Source: http://www.geocities.com/
Europe - 18 000 years ago (http://www.geography-site.co.uk/)
Source: http://www.geography-site.co.uk/
In and around 20,000 years ago the area that would later reform the British Isles was mainly covered by a thick sheet of ice. This was during the last maximum expansion of the polar ice caps when sea levels were about 120 meters lower than today.
After a period of about 18000 BC - 16000 BC the thick glacial ice could expand no more and slowly began to melt or evaporate. At the same time the sea levels slowly began to increase.