29-Jul-2025 -- I’m spending 2 weeks on vacation driving in a rental car across the south of Spain, from Seville to Valencia, and of course I’ll try to visit several Degree Confluence Points during my trip. This first point, north of Seville, would be a short and easy visit - or so I thought. Getting to the point was, indeed, quite easy, despite having to drive on a narrow and very rough paved road, which turned into a narrow and very rough gravel road - which fortunately passed just 200m or so north of the point.

Hiking to the point was easy. The dry grassland - among oak trees - reminded me a lot of my current home in California. (The early Spanish explorers in California must have felt very much at home.) The point lies next to a small dry creek bed. Unlike previous visitors, I didn’t see any pigs or any other farm animals

However, when I returned to my rental car, I found that one of the tires had suffered irreparable damage: a gash on the sidewall. Unfortunately, like many modern cars, it didn’t have a spare tire; only a tire inflator kit (which was useless on such a badly damaged tire). I drove slowly to a nearby village (Pueblo del Maestre), and called the rental car company’s roadside assistance. After more than an hour (and after battling a language barrier; thank heavens for Google Translate), I got a taxi to take me to the rental car company’s office at Seville airport (while a separate tow truck towed the car to their repair base). At this time I don’t know what this will cost me, but so far I’ve probably spent more than $US1000 (and many hours) dealing with damaged tires that have resulted from trips to or from Degree Confluence Points. Tire damage seems to be an occupational hazard of taking part in this project, at least for me.