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the Degree Confluence Project
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France : Occitanie

1.4 km (0.9 miles) E of Sonnac-sur-l'Hers, Aude, Occitanie, France
Approx. altitude: 363 m (1190 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 43°S 178°W

Quality: good

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

#2: View of the orchard, with the confluence marked #3: Looking east #4: Looking south, towards the river #5: Looking west, towards Sonnac village #6: GPS reading at confluence point #7: Myself at the confluence point #8: One of the young apple trees

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  43°N 2°E (visit #1)  

#1: Looking north, towards the road

(visited by Jonathan Marten and Eva Peters)

07-Jun-2001 -- While on holiday in this region, we decided to try to visit this confluence which seemed to be reasonably easy to reach. Today was a bright sunny day with the temperature reaching 30°C at midday.

We'd worked out from maps and Autoroute that the confluence was just south of the D16 road, which led northwards out of Chalabre village. We followed this road and, soon after a junction on the left leading over a bridge to Chateau de Falgas, the road turned to the left and headed westwards towards Sonnac-sur-l'Hers.

After driving along the road and back to establish the closest approach to the confluence, we found a convenient place to park about 300m eastwards from the boundary of the village. Here, by a very useful coincidence, there was a rough track leading down first eastwards then westwards, ending up on the valley floor with the Hers river some 200m away.

The floor of the valley was flat and completely covered by an apple orchard, with rows of trees in various stages of growth: some very small bushes covered with black netting, larger ones under white netting, and mature trees with fruit (although not yet large enough to eat) in the open. Each row had lines of poles to support the netting (3-4 metres above the ground), wires running between them to support the plants, and also watering hoses with jets for each plant - a well-organised growing operation.

The confluence turned out to be in the middle of the first open area from the eastward end of the orchard. Apart from the poles and wires, there was nothing man-made visible at all - the road and village were hidden from view, so there were just forests and grassy slopes rising on either side. There was also nothing to hear apart from the river and the occasional vehicle somewhere.

We took the photographs and then returned to the car and set off - our first confluence done! On the way back we went through Sonnac village again to try to find out the name of the orchard - although there was a barn with tractors and machinery at the western end of the orchard, just inside the village, there was no name shown and nobody seemed to be around. So we went away none the wiser...


 All pictures
#1: Looking north, towards the road
#2: View of the orchard, with the confluence marked
#3: Looking east
#4: Looking south, towards the river
#5: Looking west, towards Sonnac village
#6: GPS reading at confluence point
#7: Myself at the confluence point
#8: One of the young apple trees
ALL: All pictures on one page