#7: [17-Oct-23]

#6: [12-May-23]

#5: [28-Dec-21]

#3: [27-Jul-11]

#2: [30-Oct-05]

#1: [09-Sep-01]

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

After visiting 46°N 0° on the previous day and spending the night in Soulac-sur-Mar, I rode my bicycle to this confluence point.

There is a great bicycle track along the coast that I was able to use. At this time of the year, all those huge vocational facilities are empty. Restaurants, Hotels, cafes, everything is closed. I started cycling at 6 AM and didn't meet anybody for 3 hours on that Sunday morning. After a while I encountered a problem: I had no food with me and all those towns along the coast were total ghost towns. There was no chance to get anything to eat, which is tough when cycling. I left the bicycle path to search for food in the towns, but no luck. Not even a vending machine would exist.

Finally, in Hourtin, nice people gave me some bread and I was good for a while. However, when I wanted to buy food in Lacanau (6 km from the confluence) at the big Super U. When I arrived, it was 12:02 PM and the supermarket had just closed.

The confluence is located in the Landes forest, which is the largest maritime pine forest in Europe. It is not a natural forest. It was formerly a swamp which was converted into a pine forest in the 19^th century for industrial purposes. The confluence point itself is no exception. It can be easily reached from the road (300 m) and a track (200 m). The stroll through the forest is slow due to the soft ground with dense vegetation, but easy. At the confluence, there are small pine trees. Only to the north, there are large pine trees left from the previous generation of trees.

After the visit, I finally had my lunch. I encountered a special phenomenon: 66 caterpillars were travelling in single file! They built a 3 m long chain.

I reached Bordeaux in the afternoon and took the evening flight to Basel and reached Zurich by train at 1:30 AM in the morning. I had made good use of this weekend: cycled 540 km in three days, visiting 4 confluence points.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to the road: 300 m
• Distance of bicycle parking: 200 m
• Time to reach the CP from the road: 20 minutes
• Time at the CP: 1:30 PM
• Measured height: 33 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 3 m
• Topography: flat
• Vegetation: Pinus pinaster
• Weather: sunny, 17° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Caterpillar Chain Confluence

The story finishes here.