The Neutral Road (And Why You Should NEVER Put A Stop Sign On It)

The D68 is like any other French countryside road, except for one thing: the two towns it connects are both in Spain. Predictably, this has caused all sorts of border-related shenanigans over the years including a major dispute over some stop signs. I went on a hike down the road to find out more...
INSTA - / the.tim.traveller
TWIT - / thetimtraveller
FACE - / thetimtraveller
IMAGE CREDITS
Mexico and Quebec Stop Sign Photos by Dickelbers
Mexico - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Quebec - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
FURTHER RESEARCH
English translation of the 1830 Treaty of Bayonne -
treaties.un.org/doc/publicati...
"Llivia, the Catalan enclave that prevents the roundabouts from going round" from Ladepeche.fr (in French) - www.ladepeche.fr/article/2013...

[@TheTimTraveller]

Hi all. Since publishing this video, the worst has happened and Putin has ordered his forces to invade. If any of you are looking for ways to help ordinary people in Ukraine, here are some humanitarian organisations worth donating to: International Red Cross Ukraine - www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine United Help Ukraine - unitedhelpukraine.org/ Voices of Children (supporting children affected by the conflict) - voices.org.ua/en/

[@paxhumana2015]

Both sides are evil, and ditto for the anti-war protestors.

[@dunhillsupramk3]

i see... its soo thoughtful of you BUT where would you help the ppl in the middle east?? or don't you care about brown ppl???

[@TheTimTraveller]

​@@dunhillsupramk3 Hi, you're obviously new around here. I already highlighted Putin's intervention in Syria in a previous video, and donated the ad revenue to humanitarian efforts in the Middle East. Video here so you can see for yourself: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eKq7nJmafJaYkJY

[@baconwizard]

@@TheTimTraveller ignore them, they’re Syrian bots who keep trying to divert attention from the war in Ukraine. They call everyone racists because apparently we need to consider every war in existence to start carrying about people.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

@@dunhillsupramk3 - No apology? Imagine having so little character that you insinuate someone is a racist just to virtue signal but when you find out the truth you don't even have the human decency to apologise. You don't care about "brown ppl" (nice bit of racism there), just about point scoring online.

[@JagoHazzard]

This reminds me of the story of my mate Antoine, who kept stealing stop signs and then selling them back to the French so that they could replace - wait a minute.

[@archstanton6102]

Nice to see you here Jago

[@robd5237]

I love that Jago is in Tim's comments. Two fantastic channels

[@StephenAllsopp]

@@robd5237 He occasionally gets namechecked in videos, too.

[@albertbatfinder5240]

In some dusty corner of a foreign field, Jago Hazzard, Tom Scott, Tim Traveller and the Map Men are all gonna collide. While Matt Parker smirks on the sidelines presenting an analysis of the statistical probability of such an event, the universe will explode.

[@robd5237]

@@albertbatfinder5240 Poor Geoff Marshall forever alone

[@TetraDax]

This is off-topic, but with restrictions everywhere slowly dropping, I just want to take this opportunity to mention how Tim has managed to put out amazingly interesting and interestingly amazing content despite two years of a pandemic going on, severly restricting travel. While for one this makes me very excited to see what Tim has in store once he can travel more freely again, it also makes me think about how many cool places might just be around the corner that I have never considered to look at. Tim has really shown me that you don't need to go far to hear good stories (or climb mediocre mountains).

[@sirBrouwer]

they say limitations can inspire creativity.

[@ellencameron3775]

Same excitement here. I would love for him to come over here to the states and look at some of our old abandoned railways and disused roads. I'm quite certain he could find some stuff that would be very interesting.

[@ike1660]

I love doing miniature adventures. Just looking around where I live on google maps, and planning, for example, a 3 day walk, boating down a little river, trying to get into an old fort et cetera. All within 20 km around my house..

[@kassistwisted]

Yes! Bravo Tim!

[@NatanbagGr8]

Hear hear

[@Atlantjan]

I can confirm that in fact, we have normal European stop signs in Malta, even though they are more often ignored than obeyed to.

[@TheTimTraveller]

Haha :D The weird thing is, I'm pretty sure Ireland does too. But for whatever reason, neither country signed the agreement. (I'm guessing that maybe Ireland wanted to use Irish language in some places... and perhaps Malta wanted to use Maltese? I don't know what the story is tbh)

[@Atlantjan]

@@TheTimTraveller I've seen Gaelic stop signs online but it would be hilarious to see a Maltese one lol. It'd be like your mother yelling at you 😂

[@thryduulf]

@@TheTimTraveller Ireland is the only country in Europe to use "new world" style signs. The easiest way to tell the difference is warning signs, in the "old world" sign they are triangles with a red border, in the "new world" style they are yellow diamonds.

[@donaloflynn]

@@Atlantjan Yes, Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) areas do indeed have Stad signs rather than Stop signs, but anyone not understanding them is too stupid to pass a driving test in the first place 😂

[@tomjoad1363]

@@TheTimTraveller An idea for a futur video?

[@mussaranya]

6:56. At this point you must realize a very interesting fact and curiosity: this photo shows one of the only 4 triple-gauge railway stations in Europe. We can see 3 trains: -At the left: French Tren groc (train jaune in French), metric gauge (1000 mm) -At the center: a UT446 Spanish train, Iberian gauge (1668 mm) -At the right: a TER French train, Standard gauge (1435 mm). Isn't that amazing?

[@paupadros]

which are the others?

[@RWBHere]

Where are the other three stations?

[@THEbonjour0321]

@@RWBHere I guess he means 3 different trains on the same station, few second after though (edit : 1-2 second after, no more)

[@mickimicki]

Thanks, I appreciate your observation. Not a train nerd, but I do remember going from France to Spain and back by train in the 80s: getting off the French train in Hendaye (AFAIR), walking across the border with the luggage to Irun (?), waiting a few hours to get on "another" train, only to find it was the same carriages, apparently put on different gauge undercarriages (forgive me if I'm using wrong terminology, not a native speaker, either). So it's funny that there is even a third gauge around in the region. I imagine there used to be more places like that back when there were more local/rural small gauge railway lines in Europe?

[@derekheeps1244]

We run triple gauge track on our miniature railway , which is actually quite commonplace , although most trains run on 7-1/4" gauge , which is the largest .

[@Richardincancale]

2:20 Actually it’s remarkable that your piece of 17th century French is completely understandable with no problem even by me, whereas a piece of 17th century English would have most people tripping up or referring to a historical dictionary!

[@davidmendelsohn1583]

You can thank the Académie française for that!

[@AnimeSunglasses]

@@davidmendelsohn1583 Well, they had to do SOME good, I suppose, just on sheer probability...

[@AnimeSunglasses]

@@cmmartti ... that's a pretty good point, at least mostly. People often do have to either reach for a dictionary while reading the KJV, or just develop a whole section of their vocabulary that is only called for when reading that Bible. And even then there are scattered common semantic misunderstandings. I think to be sure of whether your argument stands, we'd have to look at an original unupdated KJV. 160 years, give or take, CAN be long enough for linguistic drift to make misunderstandings not just common but almost unavoidable.

[@eldrago19]

@@cmmartti and a lot of the KJV's word choices were out of date even when it was written. A better bench mark might be The English Bill of Rights from The Glorious Revolution - though it was written slightly later.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I have barely any trouble understanding old English. But then, I speak English and German, and old English is pretty much a mix from a time before English was invaded by French.

[@aselwyn1]

honestly the most surprising thing for me was that France doesn't have Arrêt on there stop signs. i am so use to it when i am in Quebec

[@TheEstampe]

Since it's the only hexagonal sign, I guess everyone would recognise it in any language. Note that in Latin America, you may encounter "alto" or "pare" signs depending on the country.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

And as a French, I never knew it was different in other countries. Since it's stop everywhere in Europe.

[@greentjmtl]

The French aren't nearly as discriminately as the Quebecois. Among the less sinister ones, student in French school will be send to detention if they were caught speaking English outside English class.

[@pangolin83]

Yes, because the Quebecois are militant. Which is funny when their so called "country of heritage" are nowhere near as idiotic with their language.

[@ROGER2095]

@@TheEstampe In 2000, I was driving through Ireland (County Donegal) and saw a octagonal sign, painted yellow with black letters that said "SLOW." It wasn't at an intersection. Really got my attention!

[@arnovije]

The cover of Stop from the Spice Girls was a great bonus 👌😄 While we’re typing: when will you be climbing a mountain again? Feels like ages 🤷‍♂️

[@TheTimTraveller]

I agree Arno, it has been far too long! It's been a little tricky for me to make hiking videos during the pandemic, for a whole bunch of reasons, and I really want to get back to it. So, with a bit of luck, there will be a LOT more mountains later this year...

[@petermaffei8687]

The piano version of the Geography Now! theme song was an AMAZING touch to this episode!!!

[@Latoso]

This made my day!

[@raakone]

Fitting, actually, since it's a quirk of geography!

[@boomr334]

Given the way the world is now, this is the most sensible snippet of geopolitics

[@Joesolo13]

@Real Aiglon Oh come off it you should know what they meant instead of trying to act as if you're cleverer than them.

[@andrewgodiy2172]

Heh, I'd wish we could resolve our situation that easily.. Greetings from Ukraine! 🇺🇦

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

@@tomjoad1363 "That's easy, stop pissing off people ! If those independantist feels more russian than ukrainian, them let 'em go !" Wow... even as someone who doesn't know crap about politics, i can feel the strong projection this specimen did here ^^

[@jendralhxr]

perhaps build the roads and junctions, let people travel back and forth and do business freely , but keep the two state entities separate? (just like Llivia)

[@flaetsbnort]

@@jendralhxr That's kinda what they were doing, though

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

Good to see that so far the Ukranian Nightingale is kicking the arse of the russian bear. Stay strong Ukraine!

[@billb7876]

Sod off with your ukraine bullshit, Russia are getting rid of the corruption that the west have put in there, you must see that or are you happy with american bio labs and money laundering that goes on there?

[@simonlb24]

I honestly never thought I would ever hear an accordion verision of the 'Crossroads' theme tune. It is now lodged firmly in my head and will not leave. Thanks a bunch, Tim!

[@ML-vy8xo]

At 4:36. Made me chuckle

[@droganPaul]

Yes, special moment ;-)

[@MQsCues]

Ah, that's what it was! I knew I recognised the tune!

[@iankemp1131]

Highly appropriate though! I chuckled when I heard it.

[@themistocleszammit]

I was really struggling to work out what that tune was till I saw your comment!

[@thesteelrodent1796]

we've had similar issues on the border between Denmark and Germany, since Germany conquered Slesvig and Southern Jutland in 1864, and Denmark didn't get Southern Jutland back till 1920, while Slesvig voted to stay German. Germany kept Sylt, a tiny island off the west coast of Jutland, but for many years the only way they could get to it was on sealed trains that went through Denmark. Eventually they built their own railroad, but because that whole area is still a mix of Danish and German population it's always been a very liberal crossing point (for Danes and German), with several of the border towns having both German and Danish identities thanks to being tossed back and forth

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Now I have to ask how the germans on the danish side are represented. Because the danish on the german side are a recognised national minority and as such have some exceptions to guarantee their representation.

[@darth_yoda]

@@HappyBeezerStudios They nor represented in the danish parliment as the Island belongs to Germany and follows German laws and also vote in German elections.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@darth_yoda No germans on the danish side of the border?

[@PascalGienger]

The SSW (South Slesian Voter Union) is even a recognized Danish minority Party in the German state of Schleswig Holstein and in the last federal election they got even so many votes to have a seat in the German federal parliament (Bundestag). Very rare event!

[@gerdforster883]

​@@HappyBeezerStudiosThere is a german minority in Denmark, but it is much smaller than the danish minority in Germany. They are currently represented in local parliaments, but not on the national level.

[@lenabrokaw714]

"Who would read all of that?" 2:19. Me. I did. Understood a lot of it, to my delight.

[@martenkats6915]

I've actually driven across that road, I was briefly staying in the south of France, not too far from Andorra. Then I went to Andorra by (hire-)car to do some ridiculously cheap shopping, crossed from there briefly into Spain to go back via Llivia (neither route made a big difference getting to/from the place I was staying at so I just felt like some different scenery). So I knew about Llivia, but I never knew about how controversial that road was!

[@jonathanfinan722]

I drove through Andorra once in the late 80s. It reminded me of Keighley but without the heroin.

[@zhuravlik26]

There exists such a road in our times. "Saatse Boot" is a panhandle of Russian territory that contains a road connecting two Estonian villages. It is allowed to drive there without stops to access Estonia from Estonia, but it is prohibited to access this road in any other way, as that would be an illegal border crossing. There were negotiations, and there exists a draft of a treaty that cedes this area to Estonia in exchange of tiny pieces of land in other areas. But this treaty was never signed, so this road still functions as is.

[@petertaylor4980]

See kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3jNgaFui5mCb6c

[@flp322]

Tom Scott made a video about it!

[@ThreeRunHomer]

Russia maintaining an excuse to invade Estonia.

[@bawdydog176]

Yay, a Tim Traveler video! Instant improvement to my day.

[@SuperDropsX]

Nobody delivers European Border Pedantry like our boy Tim. Greatly enjoyed this one, as always, even if what's going on in the Ukraine is a grim reminder that Actual War is always just one powerful person's ego away.

[@1UPWonders]

Only Tim could make a video about stop signs interesting and informative.

[@edipires15]

Hmm I think Not Just Bikes also made an interesting and informative video about Stop signs 😅

[@gormster]

Only Tim… and Sam from Half as Interesting.

[@1UPWonders]

@@edipires15 I was not familiar with them. Of course, that Tom Scott video about a certain crossroad did touch on stop signs too.

[@FlyingMozzarella]

@@gormster I was abt to comment this!

[@osasunaitor]

6:58 This is La-Tour-de-Carol railway station, a lovely tiny station where the Spanish commuter trains from Barcelona, the French night trains from Paris and the scenic narrow-gauge Yellow Train all meet. Of course, as usual you can admire the cute French trains (left) next to the hideous graffiti-ridden Spanish trains (right).

[@beltrangarrote1982]

Between this, Llivia, Pheasant Island and Andorra, I must admit France and Spain’s willingness to sort things out is admirable.

[@slimcourage901]

Reminds me of the customs road between Basel, Switzerland and the Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg airport in France. It's still there, but Switzerland joining Schengen in 2008 has made it irrelevant.

[@tobiwan001]

True, but before Switzerland was part of Schengen, the whole airport was a s**tshow.

[@lacdebienne47]

Very true. Was just about to mention this as well... you were just a few minutes faster !

[@martincook9795]

@@lacdebienne47 me too. But i think it has a fence around it

[@timtranslates]

But Switzerland is not in the Customs Union, so it is relevant for moving goods. That's why there's also a neutral road from France to the French sector of Geneva airport. If you want to move goods from the bit of France near Geneva to, say, Bordeaux without paying customs duties in Switzerland, you take the customs road. You therefore enter Geneva airport without entering Swiss customs territory.

[@williamwhite1357]

@@tobiwan001 it still is! pointless “checks” after security

[@dickoon]

I do so love the hard work you put into the musical accompaniments; they raise a smile very often and make the two seconds it takes to work out what they are well worthwhile.

[@runejonassen3893]

I'm imagining a barn filled with old stopsigns just waiting to be rediscovered... If they ever do find them, I hope they use them to build a monument over this dispute. Stop stopping the stoppage!

[@jwhite5008]

Warm words from one of the countries involved in mentioned ongoing war. Ah, how would the world improve if all wars were waged through road signage alone. Let's hope - fingers crossed - that this one also results only in infrastructure improvement.

[@webdeveloperbournemouth]

6:07 stop right now, thank you very much

[@R2k2]

When I saw the map at 1:22 , i tought: "Oh no, this will be Baarle-Nassau all over again". But no, this got weirder. :) Thanks for the video, and keep them coming!! ( *Humming*, 'Stop right now, thank you very much. I need somebody with a human touch".... Aah, nostalgia.... )

[@thryduulf]

@R2k2 Thank you! I knew I recognised the tune but hadn't quite placed it!

[@R2k2]

@@thryduulf you're welcome!

[@CactusJinx]

On another note I love the piano rendition of Stop by the Spice Girls at the end … Very appropriate 😅😅

[@Zarkovision]

There is a quite similar situation at the Dutch/German border at a part of the country called "Selfkant". Selfkant forms a "peninsula" from the German side into the Netherlands, province of Limburg. Indeed Selfkant was Dutch after the war as a reparation for WW2, but the Netherland gave it back to Germany in 1963, and the people there became Germans again. But the N274, a Dutch street connecting Brunssum with Koningsbosch, is going over now German territory, making Selfkant an exclave. At least in theory, as there is now no sign of a border. Also this is the smallest point of the Netherlands: From the border in Selfkant to the river Maas (which is the border to Belgium) it's only 4,75 km.

[@Outwhere]

For a long time, it was impossible to get onto this road from Germany (this only changed in 2002). It is still open to lorries on Sunday, unlike normal German roads.

[@Rekowagen]

You beat me to it ;-). And yes, Tim, if you are reading this, the Selfkant is a place to visit for obscure everything, including a now-preserved railway line which was shortened by Dutch occupation after WWII, the Dutch road over German territory with no exists to Germany, the westernmost point of Germany and the village (Millen) where the village is in Germany and the castle in the Netherlands. Maybe you should wait until the unique articulated railcar at the preserved railway has been restored. That originates from the island of Sylt and the tractor unit is a modified off-the-peg lorry!

[@sirBrouwer]

not to be pedantic... or actually to be very pedantic the smallest point in the Netherlands from border to border is most likely one of the Dutch second order enclaves with in the Baarle-Nassau/Hertog crazy mess of a existence.

[@Quintinohthree]

Further to the north there is an actual neutral road aptly named "Neutraleweg" which was genuinely simultaneously German and Dutch for no real discernable region given that it only runs along the border but from Dutch Groesbeek to Dutch Milsbeek. Anyway, the condominium was ended as part of the transfers of territory following WWII and one of only two transfers that were made permanent.

[@bouli3576]

There is also the B258 road between Roetgen and Konzen (Germany, Nord-Rhein-Westfalen), that runs partly through Belgium, but without connections to Belgium.

[@aaronpaul5990]

So ... someone must have a whole load of stop signs ... and it is interesting that it was spain who was fed up and not the french but it looks like a better infrastructure regardless especially with the train line right next to it.

[@ewanduffy]

You need to do a video about the Accommodation roads in Northern Ireland which, for road traffic purposes, are Republic of Ireland roads.

[@floris3239]

Looking forward to the video about Le Petit Train Jaune and why on a map the railway line seem to deliberately try to avoid going through Llívia. Instead it goes around it in an U shape.

[@sayujraphael]

I literally searched for this channel today, and boom a new upload

[@juanpablocorreiaecheverria2857]

I just wanted every border in the world to be like the France-Spain border.

[@osasunaitor]

We even share an island that's 6 months French, 6 months Spanish every year lol. And since the borders were opened up by Schengen, the limit between the two countries has become so diffuse that the physical border is impossible to notice unless you are travelling on a main road (local roads don't even have signage to mark the border). I believe that this is becoming increasingly common in Europe, and I love it

[@JohnPrepuce]

You would need every country which borders another to be themselves like France or Spain. Alas, this is not the case.

[@thorin1045]

A massive mountain with a few narrow corridors of passage? For some reason i don't think you wanted to be that...

[@hairyairey]

@@osasunaitor At some points you will still see the border control buildings and when there's an emergency (like the pandemic and for once that's using the word in its proper context) they are staffed.

[@osasunaitor]

@@hairyairey true, but only on main roads/motorways. The rural roads and paths that criss-cross the border areas have no physical barrier at all. An old milestone with an F carved on one side and an E (España) on the other is the biggest hint you might find.

[@bertlbarm4374]

The Austrian - Slovenian border is also just one street west of Leibniz, two lines, a yellow one and a white one, indicate the border, except for an inn, because the guest room is in Austria, the kitchen in Slovenia

[@lacadiere]

Hello, at 6:58 you have a very special station. It’s La-Tour-de-Carol with 3 different trains: on the right French train (standard gauge, voltage 1500 V), on the middle the Spanish train (Iberia gauge, voltage 3000 V) and on the left the Cerdagne train (meter gauge, voltage 850 V).

[@angelogarcia2189]

"If only more wars could stop, like The War of The Stop Sighs stopped." Amen

[@martythemartian99]

Your wonderful use of musical jokes continues to delight :D

[@moritzl7065]

The piano version of the Geography Now theme song was a nice touch!

[@samueldevulder]

Tim using the proper level of humour for the time being. This was really needed. Thank you. Thumb up.

[@Niinsa62]

Yess! Another Tim Traveller video! And it taught me that Mexico and Quebec have Spanish and French stop signs, but Spain and France don't. I didn't know that. But I do know that here in Sweden we used to have Swedish STOPP signs, before going mainstream STOP.

[@DarkDutch007]

The Germans used HALT signs during the occupation of the Netherlands, which seems to be the first stop sign being used in the Netherlands.

[@jefflanam]

This information comes in handy if you play Geoguesser, because if you see a sign that says Arrêt, you can be pretty sure you are in Quebec.

[@sammartland932]

@@jefflanam I have seen them in certain towns in nova scotia

[@theKobus]

STOPP seems so much more emphatic and slangy

[@henrimichelpierreplana4332]

Oh please, please .. do a video about the train jaune. My uncle was a conductor on it. So many memories in the driver cabin as a child. Thanks for your videos.

[@fleinze]

The music in the end gave spiced the video up. Loving it!

[@selkesmooth4928]

Did I hear a rendition of the outro music to "Geography Now" at 1:56?

[@colday74]

Always chuffed when you put a new video out Tim. Another good one!

[@tuftywhite9628]

Loving the subtle music bed. Especially the Crossroads theme on an accordion. Outstanding!

[@paulpeternaanouh3193]

For some extra pedantry I'd like to mention that the "roundabout" of reconciliation is not a roundabout at but a "carrefour à sense giratoire" that is technically different from a roundabout in that cars exiting it have the right of way as opposed to cars entering it.

[@Croz89]

Only in France I assume, since in the rest of the world that's how a normal roundabout works!

[@MrNicoJac]

That's a normal roundabout...?

[@tinkertaylor6965]

Er.. to heap pedantry upon pedantry, surely the type of junction you are referring to requires the vehicles on the 'roundabout' to give way to those entering it; i.e. the opposite of the rule on the more common variety.

[@paulpeternaanouh3193]

@@Croz89 I'd say that france probably just gave a different name for the same thing as you rarely ever see a structure that is defined as a "roundabout" by french traffic law.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@paulpeternaanouh3193 Might have to do with the fact that that french traffic law defines it in french and not in english ;) German traffic law would call it a Kreisverkehr, which is obviously yet another entirely different thing.

[@radioflyer1969]

Absolutely brilliant! I love your videos. So deliciously quirky and filled with fascinating history. Thanks so much!

[@DanLoudShirts]

Brilliant video as always, Tim. Not only are they interesting and amusing, but the musical arrangements are genius. Keep up the good work!

[@allymac1314]

These nuggets of info are an absolute joy to watch. Nice one!

[@PlacoRabanne]

It has been a while that I'm fond of that little piece of trivia (thanks, Half as Interesting !) but your video with actual point of views and not only infographics is really great, Tim. I also love how professional your videos are becoming. Keep up the great work !

[@paulabplanalp1030]

Thank you Mr Tim, you always cheer me up. I love your music.

[@BarrySchmitz]

I love the work you put in these video's. Well done Tim! It's a pleasure to watch them. 😎

[@anjachan]

thanx for the interesting informations about that beautiful place!

[@polymerbitltd.8697]

It is always a joy to see your videos! I was wondering when you would inevitably talk about this road considering you were in the region for your last video.

[@greenate12]

Thanks for providing a calm amidst the storm. Great little video.

[@firesurfer]

Here is your "WALL OF TEXT" en anglais, s'il vous plait; "“And because to go from Livia to Puyserda, or from Puyserda to Livia or to go from one of the Villages belonging to His Most Christian Majesty to one of those who belong to his Catholic Majesty, it could happen that it would be necessary to pass by the limits of Livia or Puyserda, or by the limits of some Villages of France. We [...] declare, that whatever kind of goods or commodities which will pass through such Limits going by the royal road from Livia to Puyserda or from Puyserda to Livia, or from a Village in Spain to one in France, will not pay any right to the Officers of France, nor to other Customs officers or Farmers, or any other Receivers, of the rights of the two Kingdoms; Declarant moreover that the said royal roads and passages which one could take to go from Livia to Puyserda, or from Puyserda to Livia, or to go of one Village of France to one of those of Spain, will be free with the subjects of one and the other Kingdom, without the said Subjects being able to be respectively worried in the said passages by the Ministers of two Kingdoms for whatever cause. Not hearing point that this freedom of passage can serve to ensure impunity for crimes that could be committed in the said paths and passages, especially since the capture and punishment of the guilty will belong to those of the Territory of the said passages where the crimes will have been committed."

[@douglasboyle6544]

I was hoping this was going to be here!

[@kobusg7460]

OMW, slimey attorney-government-money-guzzling-bureaucracy was clearly a big then and it has not changed until today, has it?

[@andreasu.3546]

TIL: 17th century legalese is no better than todays.

[@nightw4tchman]

Just want to say, I love your videos. Thank you for making them.

[@PeterFSzabo-gd4et]

I just rewatched the Llivia video about half an hour ago, and now this pops up. Perfect timing!

[@DirkthemanDrones]

Love the ‘stop right now’ song rendition at the end…!

[@bloergk]

4:02 Pedant's Delight: "Stop" is a perfectly valid and common French word, synonymous with "Arrêt", "Halte", or "Pause" for example. France DOES have French stop signs. What you said is a bit like saying: "Surprisingly, the English have decided to use the French word 'Hotel' on the signage in front of their inns".

[@TheTimTraveller]

Tbf I didn't say *I* was personally surprised by it :) You're right, "stop" has been fully adopted by the French at this point. But I mentioned it because I had a lot of comments on my last video where people were suprised about it - I'm guessing they were mostly Mexicans and Canadians...

[@missionsabotage]

@@TheTimTraveller Fun fact : UK was using "HALT" sign.

[@bloergk]

@@TheTimTraveller Oh for sure, don't worry I can't imagine it actually bothering anyone, I hope my comment didn't sound antagonistic or annoying. Just recreational pedantry. I just looked it up and to your credit, apparently even though it was already a (somewhat niche) loanword in the nineteenth century it became MASSIVELY more integrated in the common vernacular after the invention of stop signs. So my "Hotel" analogy does not quite convey the right timeline... "Stop 🇫🇷" is comfortably above the threshold where loanwords lose their foreignness (like "stopper" is a verb that doesn't evoke English in the slightest to French ears, unlike for example "Zeitgeist 🇬🇧" which retains some German flavor to English ears I think), but yeah I have to admit "Hotel 🇬🇧" is MUCH further above that threshold, poor choice...

[@TheTimTraveller]

@@bloergk ah interesting! This is some world class pedantry, thank you for the extra research

[@Coccinelf]

@@bloergk Just thought you'd like to know that "hotel" in French is "hôtel".

[@placeyplacey]

Thanks Tim - keep up the good work 👍👍

[@shanelyon414]

Thank you for another awesome story Tim! I feel like you bring amazing secret stories out for all of us to share in. Thank you for taking us along for the ride.

[@patchso]

Yet another great video. Keep up the good work Tim.

[@TheFlyingBusman]

An interesting tale and as always love the very appropriate background music. Keep up the interesting little snippets.

[@SMjerZgirl]

I love your channel and videos, thank you so much for all your hard work making them

[@jshawbitter]

This is in my opinion one of if not the best channels on KZbin well done going to look though all your old videos now Keep it up

[@himlingpatrice]

2:16 The French legal language of the 17th century is practically identical to the French legal language of the 21st century.

[@whyyoulidl]

Boy, how I needed this piece of escapism! Every video Tim does is another addition to my 'Must go to' list; Many thanks 👍🏿

[@rewboss]

TIL Spain has the same style of roadside reflector posts as Germany. (This is the kind of thing I notice when I'm watching videos. Is this something I should be concerned about?)

[@matthewlane4390]

I have really fell in love with this channel! Tim has really done some interesting stuff!

[@aston-s]

Although I had no idea of it at the time but looking le train jaune, I think I went on that as a child, at one of the stations we got out of one of the closed carriages into one of the open ones, the train started moving before my dad had got into the open carriage and the carriage door was still open. He managed to leap in and we lived happily ever after

[@boycy69]

Great video as always Tim. It reminded me of China Mieville's excellent novel "The City and the City", about 2 totally separate cities in exactly the same place. Well worth a read!

[@MrGreatplum]

You find the best places with the most wonderful pedantry! 😀

[@sanashi27]

These things are pretty interesting. It's cool they found a way to deal with the issue and the bridge looks good.

[@HenrysAdventures]

Very interesting and I'll certainly look forward to your video on the Yellow Train. Its somewhere on my to visit list!

[@gastounet45]

Hello Tim... very good video ! I knew this neutral road because i've drived "under" this spanish bridge (i was on the highwy N20 in France...) and someone had explained me the particular story of the little village of LLIVIA: it was in 1988 before Schengein... To go to Llivia from the France, every car might go to the spanish border in Puigcerda, drove in the city and - by the Spain - take the Spanish Bridge ...not easy ! ... a french friend of your videos

[@johnledingham852]

What an absolutely fascinating video this was. I had never heard of the neutral road. I can just imagine the long meetings going through the night on both sides, trying to sort out the stop sign conflict. And the locals taking the whole fuss in their stride as only locals can. Then hey presto! The overpass and the roundabout solved the problem, and everyone is happy. I love happy endings. Thanks Tim!

[@cakemartyr5794]

Another great informative and entertaining video, Tim. Thanks! Particularly liked the Spanglish sign at 3:30 and the Crossroads music at 4:40.

[@felixbristow155]

I appreciate the piano rendition of 'stop right now' at the end, very subtle

[@burger406]

im so excited to be hearing from Llivia again! -burger40

[@heybagley]

6:04 "Thaaaaaank you very much" for the cover of this underrated bop from the 1990s!

[@colinpovey2904]

Love your work. Great sense of humor.

[@YukariAkiyamaTanks]

Great video tim! I never knew of the war of the signs before.

[@LQC2556]

When you hear "Hello, bonjour, and hola!" you already know something is up.

[@snupmadra3787]

Ireland has stop signs; which say "STOP". However, in Gaeltacht areas where the speak Irish that say "STAD". These stad signs probably account for less than 1% of all stop signs in Ireland.

[@peppermann]

Wonderful narration. 👍👏

[@derauditor5748]

Thanks Tim! That was a much needed (educational) laugh in this crazy timeline of ours...

[@dancedecker]

Brilliant as ever Tim. And loved the accordion music of tye Crossroads theme tune at 4.30 or so.. I'm sure Benny and Miss Diane appreciated it. Lol. Cheers.

[@TheHylianBatman]

I kinda wish they had left the old crossroads just for fun. Still built the new one and everything, just not take out the old one. Also good on you for your solidarity. I respect that a lot.

[@scythal]

There's still signs of its existence, but if they had kept the whole thing, where would the stop signs go?

[@TheHylianBatman]

@@scythal Fair enough.

[@snorky2k521]

Always the best travel suggestions.

[@leeburkitt1442]

Love the video and especially the use of the crossroads theme music in the background!

[@deeser]

What a wonderfully bonkers story. Wonderful!

[@vic8497]

Wonderfull video, as always!

[@anto687]

That closing song. Beautiful choice as always!

[@kevwang0712]

0:20 In both countries at the same time… I guess that would qualify as being in a Quantum State

[@Moses_VII]

But so many people have measured it. Why didn't the wave-function collapse?

[@TheSockMonkeyGuy]

​@@Moses_VII The best theory I can advance is that bureaucracy exists in an alternate universe where the laws of physics simply do not apply.

[@smhorse]

Schrodinger's States?

[@docvideo93]

2:04 Love the Geography Now theme!

[@LHyoutube]

The subtle choice of instrumental music at the end was genius! 😂

[@bruceyoung1343]

Mr Tim. I Thank You 🙏

[@Emiliapocalypse]

Great good use of the spice girls Stop, I nearly spat my drink on the dog when it started 😅