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#1: [18-Jan-02]

07-Sep-2009 -- To visit the Degree Confluence of 51° N and 2° E you have to do some homework. At high water the CP is 600m off the coast in the sea, at low water you can walk to it.

In this region the difference between high and low water varies from about 2.5 m (8 ft) after half moon to sometimes over 10 m (33 ft) after full or new moon. A complete tidal cycle takes 12-½ hour, so the important low tide happens two times a day, advancing each day 1 hour.

Searching the Internet for tidal information taught me that low water for 7 September 2009 was calculated for about 22 hour. See here or here and select the port of Calais.

Around 17 hour local time I arrived in the region and found the Rue des Hemmes. This road runs parallel to the coast. A smaller road, easily overlooked because one is busy with a zigzag bend, leads to a parking just at the shore. From here the CP is only 600 m walking or swimming direction North. There was more sand than I expected, but I was not sure the CP was already free from the water, so I started to look for a camping site to raise my tent.

At 18 o’clock I returned, parked the car and removed my socks and raised my trousers. I kept the sandals for protection. The CP is a bit to the left in front of the ferry. Good signals resulted in a 10 zero reading with an EPE = 3 m.

The N, E, S, W photographs show the ferry in The Channel, my shadow, the shore and the reflection of the sunlight in the wet sand.

The plastic bag not only marks the CP but also even contains some sand of the CP. I took this bag with me for a former colleague who collects sand from all over the world.

In the aerial photograph by Google, my track is indicated in blue. At the top right the GPS display shows the relevant figures. The overlaid graphic gives the tide for the day of the visit, the red dot marks the time of visit.

My regular collection of plants is replaced by a collection of shells found while returning to the shore. The other collection shows at left the remnants of fishing nets and a dab of oil. The small orange particles at right are most probably oysters in the first weeks of their life.

About 600 m off the French coast in the English Channel.