A common question that comes up in various social media memes is about how far north, south, east and west you have been in your life. Over the years, I’ve travelled a fair amount, although I’ve always lived in one of two neighbouring counties in Yorkshire. That means that the compass points below are all relative to Yorkshire.
I’ve tried to include different modes of transport as well.
Furthest north
Being in northern England, I’m already at a comparatively high latitude and so the furthest north I’ve been is St Andrews in Scotland. My mum has a friend from university that lives nearby, and so we’ve been a few times. The last time was in 2015 for a friends’ wedding, when Christine was pregnant. We went by train, as I had only just passed my driving test.
The furthest north I have driven is to Lindisfarne back in July.
Furthest south
Again, being at a high latitude means there’s a lot of south. So far, I haven’t ventured beyond the equator. The furthest south I have been is St Lawrence Gap, on the south coast of Barbados. I went there with my parents on holiday in 2000; it was the year I turned 16, and also their 25th wedding anniversary.
Sticking to land transport, I have travelled by train from Agde on the south coast of France, all the way back up to York in a day before. It took 9 1/2 hours, although this was in the days before High Speed 1 had opened and so the same journey would probably be closer to 8 hours now. This was in 2003, again on holiday with my parents. The journey down was by car, but I had opted to join the holiday late as was after my first year at university. My parents were booked onto Motorail to travel back from the south of France to Calais, where you put the car on the train overnight and travel in sleeper carriages. Alas, it wasn’t possible for me to be added to the Motorail booking so I made my own way home.
As for the further south that I have driven, this was our 2019 holiday in the Dordogne in France.
Furthest east
As well as going north, I also went very far east in 2015. This was travel for work, and so far it’s the one and only time I’ve been abroad for work. The trip took me to Jordan and Oman, with layovers in Dubai and Bahrain. Specifically, the furthest east was in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
When it comes to driving, the furthest east I have been is probably Great Yarmouth, for Sci-Fi Weekender. Looking at a map, Great Yarmouth is slightly further east than some of the places I’ve driven to on holiday in France. And though I have caught a train into Italy before, this was a flying holiday in 2001.
Furthest west
Our trip to Barbados is the one time I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and so it’s also the furthest west that I’ve been. We stayed in a self-catering apartment in Holetown on the western coast.
If we zoom in on Europe, then Dublin was the most westerly place, but we flew there. We haven’t been back to Ireland yet but it’s somewhere that I’d like to see again.
Driving-wise, the furthest west I’ve gone is the peninsula of Quiberon in Brittany, France, where we went in 2022. As for by train, this would probably have been Gloucester, where I went on a PGL canoeing holiday in 1998.
All in all, I’m lucky to have been able to travel so far. I definitely want to go further, and I’m sure a list of places that I haven’t been to yet would make a good future blog post.
