please empty your brain below
*Ballesteros - with an 'e'

Frank F | 14.02.19 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Not even eight in the morning and I'm absolutely fascinated. I miss geography!

Chris | 14.02.19 - 7:55 a.m. | #

I'm left wondering what the chances are of each individual raindrop making it from the cloud to the sea (evaporation, ending up in a fish or plant, soaking into the ground), also as well as the distance, the time it takes.

Still Anon | 14.02.19 - 8:02 a.m. | #

I wonder in the unusual nature of the geography in that area explains the rather complex route the historic boundary between Middlesex and Hertfordshire takes?

Phil | 14.02.19 - 8:07 a.m. | #

That bloody stream at the back of QE Boys school made the ground a total swamp. As an 11 year old school kid we had to run through it as part of the dreaded cross country run. The swamp was known as the Elephant Dip, and until today I'd managed to wipe it from my brain.

Schoolboy | 14.02.19 - 9:17 a.m. | #

Absolutely fascinating!
I do enjoy a good geography post. My biggest regret is only scraping a D in the O level, as I could probably have got a C if I'd tried harder - but being the type of person who can't get their head around rivers flowing north (isn't that uphill?!) a D is probably an astoundingly brilliant result!!

And being in my neck of the woods, the Pinn is on my to-do list when hopefully the celandines are out. After reading this I'm even more motivated to do it.

Cornish Cockney | 14.02.19 - 10:05 a.m. | #

DG this is a nice write-up. Your reasoning falls somewhat though thanks to man-made waterways. Most of the water goes via the Grand Union Canal to Brentford or via Little Venice, Kings' Cross & your own neck of the woods to Limehouse (or via the Lea) then the Thames. The water travels perhaps fifty, sixty or seventy miles rather than the 100 miles you specify.

Rog | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 12:25 p.m. | #

@Cornish Cockney — Count yourself lucky. Our school concentrated on Social Geography. “Imagine you’re a nomad living in the desert,” and that sort of thing. Dropped it as soon as possible.

Thanks, DG, for giving some proper geography. Great post, as always.

Paul | 14.02.19 - 12:26 p.m. | #

Our web page for Stanmore Common, as above, is a lot better than the one you link to - if you can please edit! Best Wishes Steve

dg writes: I linked to two (including yours).

Steve Bolsover | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 12:40 p.m. | #

Rog, my opening question was "Which London river has the longest journey to the sea?" and (glib assumptions about raindrops aside) I believe I have addressed this.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 12:52 p.m. | #

There's a hill just north of Devizes where rainfall divides between the Channel, the North Sea and the Atlantic. It's not even the highest point on its own ridge but it's the apex of the whole of Britain. I've always found that quite wonderful.

Gregg | 14.02.19 - 2:31 p.m. | #

Scroll to the UK map and you pinpoint the Monken Hadley Common & Dollis Valley locations in the Thames purple network. Would be great to see this colour coded to tributaries level.

Charlie | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 4:49 p.m. | #

Excellent blog today!

Can I suggest you do a piece on which river "ships" were able to go furthest up in times gone by, say back to the Romans? By ship I mean anything capable of sailing across the North Sea or English Channel and entering the Thames.

strawbrick | 14.02.19 - 7:27 p.m. | #

I think DG touched on the complication arising from some human-influenced drainage issues when he said " it's complicated by the presence of Aldenham Reservoir ..., and that's a whole other can of worms". This can includes the canals (full of worms), of course, but also many boreholes and artesian wells. Thames Water also put some water into boreholes, as well as taking some out. DG also mentions the way permeable river beds (which all unpiped rivers have) confuse matters, when he points out the oft outlet-less Mimmshall Brook.

Malcolm | 14.02.19 - 7:38 p.m. | #

I know much of the gap in rivers in the middle is due to the denser urban area and rivers being covered but it also does look like there is a continental-esque divide between east and west London.

Flare | 14.02.19 - 9:58 p.m. | #

@ strawbrick
Once the Romans had built the first London Bridge, that effectively ended any possibility of large ships going further upstreamm. However, the newer London Bridge was less of an obstruction, and seagoing colliers (the "flatirons") could get to most of the Thames side power stations, certainly as far as Fulham, and possibly even Kingston if they could fit into Teddington Lock

timbo explains | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 10:30 p.m. | #

I've checked further - Fulham was as far as the flatirons went. Kingston was served by lighters (barges)

timbo explains | Homepage | 14.02.19 - 10:35 p.m. | #

Makes me want to reread Finnegans Wake.

Jim | 15.02.19 - 8:50 a.m. | #

Re the ships, I was rather hoping that a blog from DG on the topic would confirm or deny the assertion that "ships" could "dock" at Merton Abbey on the River Wandle, a tributary of the Thames

dg writes: I have no such historical powers.

strawbrick | 15.02.19 - 3:50 p.m. | #

The Bourne/Wandle has quite a journey too!

Andrew Jarman | 15.02.19 - 4:19 p.m. | #

Lovely stuff. This is what we want. Which other prolific London blogger would ever discuss karst landforms?

Chris P | 18.02.19 - 7:02 p.m. | #











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