I’ve always known that Prince of Wales Avenue from the gates of Stormont to the Parliament Building was a mile long. The reason I’ve known it is because it was perceived wisdom. Everyone said the road was a mile long. But is it? When testing my Nike+ iPod Sports Kit I walked the full length of the road. I figured this would be a good test of how accurate it was. The iPod reported that the road was about 0.6 miles long. What? I was disappointed. How could it be so wrong? Bummer.
There is a road that runs parallel to Prince of Wales Avenue just beside the Stormont grounds (Castlehill Road on the map below). It is more or less the same length. I use it regularly to and from work. I have reset my car tripmeter turning into this road the last couple of times and it reports that his road is between 0.6 and 0.7 miles long. Just what the Nike+ iPod Sports Kit was reporting for Prince of Wales Avenue.
I’ve just used Mapquest to measure the length of Prince of Wales Avenue on screen and using the scale on the map it turns out that the road from the gates to the top, just below the steps of the parliament building, is 985 metres!
Looks to me that the common knowledge that it’s a mile from the gates of Stormont to the Steps of the Parliament building might be an urban myth. I’ll have to check the park layout board at the gates (which I’ve never read) and see what it says. It’s more like a kilometre long it seems.
Here is a picture from Mapquest showing the Stormont grounds. Prince of Wales Avenue is listed as Ulster Way on this map.
Click picture for larger view