Theme Week Wales – Newport

6 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Newport Arcade © geograph.org.uk - Robin Drayton/cc-by-sa-2.0

Newport Arcade © geograph.org.uk – Robin Drayton/cc-by-sa-2.0

Newport is a city and unitary authority in south east Wales. It is located on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn estuary, 12 miles (19 km) east of Cardiff. It is the third largest city in Wales, with a population of 146,000.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – Bangor

4 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

The junction of Farrar Road and the High Street © geograph.org.uk - Eric Jones/cc-by-sa-2.0

The junction of Farrar Road and the High Street © geograph.org.uk – Eric Jones/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd unitary authority, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. It is one of only six places classed as a city in Wales, although it is only the 36th largest urban area by population. According to the 2001 census, 46.6% of the non-student resident population speak Welsh, which is low for Gwynedd but despite this, the language keeps a high profile in town.   read more…

Theme Week Wales

3 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Llandudno © Noel Walley/cc-by-sa-3.0

Llandudno © Noel Walley/cc-by-sa-3.0

Wales is a generally mountainous country, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit, on the western side of central southern Great Britain. It is about 274 km (170 mi) north–south and 97 km (60 mi) east–west. The oft-quoted ‘size of Wales‘ is about 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other directions: the Irish Sea to the north and west, St George’s Channel and the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south. Altogether, Wales has over 1,180 km (730 mi) of coastline, which can be discovered in full length on the Wales Coast Path. Over 50 islands lie off the Welsh mainland; the largest being Anglesey, in the northwest.   read more…

The Camden Market in London

1 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit, London, Shopping Reading Time:  9 minutes

Camden Lock Market © flickr.com - Duncan Harris/cc-by-2.0

Camden Lock Market © flickr.com – Duncan Harris/cc-by-2.0

The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent’s Canal (popularly referred to as Camden Lock), often collectively named “Camden Market” or “Camden Lock”. Among products sold on the stalls are crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, and fast food. It is the fourth-most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 100,000 people each weekend. A small local food market that has operated in Inverness Street since the beginning of the 20th century has lost stalls since local supermarkets opened; by mid-2013 all the foodstuff stalls had gone, leaving only stalls similar to those of the other markets, including fast food but not produce. Since 1974 a small weekly crafts market that has operated every Sunday near Camden Lock has developed into a large complex of markets. The markets, originally temporary stalls only, extended to a mixture of stalls and fixed premises.   read more…

The National Gallery in London

22 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  5 minutes

© geograph.org.uk - Robert MacPherson/cc-by-sa-2.0

© geograph.org.uk – Robert MacPherson/cc-by-sa-2.0

The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and entry to the main collection is free of charge. It is the fourth most visited art museum in the world, after the Musée du Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum.   read more…

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Northern England

20 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Canal boats at Appley Bridge © Strider52/cc-by-sa-3.0

Canal boats at Appley Bridge © Strider52/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line. It has several small branches, and in the early 21st century a new link was constructed into the Liverpool docks system.   read more…

Manchester in North West England

16 May 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Town Hall © flickr.com - Stevo1000/cc-by-2.0

Town Hall © flickr.com – Stevo1000/cc-by-2.0

Manchester Listeni/ˈmæntʃɛstər/ is a city and metropolitan borough in North West England with an estimated population of 503,000. Manchester lies within the United Kingdom’s third largest urban area which has a population of 2,240,230. The local authority is Manchester City Council. Manchester is situated in the south-central part of North West England, fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south and the Pennines to the north and east. Inhabitants of Manchester are referred to as Mancunians or colloquially as Mancs. The city is notable for its architecture, culture, music scene, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact and sporting connections. Manchester’s sports clubs include Premier League football teams, Manchester City and Manchester United. Manchester was the site of the world’s first railway station, and the place where scientists first split the atom and developed the first stored-program computer. Manchester is served by two universities, including the largest single-site university in the UK, and has the country’s third largest urban economy. Manchester is also the third-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, after London and Edinburgh, and the most visited in England outside London. Manchester has six designated Local Nature Reserves which are Chorlton Water Park, Blackley Forest, Clayton Vale and Chorlton Ees, Ivy Green, Boggart Hole Clough and Highfield Country Park.   read more…

The Burlington Arcade in London

17 April 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Shopping Reading Time:  6 minutes

Burlington Arcade - North Entrance © Andrew Dunn - www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-3.0

Burlington Arcade – North Entrance © Andrew Dunn – www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London that runs behind Bond Street from Piccadilly through to Burlington Gardens. It is one of the precursors of the mid-19th century European shopping gallery and the modern shopping centre. The Burlington Arcade was built “for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public”.   read more…

The seaside town of Ilfracombe in Devon

2 April 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Ilfracombe © Adrian Pingstone

Ilfracombe © Adrian Pingstone

Ilfracombe is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast with a small harbour, surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from ‘The Coastguard Cottages’ in Hele Bay toward the east and 4 miles along The Torrs to Lee Bay toward the west. The resort is hilly and the highest point within the parish boundary is at ‘Hore Down Gate’, 2 miles inland and 860 feet (270 m) above sea level.   read more…

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