c4countdown

List them and tally them out of 68. Here is a list:

England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Hereford, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, London*, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Ripon, Salford, Salisbury, Sheffield, Southampton, St Albans, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Truro, Wakefield, Wells, Winchester, Wolverhampton, Worcester, York (50)

Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Stirling (7)

Wales: Bangor, Cardiff, Newport, St Asaph, St Davids, Swansea (6)

NI: Armagh, Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, Newry (5)


I'm on 26 - Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Leeds, Lincoln, London, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Salford, Salisbury (I think), Southampton, St Albans, Truro, Wakefield, Winchester, York (23/50 in England), and then Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast from the others. About half of these visits are directly or indirectly related to Countdown. If I had money and a car I'd like to spend a few weeks doing a road trip around the UK and visiting every city for at least 2 hours.

[*Technically London has 2 cities, City of London and City of Westminster, but who can be fucked to arse around with that.]

I've visited Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Peterborough, Preston, Salford, Sheffield, St Albans, Stoke-on-Trent, Wakefield, Wolverhampton, York, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, St Davids.

That makes 29, which will go up to 30, when I go to Brighton next Saturday.

20/68.

England: Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Exeter, Leicester, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, Southampton, St Albans, York.

Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Stirling.

It's possible I've been to Truro. Loads of my childhood holidays were in Cornwall so it's likely I went there at some point but don't remember any details. I've also travelled through Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton, but I don't think I ever got out of a vehicle at any of them.

And although I've attended COLIN every year since 2012, I've never bothered to go to Lincoln.

England: Birmingham, Bradford, Chester, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Preston, Salford, Southampton, St Albans, York (16)

Scotland: Edinburgh

There are a few more that I may have been to (Coventry, Derby, Hull, Sheffield and Wolverhampton) but can't say with any certainty. I'm not sure if passing through them on a train counts.

England: Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Coventry, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Hereford, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London*, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Ripon, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, St Albans, Winchester, Wolverhampton, York

Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling

Wales: Cardiff, Newport, Swansea

I may have been to one or two others.

That's really hard. I'll go through it properly later but I might have been to several and not remembered. Probably even harder would be counties.

Jack Worsley wrote:There are a few more that I may have been to (Coventry, Derby, Hull, Sheffield and Wolverhampton) but can't say with any certainty. I'm not sure if passing through them on a train counts.

No, definitely not. I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterborough in my list) because whereas foreign airports/service stations etc do give you a little bit of insight into their respective countries, I don't believe that the vast majority of train stations give any insight into their cities.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterborough in my list) because whereas foreign airports/service stations etc do give you a little bit of insight into their respective countries, I don't believe that the vast majority of train stations give any insight into their cities.

Why would an airport or service station be any better at representing its city than a train station?

Edit: oh, I see, the difference is between country and city. So what if you changed planes in a UK city?

England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Coventry, Durham, Exeter, Leeds, Lincoln, London, Manchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, Salisbury, Sheffield, Southampton, St Albans, Wakefield, Winchester, Worcester, York (26)

Scotland: Aberdeen, Stirling (2)

Probably others that I was too young to remember.

Gavin Chipper wrote:That's really hard. I'll go through it properly later but I might have been to several and not remembered. Probably even harder would be counties.

Yeah, I'm a militant logger of travels but I'd struggle with counties - erm...

Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, Dover, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall, Bristol, Essex ( ), Suffolk, Norwich, Oxfordshire, Greater London, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire. Think that's it.

Graeme Cole wrote:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterborough in my list) because whereas foreign airports/service stations etc do give you a little bit of insight into their respective countries, I don't believe that the vast majority of train stations give any insight into their cities.

Why would an airport or service station be any better at representing its city than a train station?

Edit: oh, I see, the difference is between country and city. So what if you changed planes in a UK city?

That would count. Although I would be a bit stroppy about someone trying to pretend Luton and Stansted airports count as London (Heathrow and City definitely count. Gatwick doesn't really count but I think it's the second biggest airport so I'd let it slide).

Jennifer Steadman wrote:

Graeme Cole wrote:

Jennifer Steadman wrote:I'm also inclined to not include train station changes here either (I didn't include Peterborough in my list) because whereas foreign airports/service stations etc do give you a little bit of insight into their respective countries, I don't believe that the vast majority of train stations give any insight into their cities.

Why would an airport or service station be any better at representing its city than a train station?

Edit: oh, I see, the difference is between country and city. So what if you changed planes in a UK city?

That would count. Although I would be a bit stroppy about someone trying to pretend Luton and Stansted airports count as London (Heathrow and City definitely count. Gatwick doesn't really count but I think it's the second biggest airport so I'd let it slide).

Someone will have changed planes at London Oxford Airport and use that to tick two cities off the list.

Graeme Cole wrote:Someone will have changed planes at London Oxford Airport and use that to tick two cities off the list.

LONDON OXFORD AIRPORT IS A THING??? FUCK'S SAKE. I forgot to add that this abomination is DEFINITELY not a London airport either.

Do cities have properly defined borders? Presumably they do, but will people be aware of them? It won't be as clear to people as would countries. Also, I don't think the name of an airport is of any relevance, any more than if there was a shop that called itself the London shop and was nowhere near London. It's where you are - not what the establishment you're in calls itself.

England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Cambridge, Carlisle*, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Ripon, Salford, Salisbury, Sheffield, St Albans, Stoke-on-Trent, Wakefield, Winchester, Wolverhampton, York

Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Stirling

Wales: Bangor

NI: Belfast

*My visit of Carlisle consisted of a trip to the Tony Carvery while on the way to Glasgow, along with a very brief walk. I'll let Jen decide if this counts.

Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Chester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Salford, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, York, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, St Davids, Belfast. That's a neat 30, and makes me feel a tiny bit better about having sod all to contribute to the 'countries' thread other than 'UK and jack shit else'.

James Laverty wrote:*My visit of Carlisle consisted of a trip to the Tony Carvery while on the way to Glasgow, along with a very brief walk. I'll let Jen decide if this counts.

Absolutely fine. My visit to St Albans consisted of walking a few hundred metres out of the station, into the CoStAl venue, getting quite inebriated for a few hours, and then leaving to go and see Queen TayTay in London.

I can stretch to 57. All except Bradford, Durham, Ely, Hull, Peterborough, Ripon, Sunderland, Bangor, St Asaph, Armagh and Lisburn. I've probably given more priority to exploring these islands as compared to the rest of the world than most do, so it may not be entirely and age thing. Quite a few have been picked up whilst cycle touring and I should get a few more like that this year.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:If I had money and a car I'd like to spend a few weeks doing a road trip around the UK and visiting every city for at least 2 hours.

That sounds excellent. If I had that as an objective I'd probably want to get a photograph beside one of the notable landmarks in each city, which would mean starting again.

Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Durham, Hereford, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Salford, St Albans, Edinburgh, Belfast, Derry. Never even been to Liverpool or Sheffield. Or gone south of London.

I think only 20. Can't imagine it's particularly interesting to anyone to list them, so I won't.

Had to think about this a bit but I think this is right:

England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Chester, Durham, Hull, Leeds, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Ripon, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, Sunderland, Wells, York

Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Stirling.

I've been to Wales a few times but never near any of the cities and have never been to Northern Ireland, so in total 30, which is a bit rubbish really.

England: Birmingham, Bradford, Carlisle, Derby, Durham, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Preston, Ripon, Salford, Sheffield, Wakefield, York (21)

Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow (2)

England: 35/50
Scotland: 7/7
Wales: 2/6
NI: 0/5

Total: 44/68

From what I can remember: Bristol, Chester, Hull, Lancaster, Lincoln, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Preston, Salford and Stoke-on-Trent (13)

England: Bath, Birmingham, Brightpn, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Exeter, Hull, Leeds, London, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Southampton, Truro, Winchester, York (23)

Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow (3)

Wales: Bangor, Cardiff, Newport, Swansea (4)

Matt Morrison wrote:I think only 20. Can't imagine it's particularly interesting to anyone to list them, so I won't.

That's a shame as I was going to aggregate them and do statistics and shit.

Here's mine:

England: Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Ely, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London*, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Salford, St Albans, Winchester, York (21)
Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow (2)
Wales: (0)
NI: (0)
= 23

Hykeham doesn't count as Lincoln, right?

Jon Corby wrote:Hykeham doesn't count as Lincoln, right?

Right.

England: Birmingham, Bradford, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Salford, Sheffield (9/50)
Scotland: Edinburgh (1/7)
Wales: Bangor, Cardiff, Swansea (3/6)
NI: Armagh, Belfast, Derry, Lisburn, Newry (5/5), though obviously the elevation of Newry and Lisburn to city status was hilarious and ridiculous.

Jon O'Neill wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:I think only 20. Can't imagine it's particularly interesting to anyone to list them, so I won't.

That's a shame as I was going to aggregate them and do statistics and shit.

Here's mine:

England: Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Ely, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London*, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Salford, St Albans, Winchester, York (21)
Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow (2)
Wales: (0)
NI: (0)
= 23

Just in case you were wondering (I doubt you were) your list is boring as shit too.

Must be strong correlation between those who live in the north having visited a majority of northern cities and those in the south visiting very southern cities.

England: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Carlisle, Chester, Coventry, Durham, Exeter, Hull, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Peterborough, Preston, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, Sunderland, Truro, Wakefield, York.
Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Stirling
Wales: Cardiff.
NI: Belfast, Newry.

37.

Just London.

Just one building.

I'll leave you one guess as to which.

Johnny Canuck wrote:Just London.

Just one building.

I'll leave you one guess as to which.

Heathrow Terminal 5?

Johnny Canuck wrote:Just London.

Just one building.

I'll leave you one guess as to which.

Ali's Chicken Shack on Tottenham Court Road?

Ian Volante wrote:

Johnny Canuck wrote:Just London.

Just one building.

I'll leave you one guess as to which.

Ali's Chicken Shack on Tottenham Court Road?

Ding-ding-ding. We have a winner. Still trying to pay off the debt from those two private helicopter rides, but those wings were AMAZING.

Heather notches 41 cities, 37 of them English.

+ haha Clive you changed your avatar! Excellent.

Chipping in a bit late here (and if I've counted correctly):

England: 15 (17 if you include having changed trains there; 16 if you include those that later became cities; 18 if you include both)
Wales: 0
Scotland: 1
Northern Ireland: 0

I have been to the smallest city and smallest towns in the UK.
Would like to go the largest village though....not sure where that is though

Which is smallest City/Town???


And Tickenham near where I live isn't big, but very looooooooooong!

Smallest city is St Davids in Wales.
Smallest town is Fordwich in Kent

I came on here looking to see if Countdown in Nottingham was still a thing, having discovered it is one of about 3 places you can get to from nutty Norfolk.
I have been to 58 of these cities - as with Clive, the UK is our usual destination.

Twenty nine
All the Welsh ones but none of the northern Irish ones

Countdown in Nottingham is never a definite 'no' for the next year, just a 'very unlikely unless someone else wants to pick up the baton'.

Also I'm up to 31 now thanks to CoCam earlier in the year.