Physicists love measurements. There are all sorts of distance measurements out there. The furlong is one that I have never understood. It turns out that it is one eighth of a mile, which is about 200 metres. I took these photographs at Cheltenham racecourse. The first is from the finish line looking down the course. Having tried to understand a plan of the course on a racing website, I think a furlong is down to the second white stripe across the course. The second picture is from that place looking back up. Although I like metric units professionally, there is some cultural capital in the continued use of a variety of measures.
