When we were in Louth, I spotted a plaque on a wall in the town centre with a steel line reaching to it across the pavement. I was standing on the Prime Meridian line upon which Greenwich Mean Time was devised down in London. It was adopted internationally as recently as 1884.
Anyway, Sheffield is located seventy five miles west of the line. Our longitude position is about 1.5°W. Louth and Greenwich are of course located at 0.0°.
Some regular visitors may recall that I recently painted the word "WEST" on our garden wall. In a follow-up post I tracked the places that sit on the same line of latitude as Sheffield. They included Edmonton, Alberta in Canada - home to blogger Nurse Pixie - the author of "My Life So Far".
Durham Cathedral
It first crosses land on the English coast of Northumberland before heading to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and down to Durham. Then it enters The People's Republic of Yorkshire, crossing Leeds before Sheffield, then down to Coventry and Oxford with its dreaming spires.
Down to the Gao region of Mali and into Burkina Faso near Poedogo. Ever southward to Ghana where the line crosses Kumasi. Then leaving the coast of Africa, 1.5°W heads out across The South Atlantic. It does not pass over any islands that I can detect.
I think not even Vikings would enjoy vacationing in Queen Maud Land!
ReplyDeleteIt would be a nice place for your president to take some solitary time out with a tent, a sleeping bag and a few basic food supplies such as canned lentils and tinned peach slices.
DeleteMaybe a camping holiday in the foothills of Queen Maud Mountains would be nice.
ReplyDeleteI agree - much more fun than a Sydney hotel and riding on the Sydney transport system.
DeleteThere's a surprising number of places on the line. In this case the word west makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDelete"Not so many places as West-East Mr Kline!"
Delete"Oh shut up clever clogs!" said Mr Kline.
No pictures of the Gao region or Poedogo and Kumasi?
ReplyDeleteAnother fascinating trip halfway around the world. Now where does one get when staying on the same invisible line, crossing the South Pole and then heading back towards the North Pole on the "back" of our beautiful planet?
Especially for you, I have now added Kumasi, Ghana.
DeleteI followed the line on my small globe and never knew until now that there was an area called Queen Maud Mountains. I don't see it as a holiday destination though. Maybe for Eskimos. Are we still allowed to call them Eskimos? Or are they all Inuit or what?
ReplyDeleteIs the "e" word like the "n" word...or even worse - the "a" word!
Delete(Adelaidean)
I would have got off at Pamplona. Much warmer.
ReplyDeleteLord Peregrine could have run with the bulls.
DeleteOne of the disadvantages of missing Blogland is all the factoids I miss which are contained in your posts.
ReplyDeleteSo it's my factoids you miss rather than me Graham? Boo-hoo!
DeleteQueen Maud Land sounds an interesting alternative to the Costas!
ReplyDeleteThe sand looks very white.
Delete