Despite its relatively small size the UK boosts incredibly varied and often very beautiful scenery. Here you will find some basic facts on the UK’s physical features.
Physical features
With an area of about 243,000 square kilometers (93,000 square miles), excluding inland water, the UK is just under 1,000 kilometers (about 600 miles) from the south coast to the extreme north of the Scottish mainland and just under 500 kilometers (around 300 miles) across at the widest point.
Key features:
- Highest mountain: Ben Nevis, in the Highlands of Scotland, 1,343 m (4,406 ft)
- Longest river: the Severn, 322 km (200 miles) long, which rises in central Wales and flows through Shrewsbury, Worcester and Gloucester in England to the Bristol Channel
- Largest lake: Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland, 396 sq km (153 sq miles)
- Deepest lake: Loch Morar in the Highlands of Scotland, 310 m (1,017 ft) deep
- Highest waterfall: Eas a’Chual Aluinn, from Glas Bheinn, also in the Highlands of Scotland, with a drop of 200 m (660 ft)
- Deepest cave: Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, Powys, Wales, 308 m (1,010 ft) deep
- Most northerly point on the British mainland:Dunnet Head, north-east Scotland
- Most southerly point on the British mainland:Lizard Point, Cornwall
- Most easterly town in England: Lowestoft, Suffolk
- The Channel Tunnel, near Dover in Kent, links England and France. It is 48 km (30 miles) long, of which nearly 37 km (23 miles) are actually under the English Channel.
Climate
Rainfall is greatest in western and upland parts of the country, where the annual average exceeds 1,100 mm (43 inches); the higher mountain areas receive more than 2,000 mm.
During May, June and July (the months of longest daylight) the amount of sunshine varies from five hours in northern Scotland to eight hours in the Isle of Wight.
During the months of shortest daylight (November, December and January) sunshine is at a minimum, with an average of an hour a day in northern Scotland and two hours a day on the south coast of England.
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