Look out 17ºS, 26ºE. Here I come!
Last weekend’s Independent on Sunday Review included an article in its Travel Special on ‘confluence hunting’. Intrigued by this new term, I read on.
Apparently there are people—armed with GPS systems and spunky, competitive natures—spreading themselves out over the globe to be the first (documented) person to move into the exact spot where an integer latitude degree line intersects an integer longitude degree line.
My first thought was that author Robert Twigger hit the nail on the head: “It seemed nuts to me to spend a lot of time and money just to go to an arbitrary spot.” I like to travel. But, if it’s going to cost more than a tank of gas, I like to go places I find aesthetic. Or historically important. Or have a new culture for me to drink in. I am attracted to places that offer me a fresh perspective, places that have some other motivating factor beyond that it is where 51ºN crosses 1ºE. [Dad, that’s a clue. Find it! You won't be disappointed.]
But, the author’s skepticism was washed away by a visit to the Degree Confluence Project website, so I thought I’d check it out. I am quickly beginning to see the appeal. By clicking around the website you can tell, for many of these people, it isn’t really about the destination. Or, at least not the destination in the simple terms of X marks the spot. The project requires the ‘hunter’ to submit photos and a written narrative of his journey. Reading these, you can begin to imagine the adventures people had in getting to their points, or attempting to get there, even if they fell short of their ultimate goal. And yeah, it looks like they are having a pretty good time. I found the website more interesting than finding my house on Google Earth. And that had me amused for days!
Today’s run
Distance: 4.0 miles
Time: 39:42
Pace: 9:55 min/mile
Wednesday, 7th February 2007 at 9:10
Guess the next thing will be to look at ‘regular’ irrational numbers…like 1/3 N 1/3 E….or Pi north and Pi E…….maybe the Whitehouse and No.10 are at the confluence of very irrational numbers? ha ha