This small but shocking piece of the UK’s geography keeps confusing people.

Edinburgh is actually further west than Bristol – a fact that becomes apparent only when looking at a map of the country. This is particularly bizarre as the Scottish capital is located on Scotland’s east coast. 

The longitude – which is used to determine the east-west position of a point on Earth – of Edinburgh is 3.18 degrees, while Bristol’s is 2.58 degrees.

People have taken to X to share their thoughts on this fact after they saw an image of an upside-down map of the UK which makes the position of the two British cities apparent.  

The information first started circulating on social media a couple of years ago when Channel 4 presenter Alex Thomson dropped the geographical bombshell on X – much to the horror and disbelief of his followers.

Rhodri Marsden replied: “The fact that Edinburgh lies further west than Bristol has caused me to run around my house shrieking.”

Another user, Tom Nightingale, said: “I have just learnt that Edinburgh is west of Bristol, and now I don’t know what to believe.”

And Ste added: “For me, the Edinburgh-Bristol fact is up there with the Hamburg being further north than Liverpool one.”

But this isn’t the only bizarre geographical fact of the UK – there are many other surprising revelations about UK geography which most people don’t know.

For example, Stonehenge is older than the pyramids. Stonehenge was built around 5000 years ago while the pyramids were built 4500 years ago.

Wales is home to the world’s highest canal – the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was built in the early 1800s and retains the title.

While people were not surprised to find out that North Yorkshire is clearly the largest county by area in England, it came as a shock that Lincolnshire is the second largest.

Another surprising fact is that Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice. While this comes as no surprise to residents of the city, others are usually stunned to find out that this is true.

If you have a story, email me at alycia.mcnamara@reachplc.com