#5: [23-Aug-22]

#4: [10-Apr-12]

#3: [10-Oct-10]

#2: [07-Sep-03]

21-Jan-2001 -- My second confluence success turns out to be the second in Italy! Since my previous confluence a month ago was 16,600 km away (36S 149E) , I hope that I don't have to show my airline tickets to achieve credibility for this confluence. It was touch and go whether I could do this on my one free day in Turin - 4 days ago it had snowed here. As the plane approached Turin it turned exactly over the Confluence area (thanks to GPS I knew exactly where I was) - fantastic - it is fairly level farming country and there is no snow on the ground. So I head towards Chieri from the Airport, but lacking the local map (it was in my baggage which the airline had left at Zurich) I stopped at a very friendly Agip petrol station at Castelnuovo Don Bosco to locate a local map (with the help of my Italian phrasebook ). Having decided that Serra was only 500m from the Confluence, I headed down that road, only to find that when I reached Serra, the road just ended and I was still 2 km west of the Confluence !

So I headed north again to find the road I could see 2km towards the East. Then I headed south towards Asti and amazingly I reached Serra AGAIN, 2km to the west of the first one !!!. (Later when I checked the mappe.virgilio.it Map I found there really are two Serra's !!! ) Now things were looking better, I was heading straight to the confluence until the road started going down hill and turning to the west. Great - only 200 metres from the confluence - but the road goes away from the confluence.

So just before Capriglio (the southern one - there are also two of these on the map !!) I turned into Via CECCA to find I am going uphill again and driving around the confluence. I turn right when I reach the road I had arrived on. When I arrive at the bottom of the hill I decide it is time to use Shank's Pony (i.e. walk) but the dirt track in front of me is rather boggy from last weeks snow. I head straight for the confluence following the track in the valley to find the confluence is on top of the ridge on my left, but conveniently a gully coming down from the ridge allows me to get up on the ridge without scrambling on all fours.

As I get to the top I notice I might be trespassing -- but a closer inspection reveals it is not a hut - just a farmer's covered woodpile.

Fortunately the confluence is on the track rather than among the trees and I can take a photo showing how close it is to CAPRIGlio. If it had been summer and there was no track nearby, I would have been taking photos of leaves! To save you asking why I am hogging the photo, it's because I am holding the camera at arm's length, since there is no one else here to take the photo.

As I leave I find that the wet grass is very slippery and it looks like I might have to find the Italian words for "please help me unbog my car" (I hope my wife doesn't read this - my reputation for finding boggy tracks will worsen). Capriglio is in the background.

Photo #6 is looking from Capriglio towards the confluence on the ridge on the left. Unfortunately the autofocus got confused by the sun on the lens.