Your bits of totally useless geographical trivia please...

[Dai Corner]

The first seven stops in Cardiff-Portsmouth trains are in seven different local authorities

Cardiff - Cardiff
Newport - Newport
Severn Tunnel Junction - Monmouthshire
Filton Abbey Wood - South Gloucestershire
Bristol Temple Meads - Bristol
Bath Spa - Bath and North East Somerset
Trowbridge - Wiltshire

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

When asked at junior school what the mountain range between France and Spain was called, I said the Pekingese, instead of the Pyrenees. (Pekingese is a small dog breed). Even the teacher could not stop laughing.

 

[Calthrop]

The border between Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire is just twenty yards (nineteen metres) long.

I had no idea there still was one (from the atlas, it's near Stamford, yes?) -- not since the long-ago days of the eastern end of Northants. being the Soke of Peterborough.

 

[backontrack]

Downham Market, Watlington and King's Lynn are the only National Rail stations in Norfolk that can't be reached directly on a train from Norwich. They're also the only ones that require the traveller to leave Norfolk to change trains when travelling there from Norwich.

 

[DaleCooper]

All geography teachers wear tweed jackets with brown leather elbow patches.

 

[AM9]

Trains running Portsmouth direct services used to stop at or pass these stations sequentially:
Worplesden
Woking
West Byfleet
West Weybridge *
Weybridge
Walton on Thames

* This was renamed Byfleet and New Haw in 1962.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Trains running Portsmouth direct services used to stop at or pass these stations sequentially:
Worplesden
Woking
West Byfleet
West Weybridge *
Weybridge
Walton on Thames

* This was renamed Byfleet and New Haw in 1962.

You forgot Wimbledon?

 

[backontrack]

You forgot Wimbledon?

Raynes Park, New Malden, Berrylands, Surbiton, Esher and Hersham are in the way

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Raynes Park, New Malden, Berrylands, Surbiton, Esher and Hersham are in the way

Oh I see - you were doing "consecutive" rather than just how many "W" stations then? ( Sequentially can just mean in order rather than consecutively... )

 

[Bromley boy]

Crystal Palace Triangle, is the only point in London where the boundaries of five boroughs meet. They are: Southwark; Lambeth; Lewisham; Bromley; Croydon.

 

[MotCO]

Crystal Palace Triangle, is the only point in London where the boundaries of five boroughs meet. They are: Streatham; Lambeth; Lewisham; Bromley; Croydon.

When I last looked, Streatham was not a London borough

 

[Bromley boy]

When I last looked, Streatham was not a London borough

My bad. For Streatham, substitute Southwark.

That works better.

 

[AJM580]

The nearest motorway to Lowestoft (Suffolk) is in the Netherlands.

 

[DaleCooper]

The nearest motorway to Lowestoft (Suffolk) is in the Netherlands.

I think you need to justify that, as I measure it the M11 is ~73 miles away, the nearest part of the Netherlands is ~100 miles away

 

[Ianno87]

If you stand on the tower of Great St Mary's church in Cambridge (or possibly another tallish building, I can't remember) and then head due east at exactly the same altitude, I'm told that you don't touch anything else solid until some hills in Latvia or somewhere.

 

[Ianno87]

Oh I see - you were doing "consecutive" rather than just how many "W" stations then? ( Sequentially can just mean in order rather than consecutively... )

When Manchester Metrolink was extended to Ashton it added the following stations

Audenshaw
Ashton Moss
Ashton West
Ashton-under-Lyne

 

[DaleCooper]

This thread should be renamed "Geographical Misapprehensions No One Bothers To Check".

 

[cjmillsnun]

The only 500km OS National grid square to only have one 1km grid square is O, which has OV0000. The only feature in this square is Beast Cliff near Whitby which takes up a small portion of the square.

 

[meridian2]

If you stand on the tower of Great St Mary's church in Cambridge (or possibly another tallish building, I can't remember) and then head due east at exactly the same altitude, I'm told that you don't touch anything else solid until some hills in Latvia or somewhere.

This sounds like a variation on the common claim that if you stand on (insert nearest local high point), the next similarly high place is in the Urals. I have no idea if it's true.

 

[meridian2]

The only 500km OS National grid square to only have one 1km grid square is O, which has OV0000. The only feature in this square is Beast Cliff near Whitby which takes up a small portion of the square.

I used to pop into Stamford's map shop in Long Acre during my lunch hour. Looking at large scale maps of the Sahara was always fun, a vast sheet of yellow paper with a line and a few dots, bordered by grid references.

 

[anti-pacer]

I used to pop into Stamford's map shop in Long Acre during my lunch hour. Looking at large scale maps of the Sahara was always fun, a vast sheet of yellow paper with a line and a few dots, bordered by grid references.

I love that shop.

 

[TheEdge]

The UK is gradually tilting on the surface of the Earth. The North and Scotland are rising by up to 10cm a year while the south is sinking by up to 5cm a year.

 

[Calthrop]

I used to pop into Stamford's map shop in Long Acre during my lunch hour. Looking at large scale maps of the Sahara was always fun, a vast sheet of yellow paper with a line and a few dots, bordered by grid references.

I love that shop.

Stipulated, I'm an obnoxious nitpicking know-all: but the shop (indeed a delight) is Stanfords -- not Stamford's as in the town on the Peterborough -- Leicester rail toute.

 

[meridian2]

the shop (indeed a delight) is Stanfords -- not Stamford's

True, key finger failure.

 

[IanD]

I used to pop into Stamford's map shop in Long Acre during my lunch hour. Looking at large scale maps of the Sahara was always fun, a vast sheet of yellow paper with a line and a few dots, bordered by grid references.

Are you sure you weren't in B&Q looking at sandpaper?

 

[meridian2]

Are you sure you weren't in B&Q looking at sandpaper?

No, those were halcyon days before the horrors of B&Q, Ikea, Sports Direct and being answerable to anyone but my muse. Happy days when Long Acre meant Flip, Cornellisons, and Stanfords.

 

[AlterEgo]

Are you sure you weren't in B&Q looking at sandpaper?

Mmm, a paper relief map, now there's a rarity!

 

[DarloRich]

A couple from me:

• It is said no where in the Uk is more than 74.5 miles from the sea. I still can not work out which is the easiest/closest seaside to reach from MK. I maintain Brighton.
• The Queen owns all the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters within 3 miles from the UK.
• 25% of the people living in London today are born in another country.
• The official name of the Tower of London is His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London.
• Angel Tube Station has the longest escalator in Western Europe
• England is 74 times smaller than the USA

Unsure if these are actually true - debunk as you feel fit.

 

[Quakkerillo]

Mmm, a paper relief map, now there's a rarity!

You just need a raised-relief map, and then you can make it out of multiple materials possible. Plastic is easiest, as it's malleable, but with some good papier-maché or just layering you could as well do it with paper.

 

[Quakkerillo]

A couple from me:

• It is said no where in the Uk is more than 74.5 miles from the sea. I still can not work out which is the easiest/closest seaside to reach from MK. I maintain Brighton.
• The Queen owns all the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters within 3 miles from the UK.
• 25% of the people living in London today are born in another country.
• The official name of the Tower of London is His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London.
• Angel Tube Station has the longest escalator in Western Europe
• England is 74 times smaller than the USA

Unsure if these are actually true - debunk as you feel fit.

Closest from Milton Keynes is the Canvey Island-Southend area, at 70 miles (as the crow flies). Brighton stands at 88 miles. If you were to look at actual road distance, Canvey-Southend would be 85, Brighton 95-100 miles from MK.