The soundscape of Birkenhead Park could almost have been the soundscape of any country park: the rustle of squirrels in the foliage, the quacking of ducks on the lakes, the …
Squiffy
Member since February 2018
#342 160 33 4
I can't believe I only discovered this site in 2018. I discovered the World Heritage List back in 2004 and it formed a major focus of my free time for a good decade or so. I never knew that there was such an active community of fellow like-minded nerds out here.
My visits have pretty much fallen off a cliff since 2015 as I have discovered there is a limit to what is responsible or feasible with a young family. Since my honeymoon I've only managed to visit three or four new sites (the 'maybe four' being Pont d'Arc where I visited the replica cave but didn't sneak into the actual inscribed area). So my reviews will be limited to newly-visited sites or ones I have previously visited but are lacking in reviews on the site.
And as my family grows up, hopefully I'll be able to drag them along as I recommence my quest ("Hey kids! Who wants to go and see some German Modernist housing estates?")
My most impressive site: Petra. Not very imaginative I know, but I just love ancient sites
My proposal for a new site: I definitely believe there is scope for a transnational serial nomination of Brutalist buildings.
Recent Visits
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05Jan. 1, 2024Visit nominated site: Birkenhead Park, Central Park, City of York ...
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02Jan. 1, 2020La Moneda Palace, Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins National P
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01Jan. 1, 2020Trakai Historical National Park
Top 10 Missing
Completed Countries
About Squiffy
- Member since
- February 2018
- Country of Origin
- None
Visits
- Rank
- #342
- WHS
- 160
- Tentative Sites
- 33
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 37
-
Ratings
Ratings
World Heritage Sites
- Petra 5.0
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park 5.0
- Damascus 5.0
- Palmyra 4.5
- Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.5
- Medina of Fez 4.5
- Serengeti 4.5
- Te Wahipounamu 4.5
- Iguazu National Park 4.5
- Ironbridge Gorge 4.0
- Wadi Rum 4.0
- Hierapolis-Pamukkale 4.0
- Los Glaciares 4.0
- Göreme NP and Cappadocia 4.0
- Nasca Lines 4.0
- Aleppo 4.0
- Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc 4.0
- Archaeological Site of Delphi 4.0
- Himeji-jo 4.0
- Crac des Chevaliers 4.0
- Ngorongoro 4.0
- Edinburgh 4.0
- Iguacu 3.5
- Saint Catherine Area 3.5
- Stone Town of Zanzibar 3.5
- Derwent Valley Mills 3.5
- Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 3.0
- Kew Gardens 3.0
- Bosra 3.0
- Novgorod 3.0
- Tiwanaku 3.0
- Valparaiso 3.0
- Kii Mountain Range 3.0
- Epidaurus 3.0
- Monticello 3.0
- Gwynedd Castles 3.0
- Amphitheater of El Jem 3.0
- Painted Churches in the Troödos Region 3.0
- Studley Royal Park 3.0
- Arequipa 3.0
- Itsukushima Shrine 3.0
- Orange 3.0
- Blenheim Palace 3.0
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 2.5
- Kunta Kinteh Island 2.5
- Blaenavon Industrial Landscape 2.5
- Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 2.5
- Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal 2.5
- Dorset and East Devon Coast 2.5
- Kilimanjaro National Park 2.5
- Um er-Rasas 2.5
- Qhapaq Ñan 2.5
- Quseir Amra 2.5
- Paphos 2.5
- Nessebar 2.5
- Villa d'Este 2.5
- Pienza 2.5
- Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 2.5
- Medina of Essaouira 2.5
- Volubilis 2.5
- Forth Bridge 2.5
- Carthage 2.0
- Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape 2.0
- Saltaire 2.0
- Curonian Spit 2.0
- Tombs of Buganda Kings 2.0
- Choirokoitia 2.0
- Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 2.0
- Horyu-ji Area 2.0
- Meknes 2.0
- Val d'Orcia 2.0
- Colonia del Sacramento 2.0
- Genbaku Dome 2.0
- Jodrell Bank Observatory 2.0
- Holasovice 2.0
- Corfu 2.0
- Durham Castle and Cathedral 2.0
- The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2.0
- New Lanark 1.5
- Kernavė 1.5
- Saloum Delta 1.0
- Mazagan 1.0
- Lower German Limes 0.5
Tentative Sites
- City of York
- Pharaonic temples in Upper Egypt
- D-Day Landing Beaches, Normandy, 1944
- Ellis Island
- Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins National P
- Minoan Palatial Centres
- Lake Titicaca
- Massif du Mont Blanc
- Dahshour
- Gorge of Samaria National Park
- The Karlstejn Castle
- Central Park
- Birkenhead Park
- Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece
- Sarajevo
- Trakai Historical National Park
- La Moneda Palace
- Knights Fortifications around Harbours of Malta
- Dahab
- Mount Vernon
- East Atlantic Flyway
- Balaton Uplands Cultural Landscape
- Fortress of Spinalonga
- Les passages de Bruxelles
- Casablanca
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Pombaline Lisbon
- Ancient Greek Theatres
- 83 28
- Photos
- N/A
- Locations
- N/A
- Zones
- N/A
Reserved for members.
Reviews by Squiffy
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City of York (Nominated)
City of York
I was in love with a wall. York is famous for having the longest set of medieval walls in the UK, but it was not these crenelated stretches and their …
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Squiffy 30/10/23
Archaeological Site of Delphi (Inscribed)
Archaeological Site of Delphi
Suddenly we were alone. The last of the tour buses charged back towards Athens. Looking down over the theatre and the standing columns of the great temple of Apollo I …
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Squiffy 10/08/23
Painted Churches in the Troöd… (Inscribed)
Painted Churches in the Troödos Region
The old stone houses of Kalopanagiotis crumbled down the hillside. Below, the bridge was out. I had to leave the car and gingerly inch across the span, trying not to …
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Squiffy 05/05/23
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Can… (Inscribed)
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
We were 20 metres above ground as we crossed the border. The wide valley of the turbulent River Ceiriog below tried its best to demarcate where England ended and Wales …
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Squiffy 05/04/23
Ironbridge Gorge (Inscribed)
Ironbridge Gorge
Swollen by the night’s rains, the River Severn flowed smoothly through the valley. Above it the delicate lattice-work arc of the bridge leapt like a salmon. Day-trippers crossed the span. …
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Squiffy 26/07/22
Chatham Dockyard and its Defe… (Removed from tentat…)
Chatham Dockyard and its Defences
Just as the pandemic hit in early 2020 a new £20 note entered circulation in the UK. The portrait on the reverse of the banknote is of the 19th century …
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Squiffy 23/09/21
Gwynedd Castles (Inscribed)
Gwynedd Castles
We picked our way through the low dunes to a suitable spot on the sand where we could spread out our picnic blanket. Keeping a wary eye on the ever-circling …
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Squiffy 14/08/21
The Slate Landscape of Northw… (Inscribed)
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales
The single-track road to Cwm Ystradllyn wound further into the contours of the Welsh hills, the cottages and farmhouses becoming fewer and further apart with every bend. It was as …
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Squiffy 07/08/21
Balaton Uplands Cultural Land… (On tentative list)
Balaton Uplands Cultural Landscape
A cool September breeze riffled the branches of the fringing trees as I swam out into Lake Héviz. It was definitely better to be in the water than out on …
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Squiffy 06/05/21
Los Glaciares (Inscribed)
Los Glaciares
The kick was key. There was a perfect angle and force to drive the front pitons of my crampon into the hard-packed snow. Once I had mastered that, the slopes …
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Squiffy 04/02/20
Torres del Paine and Bernardo… (On tentative list)
Torres del Paine and Bernardo O'Higgins National P
All we needed was for the icy Patagonian rain to stop pelting down. The morning’s climb would be tough enough without leaning into the face of a squall. And even …
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Squiffy 27/01/20
Kunta Kinteh Island (Inscribed)
Kunta Kinteh Island
The Lady Jaclene, out of Ramsgate, pushed slowly up the river, red ensign flapping in the hot salt-scented breeze. The River Gambia here was so wide I could see …
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Squiffy 14/01/20
Saloum Delta (Inscribed)
Saloum Delta
The Land Rover came to a stop. Just ahead a roan antelope emerged from the brush and started to step delicately across our path. I was just pulling out my …
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Squiffy 04/12/19
Petra (Inscribed)
Petra
The old Bedouin man waved to the west. “My tent is over there.” He lived still in Petra, had done all his life, as had his father and grandfather before …
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Squiffy 03/12/19
Um er-Rasas (Inscribed)
Um er-Rasas
I had to check twice. There, below the catwalk on which I stood, was a man riding a goose. Close by men fished, oblivious to their goose-riding compatriot. It was …
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Squiffy 20/11/19
Quseir Amra (Inscribed)
Quseir Amra
The road east was long and featureless. Dun unremitting grey plains stretched out on either side as far as my eye could see. Trails of dust hung in the air …
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Squiffy 19/11/19
Wadi Rum (Inscribed)
Wadi Rum
Night fell on the desert. The campfire sank low. Banking up the hard-packed sand behind my head, I lay down on the slope of a dune and gazed up into …
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Squiffy 18/11/19
Troodos, Mt.Olympus (On tentative list)
Troodos, Mt.Olympus
After a week down by the coast the winding roads up into the Troodos Mountains were a blessed relief. Gone was the fungal spread of ‘Villa-Land’, little boxes all made …
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Squiffy 31/10/19
Paphos (Inscribed)
Paphos
It was mid-day and the sun was intense. Not so much the heat, but the intensity of it, beating down like a physical weight. Entirely the wrong time to be …
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Squiffy 19/10/19
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