the north were impassable. Had I had more daylight, I would have made a go at getting triple 0s (which would have been meaningless given the thickness of the cover), but as it was I had to snap the pics at f3.5 open for 2-4 sec without a tripod in the fading daylight so I took what I could of the light in the clearing.

Not ideal, but you do the best you can. I will say that it is very representative of the forest in this part of the world -- thick, lush forest riddled with grassy clearings, although with luck one can find stands of pine forest with absolutely no undergrowth. The first pic is to the south, then east, west, then north.


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#1: south
#2: east
#3: west
#4: north
ALL: All pictures on one page