Highland and lowland Britain

Britain is varied in scenery. Despite its comparatively small area Great Britain contains rocks of all the main geological periods, making contrast between highland and lowland Britain. The new rocks, which are less resistant to weather, have been worn down to form lowland. They lie to the south and east forming bands of hills which alternate with areas of lowland. The hills of lowland are formed of chalk and limestone. The agricultural plain of England lies to the Channel and the continent of Europe. The soils are deeper and richer than in highlands. The climate is drier and better suited to farming. Communications are easier. Thus human settlement in these areas is dense and more evenly spread.

The rocks of most of the north and west of Britain are harder and older than those of the south and east. These older rocks are covered by large areas of moorland such as the Lake District, the Pennines and much of Scotland and Wales, where the soils are poor, thin and stony. These areas are wetter and harder to reach than the lower land to the south and east. As a result, these areas of Great Britain are thinly populated except where coal or iron have been discovered.

Highland Britain comprises all those mountain parts and uplands of Great Britain which lie above 1000 ft (305 m). Geologically these mountains are among the oldest in the world, more than 3500 million years old, formed by ancient hard rocks with traces of volcanic action.

The Cambrian is the mountain range running along the western coast, in Wales. Its highest point at the center of the range is Snowdon – 3560 ft (1085 m) above sea level. The Welsh call the “Eagles” Nestling place” The first men to conquer Everest trained in Snowdonia. He was Sir Edmund Hillary. With his team he made his famous expedition to the top of Mount Everest in 1953.

To the east of Cumbrian massif lies the broad central upland known as the Pennines – the backbone of Britain, a continuous stretch of high land expending to 890 km. the Pennines have few sharp peaks and chiefly consist of plateau situated at various levels. To the north of the Pennines are the Cheviot Hills. The Cheviots are the northerly extension of the Pennines proper and stretch to the Scottish border.

Scottish Highlands are formed by the Grampian Mountains and North-West Highlands. Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, 4406 ft (1343), towering above Fort William in Scotland, is granite mass more than 500 million years old. The oldest rocks dating back 2,6 billion years are found in the Scottish Highlands and the Outer Hebrides.

3. RIVERS

The rivers of Britain are short. Their direction and character are determined by the position of the mountains. Most of the rivers flow in the eastward direction since the west coast is mountainous.

Due to the humid climate the water level is always high. The rivers seldom freeze in winter, most of them remain ice-free but they are not navigable for ocean ships.

The most important rivers are the Severn (354 km), the Thames (346 km), the Trent, the Aire, the Ouse, the Clyde, the Tweed, the Tyne, the Tay, the Eden.

The Tay is the longest river in Scotland (118 km). Part of the border between Scotland and England is along reaches of the Tweed, near which the woolen fabric bearing the same name is produced. The Severn flows along the border between England and Wales. The longest river of Britain makes only 1/20 of the Amazon – the longest river in the world (3600 miles). One of the tributaries is the Avon with its Stratford, glorified by Shakespeare. The swiftest flowing river in the British Isles is the Spey flowing across the southern Highlands of Scotland.

LAKES

British lakes are rather small and remote with no outlets, so they afford limited economical possibilities in the system of the navigable water ways. The largest of them are Lough Neagh in north-east Ireland, Lough Lomond near Glasgow and Lough Ness near Inverness in Scotland.

Lakeland, or the Lake District, is the Pennine system in the north-west of England. The 16 major long and narrow lakes lie snugly among the steep slopes of the Highlands near Scotland. This remarkable place is known through the world for its beautiful deep lakes, its plunging waterfalls and emerald meadows. It is outstanding for walking, climbing, sailing and boating.

This district is also known for its association with the history of English literature and in the first place with the name of William Wordsworth (1770 – 1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets. His home and Lakeland scenes still inspire great poetry.

Wordsworth is frequently thought of as a “nature poet”: his pantheistic philosophy led him to believe that men should enter into communication with nature. Since nature was an expression of God and was charged with his presence, he believed it constituted a potential moral guide for those possessed of “a feeling heart”.

William Wordsworth