So far on our holiday no two days had been the same and this was to be no different. After doing a soot of shopping in Alston, the highest market town in England, we headed east over the Peninnes and moors into neighbouring County Durham. Though perhaps common place in larger or less densely populated… Continue reading Visiting the magical land behind a waterfall and underground caving!
Category: geography
Doggerland – Britain’s Atlantis
Being an island nation, our long history and pre-history has been shaped by the sea possibly more than anywhere else on earth. Whilst some areas of our land were under sea just a millennia or so a go, since the last ice-age our coastline has gradually been pushed back by the ever rising oceans.… Continue reading Doggerland – Britain’s Atlantis
Building walls instead of knocking them down!
When I was leaving school we were all used to the idea that divisions between people were coming down. In the autumn of 1989 when I was 15 and readying for my end of school exams the Berlin Wall came down and within a matter of weeks the nations of eastern Europe finally became free.… Continue reading Building walls instead of knocking them down!
You are what you live
Have you ever given pause to thought about national stereotypes and the perceptions that strangers may have of you because of where you live? It’s hard to talk about such things without over generalising but often like many other things they can be based on fact. Germans can come over as hard working and… Continue reading You are what you live
Terra Nullius, enclaves & the strange case of Bir Tawil – The land that nobody wants.
When European nations were looking at empire building there were a number of sham reasons used to justify it. Either religious edicts from Rome, pure Ethnocentrism from France (the belief of one race being superior to all others) or in the case of Great Britain Terra Nullius. It was the Romans who first came up… Continue reading Terra Nullius, enclaves & the strange case of Bir Tawil – The land that nobody wants.
The death of the Aral Sea
Once the fourth largest inland body of water in the world and half the size of England has over the last few decades almost totally disappeared. The Aral Sea sits in the middle of the Kyzylkum Desert fed by the two rivers, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya. It wasn’t really a sea but a… Continue reading The death of the Aral Sea
Dungeness – Britain’s only desert
You’d be forgiven for thinking that I have over-indulged this holiday for putting two seemingly mutually exclusive terms in the same sentence, Britain and desert. Yes I too thought it a bit strange, even more so as it is pouring down with rain outside at this very moment. However dear reader, I have not lost… Continue reading Dungeness – Britain’s only desert
Lost in the world of maps!
I don’t know what it is about maps but ever since I published my article Getting Lost In The World of Maps, it has consistently ranked as one of biggest views and so at long last I am creating this follow-on post with more interesting maps to enjoy. First off, to make sure there is… Continue reading Lost in the world of maps!
The Man Who Planted Trees and The Green Wall of Africa
About five years ago, I watched part of a short animated film entitled The Man Who Planted Trees. It is the most lovely short French film (an English version can be viewed here) and it tells the story of a man in an early 20thC European Alpine valley that was desolate and empty of life… Continue reading The Man Who Planted Trees and The Green Wall of Africa
The Black Marble : The Earth from Space at night
Last week NASA released a number of fantastic images detailing our planet at night under their Black Marble project. It took hundreds of orbits before the planet could be fully mapped and below are some of the images which I though might be of interest to people. One of the amazing things of the photo… Continue reading The Black Marble : The Earth from Space at night
Stephen Liddell 