Now that my blog is really old, I thought it might be interesting from time to time to go back and revisit a post from 20 years ago. Ideally exactly 20 years ago, which in this case would be 8th February 2004. When I asked this.
Sunday, February 08, 2004
I've visited the counties in yellow.
Which counties have you visited?
You can't easily answer that question any more because the map-creation website I linked to is long extinct. But thankfully I screenshot my results so I still have them to hand. Here's what I said at the time.
Ooh, I like this. Mainly because I can fill in a lot more of it than the world map that's been doing the rounds lately. But also because I'm quietly amazed just how much of it I can fill in. You might have guessed that a Londoner like myself never ventures outside the M25, but as you can see you'd be wrong. Blimey, I've even lived in nine of these counties.
I've only filled in counties that I've deliberately visited, not that I've merely travelled through. In fact I've travelled through every single English and Welsh county on the map, with the exception of Pembrokeshire. It's probably just as well that Northern Ireland isn't on the map (the Ordnance Survey left it off the original), but a pity that the Channel Islands aren't included because I've done two of them. Big respect to my parents for dragging me round the UK while I was a child. Large chunks of this map would still be blue were it not for their sterling efforts.
It is of course eminently debatable what a 'county' actually is. But in this case the map comes from the Ordnance Survey so it's official, plus this is data I fixed 20 years ago so I'm stuck with it. In England it looks like these are ceremonial counties, with the exception of all the ridings of Yorkshire which've been grouped as one. In Wales however they're principal areas, several of them merged, and in Scotland various combinations of council areas. Best just run with it for now, even if this isn't how I'd do it nowadays.
So, where's still left for me to visit? I wrote.
And I'm pleased to say that, at least in England, I've managed to tick off all the remaining counties.
Rutland: I went there in 2008, took the train to Oakham, saw the horseshoes, walked the reservoir. Unfortunately I went at Easter and Easter was early that year so it was unseasonably chilly, but I have now been to Rutland so that's the closest patch of blue to London turned yellow.
North East England: Shamefully in 2004 I'd never been anywhere in the entire North East region, other than passing through it on a train. But I have since sorted that - Northumberland in 2007 with the parents, Newcastle in 2017 with BestMate and County Durham for the day in 2015. It may even have been colouring in this map that encouraged me to go. But hurrah, with that 2017 trip I completed the whole of England - every county visited (and indeed in 2018 every county blogged).
Wales had three gaps... Carmarthenshire, Flintshire, and Pembrokeshire.
Carmarthenshire: I've reconsidered this because I remember now I alighted at Carmarthen station when travelling to Lampeter in 1974. Should've been yellow already. Flintshire: I finally made it here in 2018 on a day trip to Chester, but only just. The town's football stadium is unique because it's part in England and part in Wales, so by walking to the outskirts and crossing the car park I spent at least a minute in Flintshire. Pembrokeshire: But I've still never been to Pembrokeshire, it's my sole Welsh holdout. Scenically that's a travesty.
If instead you consider the eight Welsh preserved counties, I've done all but Mid Glamorgan.
If instead you consider the 22 Welsh principal areas, I'm missing eight.
As for Scotland, in 2004 I only had four yellows; Argyll and Bute, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Fife. That was poor. But twenty years later I've only added Na h-Eileanan an Iar courtesy of a week in the Outer Hebrides in 2006, making five, and arguably that's poorer still.
I'm not sure why the map didn't included Northern Ireland given it's part of the UK, but I still haven't been there at all.
I'm not sure why the map included the Isle of Man given it's not part of the UK, but I've now been thanks to a long weekend in 2014.
In summary then, to answer the question my 38 year-old self asked 20 years ago...
England: I've now been to all the counties, hurrah. Wales: I still need to do Pembrokeshire. Scotland: Still huge areas left to visit but all so far away. Must try harder.
And I wonder how my 78 year-old self might respond in 20 years time.
Now that my blog is really old, I thought it might be interesting from time to time to go back and revisit a post from 20 years ago. Ideally exactly 20 years ago, which in this case would be 8th February 2004. When I asked this.
