Your bits of totally useless geographical trivia please...

[61653 HTAFC]

At 8', and not surprisingly called a Mount, the Maldives has the world's lowest highest point. Mt. Villingili.

Wonder when they'll build a cable-car to the top??

Better off with a submersible, I fear...

 

[DaleCooper]

At 8', and not surprisingly called a Mount, the Maldives has the world's lowest highest point. Mt. Villingili.

Wonder when they'll build a cable-car to the top??

Are they sure it's not a molehill?

 

[fowler9]

Do towns count? Christchurch UK to Christchurch NZ - 11880 miles.

Garston in Merseyside to Garston in New Zealand is 11767 miles. Dunedin in Scotland to Dunedin in New Zealand is 11845 miles.

 

[IanD]

I believe that the greatest distance between a UK city and it's namesake is Perth to Perth (9120 miles) Newcastle to Newcastle 10440 miles Devonport to Devonport (Tasmania) 10,890 miles Oban to Oban (New Zealand) - 11,730 miles. (I give up!)

Do towns count? Christchurch UK to Christchurch NZ - 11880 miles.

They must given that neither Devonport nor Oban are UK cities.

 

[Rick1984]

There's an Isle of Wight in America

 

[najaB]

They must given that neither Devonport nor Oban are UK cities.

I was initially going to only consider cities but then started to notice smaller towns and villages.

 

[fowler9]

I was initially going to only consider cities but then started to notice smaller towns and villages.

I get where you were coming from. Ha ha. My two Garstons are far from being cities. I live and work by Garston on Merseyside, it was very different from Garston in New Zealand which is south of Queenstown on the bus route to Te Anau and the Milford Sound. I did try and get the bus driver in New Zealand to stop the bus so I could get a photo, he had a schedule to keep to though, however, I did get a half decent photo of the Garston Hotel out of the window.

According to Wikipedia (So it must be true) Garston is the most inland settlement in New Zealand! Not far from where the preserved Kingston Flyer Railway recently used to run to.

 

[Rick1984]

Moscow, Ayrshire, Scotland, is the same latitude as it's Russian counterpart and has a Volga Burn

 

[cjmillsnun]

Has someone already done OS grid square SE8322. The dullest emptiest of all the grid squares.

Compared to OV0000 which is 98% sea?

 

[Altrincham]

It's not possible to see Snowdon from The Wrekin.

 

[TheEdge]

Compared to OV0000 which is 98% sea?

Probably as that means it has 2% of stuff.

SE8322 has nothing whatsoever in it apart from featureless flat field and a single electricity pylon in one corner.

 

[Howardh]

Gibraltar takes part in the island games, even though it's not an island

 

[bearhugger]

The river Esk in Whitby, North Yorkshire, flows due North in to the North Sea which i understand is unique.

 

[AlterEgo]

Suffolk is the only English county which doesn't contain any of the letters from the word "Badger".

 

[najaB]

Suffolk is the only English county which doesn't contain any of the letters from the word "Badger".

Avon was another.

 

[DaleCooper]

Avon was another.

Avon Badger

 

[najaB]

Avon Badger

You know that feeling when something is staring you right in the face and you don't see it!

To explain my apparent dyslexia: [B|b|a|D|d|G|g|E|e|R|r] doesn't match Avon.

 

[Groningen]

Maybe the only town you see on a digital clock is Oss (0:55).

 

[DaleCooper]

Maybe the only town you see on a digital clock is Oss (0:55).

Possibly the only river you see on a digital clock is the Isis (15:15) but maybe someone will think of others.

 

[Groningen]

Weert is a town where on a keyboard you have to move your fingers not a lot.

 

[DaleCooper]

Weert is a town where on a keyboard you have to move your fingers not a lot.

Does it have a branch of Asda?

 

[Bevan Price]

1. On some days, if you walk to the outer end of Southport Pier, you can just about see the sea. (Very, very occasionally, the sea does actually reach the promenade.)

2. The British Isles are slowly crumbling into the sea (although it will take millions of years to see them disappear.)

 

[WessexEclectic]

Along the lines of Hawick being the largest town in the UK without a railway and bearing in mind the Geographic Poles of Inaccessibility, I was wondering what the Equoferric Pole of Inaccessibility is? Looking at Openrailwaymap.org possibly in Siberia, Canada, Brazil or Central Africa (I'm ignoring Antarctica).

Like the Ancient Greek sailor who being so tired of the sea that he walked inland with an oar till the loacls did not know what it was, are there significant places in the world where the locals still await the coming of the Iron Horse?

 

[fowler9]

Along the lines of Hawick being the largest town in the UK without a railway and bearing in mind the Geographic Poles of Inaccessibility, I was wondering what the Equoferric Pole of Inaccessibility is? Looking at Openrailwaymap.org possibly in Siberia, Canada, Brazil or Central Africa (I'm ignoring Antarctica).

Like the Ancient Greek sailor who being so tired of the sea that he walked inland with an oar till the loacls did not know what it was, are there significant places in the world where the locals still await the coming of the Iron Horse?

The worlds highest capital city, Nuestra Senora De La Paz in Bolivia, has a population of 2.3 million people with the metropolitan areas of El Alto and Viacha included and has no trains. Bolivia as a whole has next to no trains whilst being far bigger than the UK. It is however a fascinating place to visit.

 

[317 forever]

It's quicker to walk from Ruislip to West Ruislip or from Wimbledon to South Wimbledon than to go by Underground.

 

[317 forever]

By way of a fluke, the oldest gentleman and the youngest woman I like from the world of music are from pretty much the same area of the country! (The south Tyneside area in case you're curious!).

 

[Groningen]

Does it have a branch of Asda?

You have to ask Asda.

 

[Howardh]

It's quicker to walk from Ruislip to West Ruislip or from Wimbledon to South Wimbledon than to go by Underground.

Out of interest, I read that the shortest journey by tube is Leicester Square to Covent Garden. Yet last week the tube took just a few seconds to go from Charing Cross to Embankment.
Surely that's the shortest in distance and time?
Any Tube fans?

 

[me123]

Leicester Square - Covent Garden is most definitely the shortest tube journey. You can really get a perspective on how short it is from this driver's eye video.

[youtube]NYmHrUdSCsc[/youtube]

Leicester Square - Covent Garden comes in at 0.25km, with an unimpeded running time of 46s.
Charing Cross to Embankment is ever so slightly longer at 0.27km (52s) on the Northern line and 0.37km (58s) on the Bakerloo.

All the data are here.

 

[A Challenge]

You can see the lights from one station from one of the others platforms, though I can't remember which it is!