#6: [13-May-23]

#5: [25-Dec-21]

#4: [24-Aug-18]

#2: [02-Jan-10]

#1: [13-Aug-01]

20-Mar-2015 -- This is the first out of 4 reports reaching confluence points during a bicycle trip in France.

Friday after work at 5:30 PM I took the TGV Lyria from Zurich to Paris arriving there at 22 PM. I had to change the train station from Paris-Gare de Lyon to Paris-Austerlitz to catch the night train to St-Denis-les-Martel. This is the tiniest train station in France or at least I had the feeling that this was the case. However, after my arrival in Martel at 4:05 AM, I began directly cycling towards this confluence point. It was still dark, but quite warm (ca. 15° C). It took me 7 hours to cycle to the confluence point via Souillac and Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil. Arround Sireuil (just 6 km south of the confluence), there is a UNESCO world heritage: caves with paintings from the stone age.

The confluence point is located right in the centre of a little meadow, which is surrounded by forest and a village to the North. The little asphalted road towards the village Fleurac comes as close as 50 m to the confluence. This meant walking one minute over the meadow, which was unfortunately freshly fertilized with liquid manure.

Honestly: The 45^th latitude is my favourite latitude line due to its speciality: it is exactly half way between the equator and the pole (precisely speaking it is not half the distance, but half the ellipsoidal angle). Since this line resembles the ‘average’ from a climate point of view, it represents the Earth more than any other latitude.

Interestingly, I was visiting this confluence point during a partial solar eclipse. It was just cloudy enough that a glimpse on the sun with bare eyes was possible, but on the other hand was the layer of clouds thin enough to see the shape of the sun.

After the documentation I cycled further to the West, heading for a very special confluence point.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to the road: 50 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 50 m
• Time to reach the CP from the road: 1 min
• Time at the CP: 10:49 AM
• Measured height: 218 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 3 m
• Topography: hilly
• Vegetation: mown grass, deciduous forest arround
• Weather: cloudy, 15° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Solar Eclipse and Liquid Manure Confluence

The story continues at 45°N 0°EW.