#4: [11-Dec-11]

#3: [09-Apr-11]

#2: [13-Aug-09]

21-Jun-2001 -- In the longest day of the year we decided to go for 41N 8W, the only confluence in mainland Portugal not yet attempted.

We drove the car very easily to a small village called Bustelo, crossing Coimbra, then Viseu, then Castro Daire, then Alhoes.

The car was left in Bustelo at 41 00.046N 008 00.831W 885M.

Probably we could NOT get closer by car. Not even with a 4 wheels drive. Perhaps only a mule could have helped us.

After leaving the car we simply walk to the east, to 41N 8W, 1.4 km away and 300 meters above.

Not difficult, but tiresome.

The walk was fatiguing. We had to cross a number of barriers made of stones. Not easy because some of the rocks threaten to fall... and we risked falling with them and/or we risked having them drop on our feet.

The vegetation, lowly but tenacious was not in our favour. Hard to cross but giving no shade.

We found that the confluence was near the summit, a little before.

We walked around for a few minutes trying to get the exact co-ordinates in our GPS.

Finally we set our best estimate of the convergence on a rock, not far from the baricenter of all the points were we manage to get – for some seconds - the exact co-ordinates.

The 'confluence rock' itself was in a very easy terrain. Any point in a 50 m radius could have be reached without any special difficulty. A number of plots without vegetation suggest animal activity. Rabbits, I believe. I have seen none.

Perhaps approaching by the east was not so difficult, because we would have started at a higher point, but more distant from the destination. We have not tried that.

For extra photos see http://groups.yaho.com/group/gps-portugal.