Lowland Britain

To the south-east of the borderline running from the river Exe to the mouth of the Tyne is Lowland Britain. This comprises most of England, central lowlands of Scotland and some areas in south Wales. The newer and softer rocks of southern and eastern England form a rich plain, more often rolling than flat and rising to chalk and limestone hills, but hardly ever reaching 1,000 feet above sea level. Lowland Britain is fertile, with good arable soil and valuable pastureland.

Scotland

Scotland may be divided physically into three main regions. The first is the North-West and the Central Highlands (Grampians), The Highlands are divided by the Great Glen (also called Glen More), in which lies the world-famous Loch Ness. Fringed by a large number of islands off the west and the north-east coasts, the Highlands contain the most ancient of the British geological formations and the majority of Britain’s highest mountains — nearly 300 peaks over 900 m. The highest mountains are the Grampians, with Ben Nevis at 1,343 m the tallest peak.

The second region is the Central Lowlands that contain one-fifth of the land area but three quarters of the Scottish population, most of the industrial and commercial centres as well as fertile farmlands.

The third is the Southern Uplands that mainly consist of ranges of rounded hills stretching towards the border with England (the Border Country) and is a largely agricultural and pastoral area with many rivers.

Isolation, physical conditions and the harsh climate in many parts of Scotland have made conquest, settlement and agriculture difficult.

Wales

Wales is mainly a highland country, too. Above long stretches of high moorland plateaux rise the Brecon Beacons in the south, Cader Idris and the Berwin Range in the centre. The plateaux are often broken by deep valleys created by rivers such as the Dee, Wye and Severn. This upland mass that contains the Cambrian Mountains descends eastwards into the English counties of Shropshire and of Hereford and Worcester. The highest mountains of Wales are in Snowdonia in the north-west, where the dominant peak is that of Snowdon - 1,085 m.

England

England consists largely of undulating or flat lowland countryside. But lower hill ranges also stretch over much of the country, most important of these are: the North Yorkshire Moores, the limestone Cotswolds, the chalk North Downs and South Downs, and the Chiltern Hills . The east of the country is particularly low and flat. Some areas lie below sea level making it look similar to the Netherlands. These low-lying lands include the Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire Fens, the Norfolk Broads and the Suffolk Marshes.

England's upland areas include such major hilly regions as:

• the broad central upland belt of the Pennines forming the 890 km-

long backbone of Britain and reaching the Peak District in the

south;

• the north-western mountain region of the Lake District rising to

Scafell Pike (978 m) - the highest point in England and the

Cumbrian Mountains;

• the Cheviot Hills (between England and Scotland);

• the Yorkshire dales, running to the east coast of Yorkshire.

In the extreme south-west is Cornwall peninsula open to the winds of the At1antic where ancient rocks make a low plateau, rising to the high moorlands of Exmoor and Dartmoor.