Runestones - The Rune Kingdom

The region around Stockholm has the highest density of runestones in the world. Today I ventured out to find the Jarlabankes bro, the beginning of the Runriket. The Runriket is where 9 sites of runestones are located.

I had done some research before making my trip to Sweden. And one of the days I had allotted to the Runriket. However, I learned today that one of the websites I had used for my research was riddled with errors in distance. Where the website stated that the Runriket spanned 3.5 miles around Lake Vallentuna, it turns out the distance is 35 kilometers. Where the website stated that Runriket was 2.5 miles north of Stockholm, it is 25 kilometers. 

I didn't realize the errors of distance until I was on the third site of runestones. I was out in the Swedish countryside using Google Maps and seeing that the distance to the fourth site was another 3 kilometers of walking. That was when I tapped out and used a local bus to retrace my steps back to the Jarlabankes bro, the bridge that marks the beginning of the Runriket. 

I left my hotel in the morning and followed the Google Map directions using the subway and a local bus arriving at Jarlabankes bro around 11AM.

There I encountered my very first runesones. 

I then set out to find the second location, a church in Täby Kyrkby. I probably should have become aware of the distance problem when it took me 20 minutes walking to get from the Jarlabankes bro to the church. At the church there were two more runestones. What was curious was that the runestones were part of the churches foundation!

The third location is where I decided that I had made an error in my research, the Broby bro. I had walked out into the Swedish countryside on a road that did not have a foot path. I looked on Google Maps and saw that the fourth location was another 3 kilometers of walking.

I retraced my steps back to the main road and hopped on a local bus taking me back to the place I had started. There I asked a friendly tourist if she would kindly take my picture with the first runestone I had encountered.

I made my way back to my hotel to freshen up. It was around 4:30 and a trip to the sushi bar just a block from my hotel sounded good. I ordered a 10 piece 'Dragon Roll' as all that walking made me extra hungry.