#8: [31-Oct-17]

#7: [13-Jul-15]

#6: [10-Sep-14]

#5: [10-May-12]

#3: [27-Jun-04]

#1: [20-May-01]

#2: [20-May-01]

11-Sep-2004 -- Staying with friends at Griesmoar-Hütte on the west face of Größenberges near Eppenstein put me in what I thought was an ideal place to attempt the confluence 47N 14E from.

The plan was to make an early start on Saturday as weather for Sunday was predicted to be bad so early to bed! No not a chance ended up playing a card game called 99 until 3 in the morning! Ah well I still managed to get up before 6 and set off somewhat tired.

After carefully navigating my way down the mountain I was rewarded for my early start with a lovely pre-dawn sky.

OK the plan was to drive straight to Stadl an der Mur then drive down past/through Kaltwasser find the Forststrasse mentioned in the previous visit and then continue on to find a road that leads direct to the confluence (possibly the private road mentioned by the first visitors) my map "OMV Atlas Österreich mit Europa" which has a scale of 1:150,000 shows a road which goes to the confluence but does not indicate it as private.

So that was the plan first mistake was to miss a turning at Scheifling and so I ended up driving off towards Klagenfurt. I'd got as far as Neumarkt before I realised so turn back towards Teufenbach and back on to the route I was supposed to make! I wasn't too unhappy as the scenery in this area is all very nice, roads were a pleasure to drive along.

Just before Kaltwasser very near the Confluence Point I stopped by the very pretty little Dam and river, time was now 7:40 so it had taken 1 hour 40 minutes to get this far.

Found the Forststrasse just past the Military area, continued on to the road indicated on my map. There it was heading off just as indicated on my map (located at 46N 59' 11.8" 14E 00' 46.3") no indication of road being private no signs, no locks, no barriers so off we go!!

Very bumpy road signs of recent vehicles so should be OK thinks I! Next mistake I turn right off the main(?) road and follow a road heading towards the confluence, this is even worse than the first road, after a while I pass a vehicle going in the opposite direction! Signs of life around here then.

I stop and wind down my window in case the other driver wants to know what the hell I'm doing, he doesn't he just drives away. OK carry on. Whoops what is this now two rather large lorries for carrying logs out of the forest block my way. I jump out and have a word with the driver of the first lorry explaining I just want to carry on up the road (I'm about 1km from the confluence at this point) he says fine just pull over and they'll drive past and I can carry on my way.

This done I carry on only to find they've just let me drive to a dead end turning point which they have obviously just used!! I'm now at 46N 59' 11.1" 14E 00' 46.1" so I've hardly got anywhere!! I get out of the car and attempt to find a track or something that I can use to get somewhere towards the confluence, after a very short time I give up as the wet grass (it is still early morning) is knee length and the gradient towards the CP is just too steep.

So back in the car and off we go to try and get back on the correct road.

What is this I see before me?? The lorries have stopped to load up with logs so I'm stuck for the next 50 minutes behind the rear lorry. It was quite interesting watching how they load the lorries for the first 10 minutes but somewhat boring after that!

Eventually I'm able to get past the lorries and return to the correct road, carry on twisting and turning up the mountain. I find another road off to the right higher up just next to a wide section where I can turn around, indecision gets the better of me and manage to half miss the turning and ground out my car in very soft mud! Oh joy!! A bit of messing about driving forwards and back gets me out, I park and decide to walk the road (I'm 1.2km from the confluence now)!

After walking about 700m this road starts to descend and turn away from the CP before disappearing under water! Back to the car again and carry on further!

OK change of plan, keep to this main road drive up wherever it goes and find a turning to the right which is at least the height of the CP. Much better idea I wish I'd thought of it earlier!! OK more driving and I end up even further away before finally climbing near to the height of the CP, a road to the right surely this must be it. Drive down this and find somewhere to turn around about 600m from the CP now a wonderful view, but at a height comparable with it.

So off we go, everything seems OK and sure enough there it is. Made it. CP is positioned with 6m accuracy by a rock just above large tree near the middle of the first picture. Take the pictures and enjoy the view.

Head back to family and friends in time for lunch! I started 59km away as the crow flies and the CP has taken me 6 hours to complete. Not much less than it took me to do both 47N15E and 47N16E when I had to drive 533km !!