RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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How Far From L'Anse a Mercier to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as L'Anse a Mercier to various places of note, such as Parliament Hill.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in L'Anse a Mercier and extending to:

  • The National Capital at Parliament Hill (Ottawa, ON) is 560 miles [901.2 km]<1> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from L'Anse a Mercier to Parliament Hill, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 32 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 22 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,012 miles [8,066 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 5,738 miles [9,234.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 3,616 miles [5,819.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- L'Anse a Mercier) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in L'Anse a Mercier. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 49.2333, Longitude: -65.1000    
<2>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<3>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from L'Anse a Mercier to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 298.781 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 295.034 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 293.406 degrees.