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Are you East of Kirtle Water?

Urzzz1871 wrote:Are you East of Kirtle Water?

Yes! (21/40) Getting ever closer...

Are you at Gretna Services?

Urzzz1871 wrote:Are you at Gretna Services?

No (22/40). Not this time. I've been there before, though.

This is baffling. I keep thinking you must be in Gretna Green but it's on the wrong side of the motorway.

Are you within 250 metres of the "Famous Blacksmiths Shop"?

GuyBarry wrote:Are you within 250 metres of the "Famous Blacksmiths Shop"?

No (23/40)

Though I did pop into the Blacksmith complex a couple of hours later - I could only walk around the buildings, as it was evening by then, and everything was shut.

Which goes to show you that you are guessing in the right kind of area! The location I need you to find is a significant one, but you may need to think a little outside of the box, and remember the odd comment or two I've added to previous posts.

Are you north of Gavins Loch?

Urzzz1871 wrote:Are you north of Gavins Loch?

No (24/40)

• (It took me some time to find Gavin's Loch before I could answer your question!)

Are you physically on the border between England and Scotland?

GuyBarry wrote:Are you physically on the border between England and Scotland?

Yes! (25/40)

• Nearly there - the nearest square metre, please!

Are you on the bridge over the River Sark on the B7076

Urzzz1871 wrote:Are you on the bridge over the River Sark on the B7076

Yes! (26/40) Keep going...

Are you standing by the disc on the West wall marking the border of England & Scotland?

Urzzz1871 wrote:Are you standing by the disc on the West wall marking the border of England & Scotland?

** Yes!!! ** Well done everyone! Got it in 27 questions!

This is where I found myself late afternoon on Sat 4th January 2014 – on the Sark Bridge on the B7076, between Scotland and England. I was on the southwest side of the bridge, looking over the wall, along the river. And I was at the dead centre of the bridge, left foot on the English half, right foot on the Scottish half. Though being in the middle of the river, I guess I was in “no man’s land”!

So technically I was neither in England nor Scotland. And I quoted the proverb, “Half a man is as good as no man at all”, just in case there was any argument. Otherwise Q3 would have been a bit tricky to answer! And had Q4 been “Are you in Scotland?” the answer would still have been “No”. (That would have led to a whole new line of questioning in Northern Ireland, I guess!) And other later ‘ambiguous’ questions had to be answered ‘No’ for the same reason.

But back to the location: (http://goo.gl/maps/vJAjp)
It felt significant for me to spend some time straddling this border at the start of the year which sees the Scottish Independence Vote. If it turns out to be a ‘yes’ vote, then it may have an impact on those of us who live one side of the border, but have to cross to see family on the other side. This is not meant as a political statement, but as one who would be affected this way, it would be nice if I (an Englishman) had a vote. Just saying...

RobbieM wrote:So technically I was neither in England nor Scotland. And I quoted the proverb, “Half a man is as good as no man at all”, just in case there was any argument. Otherwise Q3 would have been a bit tricky to answer! And had Q4 been “Are you in Scotland?” the answer would still have been “No”. (That would have led to a whole new line of questioning in Northern Ireland, I guess!)

Clever! Note how I carefully avoided asking "are you in Scotland?" - I had a hunch that it might turn out not to be entirely straightforward. Well done to Urzzz1871 for getting the precise locations.

It felt significant for me to spend some time straddling this border at the start of the year which sees the Scottish Independence Vote. If it turns out to be a ‘yes’ vote, then it may have an impact on those of us who live one side of the border, but have to cross to see family on the other side.

Highly unlikely that it would make any difference. The proposal is to retain the current common travel area, just as with the common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. No one thinks there'd be any benefit to putting up border controls.