Round the World With Team Red: Stage 1 Quiz

Answer: Moray Firth

Inverness is the most northerly city in the United Kingdom. 'Inver' means 'mouth of', identifying its location on the coast at the estuary of the river. You will probably recognise the name Loch Ness, the source of the river, with its famed, though mythical, monster.

Of the options given, only the Moray Firth is on the east coast of Scotland. The other three are located on the west coast.

(Question by Rossian).

Answer: Ben Lomond

Appropriately, Ben Lomond derives from Beinn Laomainn, the Scots Gaelic for Beacon Mountain. It stands 974m tall in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park - a relative dwarf to Ben Nevis' 1345m. Its accessibility from Glasgow makes it particularly popular among tourists. Whilst Loch Lomond of folk song fame is the largest lake by surface area in Great Britain, Loch Ness has greater volume. Beyond that, in the UK as a whole, both Lough Neagh and Lough Erne in Northern Ireland are significantly larger in both surface area and volume.

(Question by Malik24).

Answer: Anglesey

Anglesey is the biggest island in Wales. In the Irish Sea it is also the largest island by area and the second in population behind the Isle of Man. The Menai Strait is 25km long and separates Anglesey from Gwynedd in Wales. The two architecturally marvelous bridges that cross the Menai Strait are the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge designed by Robert Stephenson in 1850.

(Question by 1nn1).

Answer: Prestatyn

The original Offa's Dyke was a series of earthworks, traditionally believed to have been built on the orders of Offa, a king of Mercia, in the late eighth century. The footpath is rather more recent, having been opened in 1971. It covers a distance of nearly 180 miles, with Abergavenny, Hay-on-Wye (famous for its numerous bookshops) and Llangollen among the places on its route. Prestatyn is situated in Denbighshire, bordering the Irish Sea.

(Question by Rossian).

Answer: Buxton

Buxton is perhaps best known for its branded mineral water which has been a household name across the UK. According to Buxton's website in 2019, the spring water travels through a mile of bedrock and is naturally pumped up, surfacing at 28 degrees celsius. The Buxton Opera House hosts the yearly Buxton Festival as well as the Buxton Festival Fringe, a popular warmup for the Edinburgh Fringe. Buxton also has the highest elevation - around 300m - of any market town in England.

(Question by Malik24).

Answer: Pothcurno

Pothcurno is only four miles from Land's End, the south-westerly point of England. The beach and surrounding cliffs around Pothcurno are officially designated Areas of National Beauty - in fact, around a third of Cornwall has that designation. The Minack Theatre was originally built after World War I when Rowena Cade moved to Cornwall and built a house for £100 at Minack Point. She offered the local villagers the venue to perform 'The Tempest', which was successful enough that the theatre was then grown and expanded into a proper venue.

(Question by Malik24).

Answer: False

We can't go to the airport in Wells because, well, there isn't one! Most of those in the south-western region of England are limited to Bristol Airport if they want to fly from a fairly local spot - fortunately it is only 12 miles away from Wells. Wells is the smallest city in England, with a population of 10,536 in 2011, and it is largely the presence of a cathedral which enabled it to be granted city status, confirmed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974. However, both St Asaph and St Davids in Wales were certified as cities with even smaller populations, with 1,841 and 3,355 respectively in the 2011 census.

(Question by Malik24).

Answer: Hexagons

These spectacular columns rise like stepping stones in Bushmills, County Antrim in Northern Ireland and were created in the Paleogene period as a result of volcanic activity. Mafic lava, primarily comprised of magnesium and iron, formed a plateau when it came into contact with beds of chalk. It cooled quickly as it came into contact with the sea, contracting to form polygonal shapes a bit over 30cm in diameter and up to 25m tall.

(Question by VegemiteKid).

Answer: Limerick

Sadly, the name 'Limerick' means 'barren pot of land'. In reality, it's a lovely verdant place and is the location of grand buildings such as King John's Castle, picturesque thatched cottages and of course, the river Shannon. It is known for the discovery of the Book of Kells and the Ardagh Chalice, uncovered by a couple of potato farmers in the mid-1800s.

(Question by VegemiteKid).

Answer: Casino at Marino

The catchily named Casino at Marino is a small decorative fifty feet square house originally commissioned for an estate in the northside of Dublin by James Caulfield, 1st Earl of Charlemont. In this case, 'casino' derives from the Italian for 'little house' and as such is a false friend. The house itself is slightly TARDIS-like as from the outside it would appear to only have a single room, but in fact has sixteen rooms on three floors. Fortunately, we haven't gone to the wrong city to gamble -- a large number of Ireland's most significant gambling institutions lie in the capital of Dublin, with the World Casino Directory's website indicating that in 2019, 20 of 24 legal Irish casinos were here.

(Question by Malik24).