08-Jun-2004 -- After our overseas confluence trip to Argentina in October last year, this late spring we decided to go for a closer destination to explore: The United Kingdom. Nowadays, when booking early enough, unbelievably cheap flights are available within Europe, and due to our limited budget we choose the best and most economic airline: "Ryanair". Gone are the days when the traditional airlines, taking advantage of their monopoly, charged you several hundreds of Euro, Dollars or Pounds just for a short leg between two European cities. "Ryanair" makes it for not more than a handful of coins, and so we got a flight from Friedrichshafen (on Lake of Constance, Germany) to London-Stansted for only 3.99 Euro (about 4.50 $) each :-D

We arrived at London-Stansted on June 7th and took a rent-a-car with which we proceeded to Morecambe, where we arrived in the evening and checked in a small hotel. As the first point to visit we had planned 54N 3W, one of the last British offshores, located in the Heysham Lake, - being of course not a lake in the traditional meaning of the word, but a huge bay of the Irish Sea. A few days prior commencement of our trip we had posted an enquiry on the confluence mailing list, asking for any British prepared to join and assist us. Mr. Gordon Spence, having visited already almost all British confluences, immediately contacted us. No other person than Gordon could have been more welcome, and his experience and enthusiasm did safeguard a smooth and professional procedure.

Gordon, living at Northampton, arrived the next early morning and informed us the boat he had arranged not to be ready prior 3 p.m. So we decided to visit first 54N 2W first. We went to the area in order to approach the point from the South. Close to a water reservoir there is a car parking, and thence we had to proceed along a water reservoir on a bridle way. After passing cows and sheep we began the ascent towards the plateau on which the confluence is located.

From former visits' narratives and Gordon's experience we learned and expected the area and esecially the plateau to be very boggy and wet. But we realized that this is not valid for all seasons, and fortunately we could go there without rubber boots and getting wet. A few metres from the confluence there is the only bog we found. Werner marked the point he believed to be correct with a small Austrian flag, but Gordon and Captain Peter did only agree after having throroughly discussed the matter and scrupulously taken into consideration all points of view and probabilities.

Finally we took the pictures in all directions, of which we enclose the view to North and East.

After this visit we began our descent again and proceeded back to Morecambe.