#13: [06-Mar-24]

#12: [25-Sep-23]

#11: [25-Aug-22]

#9: [25-Aug-11]

#3: [10-Aug-05]

#2: [06-Jul-05]

#1: [10-Aug-01]

#5: [28-Aug-10] (incomplete)

#4: [11-Sep-07] (incomplete)

07-Dec-2013 -- This confluence visit is the second out of 2 visits that I made during a quite crazy cycling week-end in the Alpine mountains.

On the second day of this bicycle trip, I started in the morning from a little town called Annot, about 80 km east of the confluence point. I filled my water bottle from the water-tap, and when I decided to drink a sip of water after two hours of cycling, I couldn’t; the water in the bottle was frozen. Around noon time, I reached the village Les Mées with its unique rock formation Les Pénitents. Before riding up the steep serpentining road to the high-plateau where the Confluence lies, I had an Asian buffet in the village. On top of the plateau in 1.3 km distance to the Confluence, there is an amazingly large photovoltaic plant. From the plateau, there are great views down into the valley of the Durance River.

The Confluence is easily accessible from a dusty road up to 300 m distance. From the closest point of the road, the Confluence can be reached by walking between the forest and a field for 5 minutes. Its exact location is in an oak forest with dense undergrowth. The agricultural field (currently seeded with winter wheat) is just 23 m to the west. It was a pleasant atmosphere around the Confluence, with many hikers enjoying the winter sun.

After visiting the confluence point I studied my map to find a good route back to Nice, from where I was supposed to fly back to Zurich the next evening. But I noticed that one day of cycling wouldn’t be enough time to reach Nice. So I searched for train connections, only to find out that reaching Nice via Marseille would require more time than taking trains back to Zurich! So I canceled my flight, continued cycling northwards until I hopped into a train back home.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to an asphalt road: 1.3 km
• Distance to a track: 300 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 300 m
• Time to reach CP from bicycle parking: 5 min
• Time at CP: 2:50 PM
• Measured height: 719 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 3 m
• Topography: undulating terrain with slight slopes on top of an high plateau.
• Vegetation: oak trees, dense bushes.
• Weather: sunny, 12° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Photovoltaics Confluence

The story ends here.