Hoofing Up to the Prime Meridian Site in Greenwich

On day two in London, after we’d thoroughly toured the Tower of London, we rode a train down to Greenwich.

Once in Greenwich, we walked like a mile over to this park and then literally hoofed up the steepest hill I have ever climbed in my life. It was basically a curved walk upwards that must have covered twenty stories, walking almost straight upwards, but without stairs.

At the top of this grassy mountain sits the Royal Observatory, home of the Greenwich Prime Meridian.

That’s right. We took a little science field trip while in London. I didn’t get the appeal, but I live in a family of males, and our likes and dislikes do differ…

Alan visited Greenwich about eight years ago. On that trip he visited the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory as well as the National Maritime Museum. That was long ago, so he had forgotten they were two separate buildings. The Royal Observatory is at the tip top of what felt like the highest hill in London. The Navy museum is way down at the bottom near the water.

With me and my plantar fasciitis and one of our sons and his blisters, there was no way we were making it to both that evening, even if we had known where the Navy museum was, which we didn’t, at the time.

My best advice is if you do go to Greenwich, go see the National Maritime Museum first. It is apparently a fascinating place. I heard several other confused tourists at the observatory asking about it. They have ancient ships and such on display. People seem to love it.

When you reach the top of the hill, the first order of business is the incredible view.

Then you head around the building. There are several displays both indoors and outdoors.

The first thing we came across was the remains of Herschel’s Telescope.

The guys who mapped out the prime meridian were all astronomers. If you are interested in astronomy, you will love the Royal Observatory with its Prime Meridian and museum.

This excursion was highly educational.

What stood out to me most was actually a question:

If the Prime Meridian was slightly changed several times, as astronomers gained better and better tools and experience, what does the prime meridian even mean exactly?

It turns out, this location has nothing to do with the magnetic field of the earth or the positions of the stars. It is an internationally agreed upon location from which to begin with the designation of 0 degrees longitude. It separates the eastern and western hemispheres.

Additionally, our GPS (which we get from satellites) assigns 0 degrees longitude, to a whole other spot, over three hundred feet from Prime Meridian spot where we take photographs. Another tourist pointed that out to us, so Alan went and found the GPS spot. It isn’t marked at all, yet it is the Prime Meridian all modern instruments use.

By the way, even as we stood there, the GPS app on Alan’s phone changed the exact location of 0 degrees. It only changed by inches, but it was enough for me to find it annoying. I feel like if you mark a spot, and call it zero, that’s it. It’s done. ha! I guess scientists disagree.

I can see why GPS might change it, since calculating it from space involves ignoring gravity and cutting through the earth as a globe rather than measuring across terrain. You can learn more about that here.

But I’m still wondering who is to say which one is right? If it’s only zero because people picked it as zero, who is technology to change it?

Maybe it’s my bias against the computer takeover, or maybe I just have a bad attitude when I don’t understand something. Plus, my feet hurt so badly by the end of London day two. Alan was lucky I was standing at all. My feet were better for so long, but then my right heel decided to make some new heel spurs (arthritis), and basically I’m adjusting to it.

Like all good tourists, everyone in our family took photos standing on the official Prime Meridian.

After one last sit break, we headed back out on our mile hike to the train station. We hoped to find a good restaurant on our way, as we passed through town. The problem was no one in Greenwich had anything marked gluten free on their menu.

We ended up stopping at another train connection in central London to look for food, which of course involved yet more walking. I settled for a bun-less burger and a Diet Coke, and we rode the train back to our hotel. Honestly, I needed an Uber that day too, but our hotel was too far from Greenwich.

Day two we logged over 18,000 steps, and I was a pool of pathetic when we finally made it back to our hotel room. I managed to shower, and then I crashed pretty hard.

I love walking, absolutely love it, and I have walked for fun and exercise my whole life. This plantar fasciitis problem is such a killjoy.

The pain was worth it for the Tower of London, but nowhere near worth it for the Prime Meridian. I’m grateful we got to go to England, but next summer we are going to the beach.