North South Distances?

What is the North South distance in miles from the Channel to the Scottish Border and the the distance from the Channel to the Northernmost point in Scotland?

I've also heard that no part of England is more than 1.5hr drive to a coast.

Hi Jo:  Nice to meet you.  Great info.

Hi Rutledge:  It's an eye opener, driving over there, as I'm sure you've found out.  The maps can be very deceiving, because for us, we're used to the interstates with the 75MPH speed limits, so we figure we can be 40 miles in 30 minutes. From my ltd. experience, that's definitely not the case over there.  As for traffic, I suppose it's like here, gridlock around the major metro areas.  If you're in a hurry, I think you want to stick to the M roads (AKA dual carriageways - I love that term!).  But if you're not in a hurry, take the small A and B roads and enjoy the scenery.  You even get used to the roundabouts after a while.

Hi Everyone

First of all, thank you for the welcome - it's my first time on the forum although I've been adding photographs for a while now. 

Andy I see your figure is different to mine - you must have found a shorter short-cut than whoever tries it out for Wikipedia!  Who's going to drive it to check?

I've just checked on my SatNav from John O'Groats to Sennen where the A30 meets the B3315 and it says 829 miles.  So take your pick Rutledge! 

Thanks for the replies. Never thought to look in wiki.

We drove from York to London on some of the smaller roads for awhile and it took forever. 

Our  driver told us when he was driving us to Gatwick that the ring road was 200 miles around London.

It seemed like he was exaggerating a little.

Hi Jo, welcome to the POE forum and site. Pleased to meat you. If you are a little mad, then you have come to the right place, we are all mad here.

Rutledge, I think your driver was right about the distance around the M25, Londons great orbital and largest car park in the UK. It may as well be a car park, traffic moves so slow most of the time, its almost like being parked up. Maybe not quite 200 miles, but not far short of it though.

Peter,

Are there any nice, quaint towns within the M25 that are appealing for a buyer?

My wife and I at some point in the next 5 years would like to buy something in England.

or should we go outside of it the M25? We would like to be somewhat close to London. Not more than 50 miles.

Something that would have the advantages of shopping in a larger town/city,etc.