United Kingdom
The United Kingdom joins England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain, its largest island, is the ninth-largest island in the world, and nowhere on it is more than about 110 km from the sea.
“I'd fly the Atlantic the way Alcock and Brown did.”
- On 14–15 June 1919 John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew from Newfoundland to Ireland in about 16 hours: the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic.
- The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 1825, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives.
The land
The United Kingdom covers about 244,000 km², and its coastline runs for about 12,429 km. It also has more than a thousand small islands, most of them off the north and west coasts of Scotland. The highest peak is Ben Nevis, 1,345 metres high, in the Scottish Highlands. The longest river is the Severn, about 350 km long, which flows through Wales and England. The Thames, about 346 km long, is the longest river wholly in England. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the country.
Getting around
The Channel Tunnel opened on 6 May 1994. It links England and France and is 50.46 km long. Its underwater section of 37.9 km is the longest of any tunnel in the world. Eurostar trains from St Pancras station in London reach Paris in about 2 hours 15 minutes.
Food
Fish and chips is often called the national dish. The first recorded fish and chip shop opened in Bow, in East London, around 1860. By 1910 there were more than 25,000 shops across the country. In the Second World War it was one of the few foods that was never rationed.
Sport
London was the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times, in 1908, 1948 and 2012. For the 2012 Games a new Olympic Park was built on old industrial land in Stratford, East London.
Fly over the United Kingdom.
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City 6 of 21London
The great clock tower
“I heard the great bell ring right below my wings. It was louder than the rain on my window.”
I'd set my watch by the big clock. Its keepers are The Tower Raven and the Guildhall Giant.
The plane reaches London from New York. Clear it and the map opens the way to Amsterdam and Berlin.
