On our last Pyrenees-trip, Jan-Willem and I explored the terrain between bm137 and 139. On this steep hill, a more or less direct descent via bm138 seems quite difficult. But a detour (especially between 138 & 139 as I did in 2009) requires extra kilometers on tarmac.
We found out that the descent from 137 to 138 is quite steep and rough although wayfinding is no problem and part of it is a trail. The route between 138 and 139 is more gentle and pleasant.
It’s all shown on this map (from the Sitna-site): click on it to enlarge.

Today (31 may) was a special day: bm196 which was buried for fourty years, has been excavated by us.Together with Jan-Willem (each spring joyfully joining me on a bordermarker-trip), I undertook a last try to undig bm196. More about this engraved bordermarker on this page.

Combining once again all the available information (written, oral, satellite pictures), we could establish the most probable spot (which was 1m left to the hole I dug last year). And that’s where Jan-Willem struck and revealed the edge of this long lost bm. We couldn’t dig so deep to find a number 196 on its side (100% identification) but  I’m 99% sure this is the one and only bm196.

Why?
– its location fits within all the clues that we had
– its top resembles the ‘diamond-shape’ which Jean Sermet described
– its size (51,5 x 54cm) and material construction look very much alike many of the bm’s in the range 158-195
–  I can’t think of any other reasonable use of this object (anyway too large and lacking a hole for being the base for a gate-post).