ATCHDE

ATCHDE is unusual as a European tripoint as it is located in a large body of water and it has never been clearly defined geographically. Lake Constance (German: Bodensee) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (Obersee), Lower Lake Constance (Untersee), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. Its shorelines lie in the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria; the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Schaffhausen; and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is 63 km long, and, nearly 14 km at its widest point. Established partially with the Bavarian cession of Vorarlberg to Austria in 1814 and the creation of the German Confederation in 1871, the actual locations of the country borders within the lake are disputed, with Austria, Germany and Switzerland all holding different opinions on the matter. We visited this point as part of the IBRG LIVCO-25 expedition. This is Tripoint #33 for me. My other European tripoint visits are reported here

So what about the borders? Beyond areas less than 25 m deep, which are considered to be under the jurisdiction of the nearest country, there is no legally binding agreement as to where the borders lie between the three countries. Switzerland holds the view that the border runs through the middle of the lake, Austria is of the opinion that the contentious area belongs to all the states on its banks, which is known as a “condominium”, and Germany holds an ambiguous opinion. Legal questions pertaining to ship transport and fishing are regulated in separate treaties.

How to visit the tripoint?

As members of the IBRG we have hired boats (ARBRUY), or taken ferries (ARBRPY) to get close to a wet tripoint. In this instance we did not have time to take the ferry from Germany to Switzerland. On this visit the closest we got was from a small island Rheinspitz just east of the Austria – Switzerland border and site of the last border marker. Future visits could be to Lindau in Germany and Bregenz in Austria to get a different perspective.

This therefore is a Class D visit as the tripoint is in the distance.