Just look at this view, stunning eh. When I was back working for BT I used to drive to and from work in London and I’d spend nearly 5 hours a day on the road. When it came to time off I’d yearn to go places to get away from it all but mostly away from the car and roads and traffic. Places just like the scene above in fact – wandering round the lakes, on the moors, in the dales etc. Ah the peace and tranquility eh.
But in reality did we ever find true solitude? No not really. Head up to the Lake District in summer time and you might as well be on the M25 during rush hour. Or try and find a quiet spot down in the SW in June, July or August. Hopeless. So once the girls had grown and flown, we’d often try places a little bit out of season but you’d just tend to bump into middle-aged/old people all dressed in the same M&S clothes. Arghh.
Let’s face it the UK is a great country with some fantastic beautiful countryside but everybody knows it and wants to have a bit of it just to themselves. Ha. There may be very few secret places left but I think I know the fundamental reason why it is so difficult to get away from the madding crowd. Guess the remotest spot in Engalnd and how far away it is from the nearest road. Well it’s Riggs Moor on the edge of the Yorkshire dales and it is all of 2.4miles away from a local road. That’s right in England you are never more than two and half miles from a road and thus other potential cars. It’s slightly less troubled by tarmac in Wales where the remotest spot, in the Black Mountains, is all of 2.6 miles away from a lush bit of country road. Surely it must be better in Scotland with all those Highlands and Islands. It is. In fact at Fionn Loch, the country’s very remotest spot up in the mountains, you can get all of 5.7 miles away from a minor road and other vehicles.
It seems incredible doesn’t it? But it’s true – well if you believe the Ordnace Survey people who have just published this information in the hope that it might inspire young people to get into map-reading. You’ve gotta think that may be a vain objective – what’s the point of paper folding maps when everyone has a smart phone and access to GPS mapping – especially if all they show is that you can’t really get away from it all, after all?
Little secret; I actually love maps.
pp
Pasta Paulie 
Brings back memories of August 77 and a hamlet called Rhenigidale in the Outer Hebrides. Six cottages and a single phone, it was a public call office in the postman’s house and the number was Rhenigidale 1X. It was also the longest local call in the UK at over 100 miles as the single channel radio link had to go down to Tarbet across The Minch, back up the mainland and across the water again. Because it was a single channel it had no tone pulses for feeding it money so users just had to make a guess as to the cost. Getting to Rhenigidale involved either a seven mile hike or hiring a small boat. Date was August 16 but it was not until the night of the 17th that learned of the passing of Elvis when reached civilisation again, Stornoway!
Ah brilliant stuff Alan and a true BT man’s memories there. Must admit the Outer Hebrides sounds pretty remote – might just add that to the bucket list!
cheers mate
pp