Inland Waters

The rives of Britain are short; their direction and character are determined by the position of the mountains.

Most of the rivers flow in the eastward direction since the west coast is mountainous.

Due to the humid climate and abundant rainfall, the water level in the rivers is always high. The rivers seldom freeze in winter, most of them remain ice-free. Many of the rivers are joined together by canals. This system of rivers and canals provides a good means of cheap inland water transport.

British rivers are not navigable for ocean ships, but they form deep estuaries, and strong tides penetrating into them prevent the formation of deltas. Most of the large ports of Great Britain are situated in the estuaries.

The most important rivers are the Severn, flowing from the Cumbrians Mountains in Wales into the Bristol Channel, the Thames, flowing across the plains of south-eastern England and emptying into the North Sea, the Tyne and the Trent, flowing from the eastern slopes of the Pennines to the North Sea, the Mersey, flowing down the western slopes of the Pennines and emptying into the Irish Sea at Liverpool, and the Clyde in Scotland, which flows west across the Southern Uplands and on which the port of Glasgow is situated.

Owing to the fact that British lakes are rather small and have no outlets, they afford limited economic possibilities in the system of navigable waterways. But most of them, especially those situated in the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and north Lancashire, are famous for their unique beauty and picturesque surroundings. Famous is the English Lake District, occupying a comparatively small area. It is a place of steep ridges and deep valleys, smooth slopes and deep lakes, ravines, waterfalls and green meadows. The Lake District is one of the most popular holiday districts in Great Britain.

Climate

Great Britain enjoys the humid and mild marine West-Coast climate with warm winters and cool summers and a lot of rainfall throughout the year.

The prevailing winds blow from the south-west. As these winds blow from the ocean, they are mild in winter and cool in summer, and are heavily charged with moisture at all times. As they approach the mountainous areas near the west coasts, they rise up the mountain slopes. Their temperature drops, which causes condensation of moisture in the form of rain. Therefore the wettest parts of Britain are those areas where high mountains lie near the west coast: the western Highlands of Scotland, the Lake District and North Wales. The eastern part of Britain is said to be in the rain-shadow, as the winds lose most of their moisture in their passage over the highlands of the west.

All parts of the British Isles receive rain at any time of the year. Still autumn and winter are the wettest seasons, except in the Thames district, where most rain falls in the summer half of the year. Oxford, for example, has 29 per cent of its rain in summer and only 22 per cent in winter.

As to temperature, Great Britain has warmer winters than any other district in the same latitude. It is due in large measure to the prevalence of south-west winds. Another factor is Gulf Stream, which flows from the Gulf of Mexico and brings much warmth from the equatorial regions to north-western Europe.