The stereotype associated with private islands is a tropical paradise in the middle of the ocean covered in palm trees and rimmed by white sand beaches. Perhaps nothing meets that stereotype more than the Polynesian atoll of Tetiaroa, which was purchased by Marlon Brando in the 1960s for US$270,000 while scouting locations for Mutiny on the Bounty.

Brando’s goal was to turn the atoll into an eco-luxury resort, but there are surprisingly few amenities or buildings (even the air strip is rather plain). Prior to Brando, the atoll was used as a copra plantation, and the planted rows of Coconut palms are still quite visible.

At the other end of the spectrum are the eleven Bahamian islands of Musha Cay owned by illusionist David Copperfield (who modestly renamed them the ‘Islands of Copperfield Bay’), which operates as one of the world’s most exclusive resorts with rooms starting at US$37,500 per night (minimum three night stay, telephone use not included!)

Next stop is Fiji and Mago Island was bought in 2005 by Mel Gibson. Gibson also inherited an entire village when he bought the island, which is home to the island’s caretakers. The island has been left untouched for the most part other than the scar left by an airstrip.

Perhaps the king of islomania¹ is Virgin gazillionaire Sir Richard Branson, who boasts three islands to his name: Necker and Mosquito in the British Virgin Islands (his own private resort and an ecotourism project, respectively), and Makepeace Island in Queensland, which is currently being turned into a private resort for Virgin employees.

Some celebrities eschew the tropics for a private piece of land in their own backyards, such as Celine Dion, whose mansion sits on Île Gagnon in the Rivière des Mille Îles at Laval, Quebec.

The island’s mansion and swimming pool are clearly seen here but Street View can only get as far as the estate gates (which one must assume were put in place as sound insulation by Lavallois tired of hearing that bloody Titanic song).

True to type, adventurer/TV presenter Bear Grylls went with something a little more rudimentary, purchasing the treeless Welsh island of St. Tudwal’s Island West, which is home to not much more than a simple lighthouse and a stone cottage. The island’s cliffs are probably well-suited to a man who climbed Everest at age 23.

Of course that’s just scratching the surface of celebrity-owned islands. Do you know of any other private islands of the rich and famous on Google Maps? Let us know about them in the comments!

Locations: Australia, Polynesia, Quebec, The Bahamas, Wales / Categories: Islands

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The Street View car has come fairly close to several fires over the years, and many remain to be seen – such as this sidewalk garbage fire in a Marseilles underpass which has filled the air with acrid black smoke, or this small roadside brush fire midway between Cardiff and Newport, Wales.

In Sao Paulo, this petrol station is nearly obscured completely by the smoke from a car fire.

The most inflammatory encounters for the Street View car, however, may be these large roadside fires in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and Chiapas, Mexico.

I wonder if they’ve tried putting these fires out with the world’s largest fire hydrant? Then again, it probably wouldn’t help, seeing as how as it’s located over in Columbia, South Carolina. Besides, the Street View Car in general has bad luck with hydrants.

Fortunately, there are usually emergency workers on the case. Here in Wiesbaden, Germany, an upper-level house fire is being attended to by a number of fire trucks.

At Philadelphia International Airport, this burned-out husk of an airplane sits in a paved circle. The helpless victim of firefighter training, it joins its comrade at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base.¹

This small brush fire on the North Island of New Zealand was likely set deliberately as part of the annual process of getting the land ready for the season’s planting, and this field fire in Bulgaria is also deliberate. This other brush fire in Botswana captured by the National Geographic African Megaflyover Project, however, appears to be far more dangerous.

Then there are full-on forest fires. In the wilderness of the Northwest Territories, this forest fire is caught in the heat of the moment, sending a giant plume of smoke into the air that can be seen over 20 miles (30 km) away.

Just as ominous is this massive fire in the far east of Russia, seen here blazing a path toward the Pacific Ocean.

What’s worse than an out-of-control wildfire? Try three, as captured here in Cameroon.

Finally, here’s the Street View car getting incredibly meta, as it takes a picture of someone taking a picture of a fire along the South African coast.

Locations: Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Florida, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Northwest Territories, Pennsylvania, Russia, South Africa, South Carolina, Wales / Categories: Aircraft, Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Street Views

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Carlsberg Brewery, Copenhagen

To start, we visit the quite ornate Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark². The western gate tower is supported by four carved granite elephants, the symbol of the brewery. The Latin inscription above the gate means Let us work for our country.

Businessman J.C. Jacobson founded this brewery, which has become a major part of what is now a global brewing conglomerate. He named it after his son Carl, who – after a feud – started his own New Carlsberg company. Following the elder’s death the breweries merged under Carl’s leadership.

The elephants are each marked with an initial of one of Carl’s four children, as well as a swastika. This was originally seen as a symbol of luck based on its origin in eastern religions, though the brewery abandoned its use when it was adopted by the German Nazi party.

One thing I remember from my visit is that workers were allowed to help themselves to a beer any time during the day. They went on strike in 2010 when the company tried to regulate that consumption!

The eastern gate is also notable for the plaque describing Carl Jacobsen’s vision for the brewery, and the depictions of his family and important figures from the business. Learn more about this historic brewery at its official site.

St. James’s Gate Brewery, Ireland

Over to Ireland now, and one of the world’s best known brands – Guinness, and its original brewery St James’s Gate. The gate is marked ’1759′ – the year Arthur Guinness first made beer here, and when he signed a 9,000 year lease!

Once the world’s largest brewery, the plant occupies a huge area south of the river Liffey. Along Crane Street we can find both an attractive brewery gate and a slogan painted by conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.

At the heart of the factory is The Guinness Storehouse visitor centre³. While it’s difficult to get a clear view of it from Street View, it does have a new glass atrium designed to resemble a pint of their famous beer.

Weihenstephan Abbey, Germany

While Street View is available in some German cities, it has not yet made it to Freising in Bavaria, where the Weihenstephan Abbey claims to be the world’s oldest operating brewery.

While there are records of hops being used at the monastery as early as the 8th century, it was granted an official license in 1040, meaning it will celebrate its thousandth anniversary just 3 decades from now!

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe, Belgium

A different group of monks created one of my personal favourite beers, Leffe. It’s no longer made at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe⁴ in Dinant, Belgium, though a revitalised religious community there does offer tours of the building, and there’s also a nearby museum.

Bragdy Gwynant, Wales

And finally, just to prove that size isn’t everything⁵, how about the world’s smallest brewery? The title is claimed by Bragdy Gwynant in Wales – basically a tiny shed where real ale is brewed for the Tynllidiart Arms pub next door!

We’d love to hear from our readers – post a comment with a link to the location of your personal favourite brewery or brewpub!

Locations: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Wales / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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All is not what it seems. This community is a fake – a mock-up of a German village, built at the tail end of the Cold War for the army to practise their FIBUA skills (that’s Fighting In Built-Up Areas). Understandably, Google’s vehicles couldn’t get too close, but there are ground-level photos elsewhere online.

This Welsh impostor is by no means the only fake village in the UK. Copehill Down on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, may be the largest, consisting of more than 80 buildings. Once again constructed in a German style, there’s a pub, a school, and another church.

There are also some railway coaches, and a recently built “Iraqi village” made from stacked shipping containers.

Once again Street View doesn’t get a close-up (perhaps Google need to add a tank to their vehicle line-up), but you can still catch the odd glimpse or two of the village from the road. For lots more close-up photos from ground level, check out this image gallery on the BBC Wiltshire site.

To Norfolk, next, where avid Street Viewers may have noticed a rather large hole in the network of blue roads. Drive to the end of one of these and the reason becomes clear: red flags and gates bar the way, marking the edge of the 120km²Stanford Training Area.

Hidden away in the middle of the training ground is another sham village, Eastmere. More modest in size, it still boasts a fine-looking church with neat rows of gravestones, but a couple of the houses appear to be in ruins. Apparently Eastmere is one of the most heavily used training villages in the country, and has been given facelifts over the years to appear German, Northern Irish and Bosnian, to suit military operations of the time.¹ It seems that the soldiers who use it have a sense of humour.

Two more small but perfectly formed FIBUA sites can be found on the Kent/Sussex borders of the south coast, at Hythe and Lydd. Both are walled in and look almost like Lego road layouts from above, complete with mini roundabouts, zebra crossings and so on. The exterior of the Lydd village is also clearly shown on Street View, with the tops of the roofs visible above the wall, guarded by sentry boxes and tall floodlights.

For more information on fake villages and other top-secret military installations around the UK, be sure to look at Alan Turnbull’s Secret Bases site – and also check out our previous posts on fake buildings.

Locations: England, Wales / Categories: Abandoned, Buildings, Street Views

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Let’s begin by looking at several of the claimants to the title of Oldest Pub in Britain. The Guinness Book of Records officially recognises Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans.

Originally named the Round House, the current name was taken from the barbaric sport which used to take place in the bar. While the octagonal building dates to the 11th century, it was moved to its current location in 1599. This fact leads to disputes about the legitimacy of its claim to be the oldest pub.

It’s unsure exactly when Ye Olde Man & Scythe in Bolton was built, but it was mentioned in historic documents from 1251.

However, it too has been rebuilt over time, with only the cellar remaining from the original building.

Continuing a somewhat predictable naming theme, Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem in Nottingham claims to have been built in 1189, though no official documentation proves that, and the current building is about 300 years old.

With no clear winner, I’ll claim the Trip as my personal favourite of the three, having had my share of pints in its tiny rooms and caves carved out of Castle Rock.

The Sheep Heid in Edinburgh claims to be Scotland’s oldest pub, dating the site to 1360.

While they probably no longer sell the food for which the pub is named, it is a listed building with a famous skittle alley about 140 years old.

The Skirrid Mountain Inn claims to be Wales’ oldest pub, with an interesting history serving as a courthouse, with condemned prisoners being hung from a beam in the bar.

Moving on to other superlatives, Britain’s highest pub is also somewhat disputed. The Tan Hill Inn at 528m above sea level is generally considered the highest.

Anything at this altitude in the Pennines sees its share of weather; in fact after this past new year’s, revellers spent 3 days trapped in the pub because of snow. I can think of worse places to be stuck, and by all accounts a jolly time was had by all.

The Cat & Fiddle in Derbyshire is contesting the title however, with measurements placing it anywhere from 515m to 540m.

Meanwhile, Street View takes us to the top of the Glenshane Pass (305m) and Northern Ireland’s highest pub, the Ponderosa.

A number of pubs boast somewhat gruesome histories or legends, including Bristol’s Hatchet Inn, where the front door is rumoured to be covered in human skin (underneath the paint).

Meanwhile, the Bucket of Blood in Phillack takes it’s attractive name from an incident many years ago when the landlord, fetching water from the well, pulled up a pail full of human blood.

The victim is purported to be the local tax collector, with his ghost believed to haunt the pub to this day. A hearty red ale is served to take advantage of this story.

To Scotland, and the more heart-warming story of Edinburgh’s Grayfriars Bobby’s Bar, named for a dog which, in the 19th century, spent 14 years watching over the grave of his owner.

A small statue of Bobby is visible outside the pub, which is near the graveyard where Bobby kept his faithful watch.

Also in Edinburgh, the Canny Mans is notable both for the vast collection of random objects which adorn the ceilings and walls, and the strictly-enforced list of ‘rules’ outside the pub, giving it a reputation as somewhat unwelcoming.

Finally, Glasgow’s Horse Shoe claims the longest bar in the world, though that is disputed by a number of other establishments.

With an estimated 50,000+ pubs in Britain, this is just a tiny selection. Where do you raise a glass?

Thanks to Alex and James for the Scottish locations, and kevinoakgrove for the Ponderosa.

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Categories: Buildings, Street Views, Weirdness

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Google collaborated with the National Trust to allow the Street View trikes to gain entry to 20 of the National Trust’s protected locations.¹

Dorset’s Corfe Castle overlooks the village of the same name, and provides picturesque views of the English countryside from the ruined battlements. Partially destroyed during the English Civil War, pieces of the castle were “borrowed” for construction in the village, where some of the original stones and door frames remain.

There are fantastic views off the north-eastern coast of Northern Ireland at Downhill Demesne and Mussenden Temple. Designed as a library, the temple was built in 1785 near the edge of the cliffs, and by 1997 was in serious danger of being lost to coastal erosion.

Plas Newydd is a Welsh country house which dates from the 14th century, where you can man the cannons across the Menai Strait. Don’t try to ask for directions though, as it’s in the Welsh village with the famously-long-winded name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch².

Here in Scotland we have our own National Trust, who were unfortunately not involved with the project. However Google did also add images from the beautiful coastline of Loch Ness.

Although we’ve not had any reports of a Nessie sighting (yet), another mystery has been spotted: Some say he’s the Loch Ness monster, all we know is… it’s The Stig!

Yes, for reasons as yet unknown, Top Gear’s faceless racing driver has been captured just hanging around at the side of the road. What on earth for we wonder? Wasn’t his last appearance on Street View enough?³

You can see all 20 of the National Trust sights on Street View at this special Google Maps page.

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Street Views

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Completed over 200 years ago, this stunningly beautiful engineering masterpiece was designed by everyone’s favourite² civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757 – 1834), and to this day it remains the longest and highest aqueduct in the UK.

Despite scepticism at the time (this was the late 1700s after all), Telford was convinced he could build a cast iron trough to carry the canal over the massive 307 metre span of the valley. After all, he had seen his methods succeed at Longdon-on-Tern, where he had designed the world’s first cast iron navigable aqueduct.

Originally constructed as part of the now long-abandoned Shrewsbury Canal, today the Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct still sits astride the River Tern, and is not only Grade I listed but is also a scheduled ancient monument.

Despite this previous experience, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is truly a testament to Telford’s genius. The cast iron trough he designed soars 38 metres above the valley floor, regularly carrying narrowboats safely³ over the valley.

In ultimate recognition of its importance, on the 27th of June 2009, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, joining a list of nearly 900 other places of great cultural or physical significance that includes such treasures as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, and Stonehenge.

Thanks to the ever on-the-ball Jonathan Rawle. See the Wikipedia links in this article for more info, or explore Wikipedia’s list of works by Thomas Telford.

Locations: Wales / Categories: Bridges, Monuments, Watercraft

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You might guess San Francisco. If you’re a Guinness Book of Records-reading smart alec, you might say New Zealand. As it turns out, you’d be wrong – probably. In fact, nobody seems quite sure which is the world’s steepest, and then there’s the problem of what exactly counts as a street anyway.

But we’ve looked into it, got out protractors out, and can now reveal the not-quite-scientifically-verified Google Sightseeing Top Six World’s Steepest Streets! And happily, the intrepid Street View car has struggled its way up (or down) all of them. Here they are, in reverse order:

6) Dornbush Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In the East Hills area of the city, this quiet-looking residential street has been surveyed at a 31.98% grade – that’s a 17.7° slope. The Street View car missed out one section of the steepest part, which is one-way in the downhill direction. Check out the heavy-duty concrete staircase.

5) Maria Avenue, Spring Valley, California

Here’s a prime example of the “We’ve got a grid system and we’re damn well going to stick to it” school of city planning. Google’s Terrain view shows how the north-south street pattern has been laid out with no regard whatsoever to the steep contours – in fact you have to wonder whether the planners had ever even visited the site!

Maria Avenue marches straight up the southern slope of Dictionary Hill, attaining a surveyed grade of 32% (17.7°) just north of Chestnut Street. This section of road seems to be paved with concrete, and is cut off from the section above: Street View leaps straight across the gap, missing out this part of the road. The next block to the east would have been even steeper – Buena Vista Avenue is shown on the street map, but the builders understandably admitted defeat there.

4) Baxter Street and Fargo Street, Los Angeles, California

We’ll call this one a tie. These two streets are right next to one another in the Silver Lake district of LA, and both have been measured at 32%, but they get the nod over Maria Avenue on account of being altogether more exciting.

Baxter Street goes up and up and up… but then it goes down almost as steeply, giving the alarming impression that you’re about to drive off a cliff as you approach the summit.

Fargo Street is much shorter – only one block – but that’s plenty long enough for the cyclists who enter the annual Fargo Street Hill Climb. In 2008 one nutter rode up it 101 times in one day.

3) Eldred Street, Los Angeles, California

Just pipping Baxter and Fargo, with a 33% (18.3°) grade at its topmost end, LA’s steepest is in the Highland Park area. It rises 67m over only 400m, which presents some interesting challenges for its residents, according to an entertaining LA Times article.

2) Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Despite being listed in the Guinness Book of Records (and having that sign at the bottom), Baldwin Street doesn’t make the top slot. True, the top section attains an impressive 35% (19.3°) grade; true, it’s quite a slog walking up, even with the steps at the side¹; and true, sliding down it in a wheelie bin is a very bad idea; but it’s not the steepest. Unless anyone else knows better, the winner is…

1) Canton Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The signs at the top say “Do Not Enter”, and in slippery conditions you’d do well to heed them. Canton Avenue, a short cobbled street in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighbourhood attains a whopping 37%, or 20.3°, gradient, making it the steepest public road in the United States – and, quite possibly, the world. This YouTube video shows what happens when you try and cycle up it, and this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more photos, giving an idea what it’s like to live there in winter. You can bet the residents of this house at the bottom of the hill are quite glad of that crash barrier out the front.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few other contenders that, for various reasons, didn’t quite “make the grade”…

West 28th Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles

Apparently this is officially the steepest LA street, at 33.3% (18.4°, just pipping Eldred), but looking at it on Street View, the steep portion is pathetically short. Next!

Ffordd Pen Llech, Harlech, Wales

This lane, said to be the steepest in Britain, plunges down the side of the steep hill topped by Harlech Castle. Sadly, Street View hasn’t reached rural north Wales yet, but there is high-resolution aerial imagery. The sign at the top claims it to be a 40% (21.8°) slope, but that seems dubious. And in any case, look at the sign just below the gradient warning: “Anaddas i fodur”. Unsuitable for motors. Disqualified on a technicality…

Waipio Valley Road, Hawaii

Now we’re talking: 45% gradient, or 24.2° – just look at those contour lines! Sadly, although this potential record-breaker is paved, it is restricted to 4WD vehicles – and in any case, it’s out in the wilds of the north of the Big Island, and with no houses on it you can hardly call this one a street. Still, it looks like quite a drive, judging by the pictures on this page.

Locations: California, Hawaii, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Wales / Categories: Street Views

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After long negotiations with Britain’s national mapping agency, we’re extremely pleased to announce that from today the website previously known as Google Sightseeing is to become ORDNANCE SURVEY SIGHTSEEING.

Ordnance Survey is one of the world’s largest producers of maps, and from now on we’ll only be linking to their highly detailed printed maps, and pointing out interesting features represented by a vast array of different icons.

We plan to feature footpaths, cycle paths, topographical sightings, water features and much, much more!

One of the most exciting features we’re bringing to you today means that each time you click through to our map, you’ll need to decide whether you need to see the OS Route, OS Road, OS Tour, OS Landranger, OS Explorer, OS Explorer Active or OS Landranger Active map! You’ll also be able to set the scale of the map at this point, but you won’t be able to change your mind again later.

Users of our map page API should be aware that as of today, latitude and longitudes will no longer work in the query string, and all lookups must instead be performed using an OS Grid reference. Additionally, all KML files will henceforth become GML format, and all previous files will cease to work.

Of course, using all this OS map data isn’t free, so we’ll be expecting all of our readers to chip in some cash to pay for the maps.

We’d like to thank you all for your support over the last four years, and sincerely hope you’ll continue with us on the latest leg of our journey towards inevitable Geographic Nirvana.

Update: Due to overwhelming popularity of the new site we’ve already burned through all our venture capital and “Ordnance Survey Sightseeing Inc.” are now bankrupt. The administrators are planning to revert the site to “Google Sightseeing” on April 2nd, 2009.

Locations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales / Categories: Site News

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Just off the coast of Wales they spotted this large v-shaped row of rocks beneath the water – which looked like a traditional British fishing weir. This was a fishing method whereby the tide would bring fish through the gaps in the rocks, which would then be blocked by wattle fences when the tide turned to flow out again.

The only problem with fishing in this way was that it was far too effective – this was so well known that the Magna Carta, published in 1215, actually includes the following clause:

(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the Thames, the Medway, and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea coast.

So our intrepid “scientists” actually took a trip to Wales to check out in person what they had found, and sure enough, one underwater scuba adventure later, they emerged smugly from the water like some sort of Internet-savvy Indiana Jones’.

How would “scientists” cope these days I wonder, without Google Earth to help them do their research?

Thanks to Frank at the GEarth Blog and Jason Kottke.

Locations: Wales / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Watercraft

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