The bordercros bm359 – engraved in 1863 – has never been refound on the very steep hillside between bm358 and 360. Jean Sermet was convinced that a 4x10m rockwall must have been the original spot and in 1957 he engraved a cross there. In 2009 Paco Nudels discovered a cross on a similar looking rockwall and I visited that cross twice.

But: is this the same cross as Jean Sermet engraved? And was this rock the very spot of the original bm359?

I will try the answer these questions in the next update of my website. But I can already reveil some of my conclusions on this map.

For my arguments, you will have to wait. A cliffhanger as it were and as a term corresponding to this very steep hillside. (Update 4/1/2015: update is ready -> see this page)

This year – on my usual september-trip to the Pyrenean bordermarkers – I had no choice than to visit the recently reinstalled bm196. Last year, Jan-Willem and I excavated this bm which had been underground for 40 years. The authorities then took their responsibility and raised it from its grave a few weeks ago.

The marker makes a massive impression and the typography of the number is like some markers upon the ridge to the west. It must have been a replacement of a lost original in the ‘grand’ restauration of bordermarkers in the fifties of the 20th century.

Yesterday – on 12 august 2014 – the 40 year buried bm196 has been raised from it’s grave. Pictures were sent to me by Captain José Luis Sánchez Tello of the Spanish Instituto Geográfico Nacional for which I’m very grateful. Read more about bm196 on this page.

The operation took about 3 hours to complete when we examine the picture’s data.

As you can see, the bm has been lifted half-way to appear again for every passer-by and to honour it’s significance as a cultural-historical monument as all bordermarkers are.

We thank the two delimitation delegations of Navarre and the Pyrénées Atlantiques for doing this. They have been a successful couple on more bm-restauration tasks. In this case I know that they have been reminded by bm-expert Javier Martínez Ruiz of the sad situation of bm196.

And perhaps I may suggest three other nice jobs on their common borderline: the bm236, bm255 and bm271bis