We can’t all be intrepid Arctic explorers or climb the World’s highest mountains – work, age, money, time and, sometimes, talent, get in the way of what we can each achieve. But we can almost all of us explore our own patch of the UK, the places where we live, work and take our leisure time. Walking to the highest point in your home county or even your own parish, town or village could be a good starting point. Do you know where the highest point is, or perhaps if you are more of an historian, do you know where the oldest surviving building is, in
a) your home town or parish
b) your home county
c) your home country
Have you visited them?
Answers to the questions from the last Blog
Q1 Malmesbury is the oldest Borough in England, receiving its borough status and Charter c880AD
Q2 Loch Lomond is the largest natural lake in Scotland, with a surface area of 71 square kilometres
Q3 The highest village in Wales is Garn-yr-erw, 2km north west of Blaenavon in Gwent – it lies at an altitude of 400m
Q4 The northernmost point in Northern Ireland is Rathlin Island, an island that is 6km x 4km and lies just off the north coast of County Antrim.
Q5 Actually, neither of them is, strictly speaking. Today they are each one of the 48 ceremonial counties of England, meaning that they have a Lord Lieutenant as the Queen’s representative, but so are the City of Bristol and the City of London, which are both smaller than Rutland or the Isle of Wight. The City of London is only 2.9 square kilometres in area. Officially the Isle of Wight is 384 sq.km and Rutland is 382 sq. km., so that Rutland is smaller. However, as the area measures the amount of land above mean sea level, at high tide and high Spring tide each month the Isle of Wight actually becomes smaller than Rutland. Rutland is the smallest of the 39 historic counties of England – these are the counties that existed prior to 1974. The Isle of Wight was part of Hampshire until 1974.
How many did you get right? Whether you got them all right, all wrong, or simply knew some of the answers, then “Must Get Out More” will be a Blog you will enjoy!
Must Get Out More 