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I reached Tanumshede by bus from Halden in Norway, changing buses in Stromstad (there are trains from Stromstad too), then took a taxi to the site.

Besides the red colouring I found similarities in style to the rock engravings in Alta, but the content was more of ships and humans than of animals.

Getting to Gammelstad from Smedjegatan in the centre of Lulea is easy on a #9 bus, which stops at Kirkbyn, outside the Gammelstad church. There was a funeral in progress at the church when I arrived, but I got to see inside it later on after visiting some of the tiny red-painted cottages that form the church-town.

My day trip to Ritsem passing through parts of the Muddus and Stora Sjofallet National Parks started from the picturesque old railway station in Gallivare. From outside the station I took a #93 bus and spent the day travelling to and from Ritsem, stopping off at several spots along the way, and taking a hike up to get a view of Mount Akka across the lake from Ritsem.

The cultural aspect of this site is a bit hard to find, and visually it doesn't compare with the more dramatic mountain scenery of the South Island of New Zealand.

I travelled down the High Coast of Sweden using the services of the #100 bus, from Ornskoldsvik, past Skuleberget, Docksta and Ullanger to Harnosand. But the highlight was going from Ornskoldsvik to Kopmanholmen by bus (#421), then cruising on the MF Ulvon to Trysunda, and to Fjaren and Ulvohamn on North Ulvon Island. The effect of the raising of the land is quite pronounced around the waterfronts of these small ports.

I cruised the Kvarken Archipelago aboard the mv Tirra and went ashore for lunch on Kuusisaari Island. This was a day long cruise from Vaasa's inner harbour costing 11 euros.

I visited Roros on a day trip by train from Trondheim. The train journey involved a steep climb, with a substantial drop in temperature, even in August.

The town was compact enough to visit all the significant features like the smelting area, slag heaps and workers' cottages on foot, interspersed with visits to the several hot soup kitchens available.

The construction of the houses was of great interest to me, with the walls made from rough hewn logs with interlocking joints at the corners and grass growing in a layer of topsoil on top of the shingle roofs.

The highlight of my visit to Vega Island was to see the eider duck museum and nearby duck nesting site at Nes on the north coast of the island. I had been directed there by the young man at the tourist office in Gladstad. It was a longish walk but worth it.

I reached Vega Island by a small ferry from Bronnoysund. Many visitors reach Bronnoysund on the daily coastal ferries of Hurtigruten, but I chose to get there by bus from Grong railway station. I also used the bus service connecting the port of Roroy with Gladstad on Vega Island.

My journey through the Geiranger and Naeroy Fiords is as much a tribute to the road engineers and bus and train services that operate in the area.

My journey started at Andalsnes railway station after having descended from Dombas on the Rauma line, itself a scenic wonder. Then commenced one of the scariest bus rides I have experienced, up the seemingly endless zig-zag highway over the Trollstigen. From the bottom I admired the cascading waterfalls, then from the top the panorama way below. After descending to the Nordaelsfjord the bus crossed by ferry to Eisdal and then climbed to the summit of the Eagle Highway. From here there was a fantastic view over Geirangerfjord (including two cruise ships). Then began the hair-raising descent to to the touristy town of Geiranger.

Here I boarded a ferry for the voyage to Hellesylt at the other end of the fiord, where another bus awaited to take me through some lengthy tunnels to Stryn and Sogndal. After a side trip to the Urnes church I took a bus from Sogndal to Kaupanger where I boarded another ferry bound for Gudvangen, which after crossing the Sognefjord sailed the full length of the Naeroyfjord. This fiord is much narrower than the Geirangerfiord therby barring access to cruise ships. Besides the steepness of the sides there are more villages and waterfalls along this fiord too which make it more interesting.

At Gudvangen I caught a bus through another tunnel to Flam and from there travelled by train …

So far I have only visited several site on the arc in Scandinavia, although like Ian I fear there may be more in the future.

I reached the Alatornio Church by travelling from Kemi station by bus to Tornio, a town located on an island in the Tornio River. The church with its distinctive clock tower is on another island further south and facing the Swedish town of Haparanda on the opposite bank. The short way to the church is by crossing a footbridge back to the Finnish shore, going south, then crossing the railway bridge linking Sweden and Finland, with its dual gauge tracks. This brought me to the cemetery at the back of the church.

On the bus journey through Lapland from Rovaniemi to Alta I stopped in Enontekio and Kautokino, but didn't locate the Struve markers in either place or in Alta.

But I did visit the Struve obelisk on the Fuglenaes Peninsular near Hammerfest. Although it is in a fairly industrial part of town my only companions were a herd of reindeer grazing on the newly planted lawn. Hammerfest, on an island connected by bridge and tunnel to the Norwegian mainland, is the end of the line for a bus service from Alta. I was amazed to find here at latitude 70 deg N that there is a city, factories, grass and animals. I had previously been at latitude 70 deg S (Antarctic Peninsular) where there are only rocks, ice and penguins.

Besides the bus services to Turku and Helsinki there is a train + bus service that I took to Tampere. In addition to the buildings Els mentions, I found the Holy Cross church quite picturesque with its gleaming white tower.

I enjoyed visiting the rock art with its coloring as it brought out the designs so clearly (compared to those in the Coa Valley, Portugal). The town of Alta is no WHS, but I found the surrounding landscape interesting and varied; rural Lapland with Sami villages towards Hammerfest, rocky gorges followed by tundra towards Finland, and coastal fiord scenery west to Tromso. And I found friendly Nowegians and Finns operating bus services to all these places.

Within Alta there is a local bus service linking the various parts of town, but not on Sundays, so I had to walk from the Sentrum to Hjemmeluft to visit the museum and rock engravings.

I agree that it is location that makes this castle special, although far from unique. There are more spectacular castles around the coast of Scotland (non-WHS). But the view from the Helsingborg ferry is outstanding. And I did the tour of the battlements, the dungeons and the Royal Chapel too.

There are several buses that cross the bridge from Kalmar to Oland. I took a #103 bound for Ottenby, and returned on a #105. Along the way I passed several ancient earthworks, stone walls and circles and a number of old windmills while crossing the flat arable landscape. At Eketorp I visited the castle and then the Ottenby Nature Reserve near the lighthouse.

I stopped off at Gronhogen for lunch and to inspect a windmill and some walls and earthworks near the harbour, but there was nothing by way of explanation of what they represented.

I reached Visby in 3 hours by ferry from Oskarshamn, a short train + bus journey from Kalmar.

After entering the town through the Osterport, I spent a morning walking the streets of the old town visiting the various ruined 12th century churches, as well as the more interesting and undamaged Domkyrkan.

I found it a shame that Visby's waterfront was obscured by huge storage tanks.

The peaceful shady ambience if this site belies the noise and smells of the site that must have pervaded the area when the ironworks was in operation.

I reached Angelsberg by train from Falun while on the way to Stockholm. The friendly staff at the tourist office (in the station building) gladly looked after my luggage while I walked up the road to the site through an outdoor sculpture park.

The big hole of the Falun Gruva was no different from that of other open cut copper mines I have visited in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. It is the red painted wooden mine buildings that make it different, together with the similarly constructed houses of the Elsburg district.

The elegance of the mine headquarters and other civic buildings demonstrate the wealth that the mine brought to the town.

I reached Petajavesi by train on the line connecting Vaasa and Jyvaskyla. Even the station is a picturesque old wooden building. A short walk away is the old church, one of the nicest I have ever visited, for its architecture and the skill displayed in its construction. The interior is very plain; apart from a large painting and some coloured wood carvings around the pulpit it is all natural wood. But the exterior cladding and the tower are magnificent.

Reaching Verla requires careful planning as there is a bus service from Kouvola twice on Tuesdays only. So I went on the morning bus, spent the day visiting the site which covers a large area on the bank of the Kymi River. A delicious buffet lunch is served in the refectory. And there are walks into the village and the surrounding birch forest.

The river at one time formed the boundary between Sweden and Russia, and the remains of the old customs house can be seen. There are also some ancient rock engravings to be seen on a cliff overlooking the river. I returned to Kouvola on the afternoon bus.

It was a 4km walk from the bus stop in Lappi village along the road to Eurajoki to the site of Samallahdenmaki. But it was a fine day and there was little traffic so it was quite pleasant. It was very peaceful there as I had the site to myself, but others arrived as I was leaving to catch the bus back to Rauma.

There are several groups of stone cairns, and I visited the 'Church Floor', a large mound of stones tightly compacted together.

I visited Hovgaden on Adelso Island by #312 bus from Brommaplan T-bana station. There is a daily ferry from Hovgaden to Birka, but as its departure is not co-ordinated with any bus arrival I didn't go there. From other's reports, I didn't miss much. I did see the island in the distance from the Hovgaden fortress site, and found some inscribed runic stones near the Adelso church.

Guanacaste Conservation Area is in the northeastern cantones (counties) of Liberia, La Cruz, Bagaces and Upala, spanning between the provinces of Guanacaste and Alajuela. This area comprises three national parks: Rincón de la Vieja Volcano NP, Guanacaste NP and Santa Rosa-Bolaños island NP, the recreational area of Junquillal, Horizontes experimental station and some smaller protected areas.

The particularity of this part of the country, regarding the rest of the country, is it´s drier climate to the pacific side of the mountain slopes. So, it´s considered the last relict of the dry tropical forest that sometime covered from Guanacaste to southern Mexico. With this respect, it´s the largest area to include such forest. It also has some other important aspects: the large biodiversity that it houses, somewhat different to what is usual in the wetter parts of the country, the savanna-type vegetation, the presence of different species such as: deers, coaties, monkeys, armadillos, snakes, etc. The marine part is also particulary rich and pristine in terms of biodiversity.

Bolaños island is considered a sanctuary for marine birds, Junquillal and Naranjo beaches are extremely appreciated for their waves and rugged landscape, Santa Elena peninsula in Santa Rosa NP is the driest and geologically oldest part in the country and it´s in a great deal untammed by human action, Murciélagos islands are also representative of the historic and biological evolution of the area. Santa Rosa has the biggest section of dry forest, a mariine area, and coastal marshlands, and also has Nancite Beach, …