Your bits of totally useless geographical trivia please...

[Howardh]

On the grounds that every schoolboy/girl knows that Edinburgh is further west than Manchester; here's my first offering.

If you are stood on Beachy head, you are at the nearest point on the UK mainland to the Mediterranean Sea (527 miles). Go in the other direction the same distance and you will be near Brora on the north-east Scots coast.

 

[Calthrop]

The nearest part of the USA to the continent of Africa, is the state of Maine -- the country's most north-easterly state.

 

[anti-pacer]

Cromer in Norfolk is actually further north than the very south of Cheshire.

Parts of North Yorkshire are further west than Manchester.

 

[northwichcat]

Montreal is closer to France than the Canada/Alaska border.

Despite the very cold winters Niagara Falls is as far south as Rome and places in the US state of California.

 

[Barn]

Victoria (in Central London) is level with Elephant and Castle (in South London).

 

[northwichcat]

Cromer in Norfolk is actually further north than the very south of Cheshire.

Not according to the AA road atlas. A straight line across from Cromer brings you to Whitchurch in Shropshire which is further south than Stoke. Even Blakeney Point is only as far north as Wrexham.

 

[anti-pacer]

I live on exactly the same latitude as my dad in Darwen. The Anti-Pacerquator!

 

[anti-pacer]

Not according to the AA road atlas. A straight line across from Cromer brings you to Whitchurch in Shropshire which is further south than Stoke. Even Blakeney Point is only as far north as Wrexham.

A very small part of Cheshire goes further south of Whitchurch, between there and Audlem. Malpas, Audlem and Wrenbury are just three places in Cheshire further south than Wrexham.

I'm looking at a truckers atlas (Philip's 5 Star Navigator Britain). It's that detailed it lists individual farms.

 

[Howardh]

If the Falkland Isles were in the northern hemisphere, they would roughly be on the same line of latitude as London.

 

[IanD]

Travel due North or due South or due East from Detroit, Michigan, USA and the next country you pass through will be Canada.

 

[DaleCooper]

Montreal is closer to France than the Canada/Alaska border.

A quick check shows Montreal to the border ~2600 miles, to France ~3100 miles

 

[Darandio]

The thread title should be changed to:

Your bits of totally useless geographical trivia (and how to debunk them) please...

 

[Barn]

More cartographical than geographical, but travel northbound from Euston on the Victoria line and you get to King's Cross St Pancras, then travel northbound from there on the Northern line and you're back at Euston.

 

[Howardh]

St. Martin (Maarten) is the smallest island to be divided up into two countries. The argument is as to how much self-determination each has, as they are under the protectrate of NL and F. There are many smaller islands which simply have a border going through them eg Kataja

I'd like to know what the second-smallest is...

 

[DynamicSpirit]

A quick check shows Montreal to the border ~2600 miles, to France ~3100 miles

Did your quick check include the overseas bits of France? I could imagine Guadeloupe, for example, being not that far from Montreal. (I can't tell how close though, because the only maps I have to hand are Mercator projections, which don't lend themselves to distance measurements very well).

 

[Harbornite]

Did your quick check include the overseas bits of France? I could imagine Guadeloupe, for example, being not that far from Montreal. (I can't tell how close though, because the only maps I have to hand are Mercator projections, which don't lend themselves to distance measurements very well).

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is even closer.

 

[anti-pacer]

There is a road called Boundary Lane in Saltney, Chester, where the English/Welsh border runs right down the middle. This apparently is the only urban street in England and Wales where this happens. So depending which side of the road you live on depends who polices where you live, who you pay council tax to, and even if you get free prescriptions as standard or not.

Furthermore, just up the road at the Deva Stadium - the home of lowly Chester City FC - part of the West Stand is in Wales.

 

[northwichcat]

A quick check shows Montreal to the border ~2600 miles, to France ~3100 miles

It might have been the furthest north point of the Canada/Alaska border meaning there's a bit of Canada further from Montreal than France, than the closest point of the border to Montreal.

 

[DaleCooper]

Did your quick check include the overseas bits of France? I could imagine Guadeloupe, for example, being not that far from Montreal. (I can't tell how close though, because the only maps I have to hand are Mercator projections, which don't lend themselves to distance measurements very well).

I suspect jcollins was referring to Saint Pierre and Miquelon but many people would not know about that and assume he meant mainland France. This is how misinformation gets spread.

 

[Howardh]

It is (still) possible to drive through Russia without a visa or Permit. It's the The Saatse Boot and you are in Estonia, but the road cuts through Russia for a few hundred metres and you emerge back in Estonia (EU). No checks, no border - but you are being watched and must drive straight through without stopping or leaving your vehicle.

I understand that at some point the land will be given to Estonia in return for another piece of land to end that anomaly.

Booo....

 

[Raedwald]

I don't know if this counts as geography as such, but parts of Suffolk and Essex get less rainfall than Jerusalem, Beirut or Mexico City.

 

[northwichcat]

I'm looking at a truckers atlas (Philip's 5 Star Navigator Britain). It's that detailed it lists individual farms.

There's probably more cows living in that little tiny bit than people.

 

[Howardh]

There is a road called Boundary Lane in Saltney, Chester, where the English/Welsh border runs right down the middle. This apparently is the only urban street in England and Wales where this happens. So depending which side of the road you live on depends who polices where you live, who you pay council tax to, and even if you get free prescriptions as standard or not.

Furthermore, just up the road at the Deva Stadium - the home of lowly Chester City FC - part of the West Stand is in Wales.

If there was ever an international match there, it would naturally be the closest game to any border. Next would be the Rhienpark (I think it's called) near Vaduz, Liechtenstein. A shafted goal-kick over the river lands in Switzerland!

 

[northwichcat]

I suspect jcollins was referring to Saint Pierre and Miquelon but many people would not know about that and assume he meant mainland France. This is how misinformation gets spread.

I said what I remembered a tour guide in Montreal saying last year. Like I said in my last post it could have been he meant the furthest north bit of Canada on that border.

 

[Harbornite]

If you want to see a complex border... http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwic...tional-borders-in-one-minute-without-sweating

 

[anti-pacer]

There's probably more cows living in that little tiny bit than people.

You are probably right, but it's still part of Cheshire. Them cows could be producing milk for the county's lovely cheese.

 

[Howardh]

You are probably right, but it's still part of Cheshire. Them cows could be producing milk for the county's lovely cheese.

Wouldn't be Cheshire Cheese if the cow lives on a farm that straddles the border!
It's an interesting legal point, livestock gets moved from farm to farm, sometimes different counties, sometimes even countries. Can a cow deliver pure Cheshire milk when it's only been in a Cheshire field for a day, the rest of it's life it was slumming it in Northumberland??
Irish Beef - what if the cow was only in Ireland for a week, and came over from the UK?

 

[anti-pacer]

Wouldn't be Cheshire Cheese if the cow lives on a farm that straddles the border!
It's an interesting legal point, livestock gets moved from farm to farm, sometimes different counties, sometimes even countries. Can a cow deliver pure Cheshire milk when it's only been in a Cheshire field for a day, the rest of it's life it was slumming it in Northumberland??
Irish Beef - what if the cow was only in Ireland for a week, and came over from the UK?

Good point but if that cow had only been on a Cheshire farm and nowhere else, surely it makes no difference if the farm is near the border or not. If it's in Cheshire it's in Cheshire.

Stilton cheese could only be made in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. They produced some in Hartington in the Peak District, very close to the Staffordshire border, but because it's in Derbyshire it was allowed.

 

[Groningen]

The longest overday nonstop trainservice in England is precies the longest traintravel possible in the Netherlands.

Newcastle 7.04 - London KX 9.40 433 kilometers

Bad Nieuweschans 7.10 - Groningen 8.03 (change in Winschoten) 47
Groningen 8.18 - Zwolle 9.15 106
Zwolle 9.20 - Roosendaal 12.03 205
Roosendaal 12.06 - Vlissingen 13.09 75

 

[meridian2]

Hunstanton is a west facing Norfolk resort, and you can watch the sun set over the sea.