What’s the furthest north in the UK you’ve been? Where do you think the north starts?

[BarrelOfOtters]

Prompted by a friend who has never been north of Birmingham and thinks of that as North.

orkney for me.

Dunnet head (the most northerly point on the mainland). Not been to Orkney/Shetland.

Past Inverness there's still an awful lot of land/space!!

I have been to Cape Wrath which is the furthest NW point in mainland UK. We frequently holiday in northern Scotland. It is so beautiful on that coastline. I consider the north to start around Sheffield/Manchester. I am from SE England.

Furthest north - North Ronaldsay
Furthest south - Land's End

In my head, The North starts at Sheffield. I'm certainly not going to tell my Yorkshire-through-and-through Sheffielder father in law and boss that they are midlanders. They wouldn't be having that.

Thurso is the furthest north I’ve been. It’s definitely in the north of the British mainland.

I don’t consider anywhere in England to be in the north of the UK. But even considering just England, the north of England starts further south than seems sensible.

But I don’t think it’s really a geographical concept. It’s more like that global north/south thing where Australia is in the north. It’s a squint at it and it looks like it might be geographical expression of an economic or cultural divide within England.

But surely Manchester, Leeds, York, Durham, Middlesbrough, Sunderland are all in The North?
They're all south of Newcastle.

Are you talking about "The North of England" or "The North of the UK"?

England - I stand by Sheffield
UK - probably more like the Tees or Tyne, if not further north.

Although I’ve been pretty much as north as it gets (I’ve been to Orkney), I live in the South East and definitely consider Birmingham to be ‘up North’ - for England anyway. That’s the English North / South divide for me (aware this isn’t the same for most people, especially Northerners!).

For the U.K., I’d say the Scottish border is where the North begins.

Indeed. I’ve lived in Scotland for 32 years now. I was born in Kent & raised to think of north of the Watford gap as t'North (flat caps, chimneys, ferrets). We live & learn!

Hull as a teenager with my parents .Still never been to Scotland! Like to visit Oban or Skye though

Aberdeen.

I think the North starts in Yorkshire/Lancashire and ends at Cumbria/Northumberland.

The North is that northern area of England right before the old border counties with Scotland as the border with Scotland has moved around a bit.

Scotland isn’t part of the North.

Dunnet Head

North starts at j28 M1, or certainly by Sheffield, but north of Derby/ Nottingham starts feeling like it has more in common with Yorkshire than the majority of the Midlands. North Derbyshire is in line with Sheffield and Manchester. It can easily take as long to travel New Mills to Swadlincote as it takes to get from Derby, down the M1 to the outskirts of London.

South- The Lizard
Starts at Newport Pagnall.

I'm a believer in The Midlands which is sadly under represented on road signs.

My degree suggested concepts like the Tees-Ex line. I think Grimsby and Hull disprove that hypothesis.

Furthest north- Unst in Shetland

North starts at Watford Gap??

Shetland.

As a life-long visitor to Scotland (from London), I've always found it strange that English people think of 'the north' as being anywhere in England - for me 'the north' is Scotland, and the likes of Yorkshire, Lancashire etc are the bits in the middle.

I'll accept that Newcastle, the Lake District etc are north of England, but Manchester?! Has no one from Manchester ever looked at a map of England? It's in the middle section of England.

I would think Birmingham is the Midlands, and looking at a map, then yes, it is in the middle of England, and probably south if you include Scotland as well.
To me, the north means Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Lake District is North West.
The furthest I have been in the UK is John O'Groats

If you say bath, grass, path etc: north
If you say barth, grarss, parth etc: South

I think of the north starting at Watford Gap. The furthest I've been is Aberdeen. I used to have to go "up north" quite a lot as my ex-husband was from Sheffield.

I've been to Cumbria when young, that's definitely north!

Realistically for me anything north, although I know it's probably not, is anything north of Manchester. Maybe Blackpool? No idea which is further north without checking, my geography is appalling.

Very much born and bred southern here and not explored much up north due to distance.

Perth is the furthest north I have been

I consider anything about Birmingham to be north but north Norwich is if you draw a line above Birmingham but I wouldn’t class this as north

Depends! In Scotland its just anywhere significantly north of where currently am.
If its someone from SE England, and said they were going "to the North" Id probably have to think if theyd mean they were going to the North of England, (even if they were talkibg to me in Inverness). Its a pretty commonplace geographical term for a rough area, not just for a direction.

Newcastle Carlisle etc are south for me, north would be anything north of Inverness I’ve been to Orkney several times. I’ve been asked several times where I live and is there anything there like shops etc

Stirling is furthest North I've been.
Stoke on trent and Nottingham is still Midlands but any further north (Crewe for example) is "the north" (I live in the Midlands)

Yes- me too. “The North” is just a northern region in England, which is south of Scotland and the borders region.

It isn’t everything north of a place in England, including Scotland and isles.

The lighthouse at John O'Groats. Tried to get to Orkney but the ferry was off due to strong winds that day. North starts at the border, anywhere from the M6 down is South (even the road signs say it). Watford and up is not North 😄 Unless you're only counting England and entirely forgetting there's another chunk to the UK above it.

As others have said, in Scotland when someone refers to "down south" it just means England. Carlisle, Newcastle - both down south to us.🙂

I haven't been further north than Inverness, though I fully intend to rectify this!

Furthest North - Fort William, Scotland

I would consider Newcastle, the North of England, not of the UK.