Buried within the article is an argument in support of wilderness:
“It has to be one of the maddest places we have both been to,” he says. “No words can describe how isolated this place was.” The closest road was three miles away; the only nearby structures were a shuttered pub and an old windmill.
In the American West, Canada, Russia, and myriad places throughout the world, it's not hard to get three miles away from a road.
The shading is one problem. I'm also not convinced the logarithmic scaling for the coding is the best approach; it may be but I'd have to see it with a better color scheme. It probably also depends on what point you want to emphasize.
In the American West, Canada, Russia, and myriad places throughout the world, it's not hard to get three miles away from a road.
It depends on where you are. In a lot of places west of the Mississippi, there are still pretty regular grids, spaced less than three miles apart, of roads. Without them, access for agriculture and ranching would be difficult/impossible.
Plus, even a lot of state and national parks have access roads running through them. You have to go out to places that have no agricultural, industrial or tourism value whatsoever in order to get that far from a road.
If it had a pub and a windmill, I expect there was at least a jeep trail running through. Otherwise how would the pub have resupplied or farmers gotten grain to the mill? This would count as a "road" in the parts of North America and Asia you're talking about. Therefore the "three mile" claim is bogus.
My gut reaction to your question was to answer "by train". Another option might (considering it's in Norfolk), by canal.
Then I thought I'd better look it up.
The comment in the article was about Berney Arms[1]. Looking on the map, it looks like the station is indeed unserved by roads. However, the nearest road does appear to be 500 metres away (much closer than three miles). The pub and windmill are on that road, rather than at the roadless station.
The next junction along that road is about 2km away (still not 3 miles), and the nearest meaningful junction (i.e. that gives you a choice of destination) 3.5km (still not 3 miles).
The nearest junction with an A road is about 3 miles away, following the road. It is also the closest you can get with Google Streetview[2]
A47 appears to be less than a mile away according to Google Maps scale bar. Walking to Great Yarmouth is listed as .1 mile (I don't know how though since I don't see any bridges across the water).
In addition, that's a stop along the train line to Great Yarmouth which isn't exactly nowhere. So, are they running a train only to Berney Arms? I doubt it terminates there. Now, it could be that passenger service is sparse because it follows the geographic feature (the river) rather than cutting through like the roads.
Finally, a lot of this stuff stems from the massive cuts that the railways took in the 1960's. That area used to have a lot more rail lines.
“It has to be one of the maddest places we have both been to,” he says. “No words can describe how isolated this place was.” The closest road was three miles away; the only nearby structures were a shuttered pub and an old windmill.
In the American West, Canada, Russia, and myriad places throughout the world, it's not hard to get three miles away from a road.
Wild places are good for the soul.