Standing Stones

It turns out that there are standing stone circles all over Europe - and definitely all over the UK. But there's some evidence to suggest that the oldest standing stone circles are the one we visited today - here in Orkney. They are significantly older than Stone Henge. It seems possible that the tradition of stone circles was brought to Orkney before the rest of the UK. That would have been around 5,300 years ago. Can you imagine what it would take to build something now - anything - that would still be around 5,000 years from now? 

We've been watching documentaries about these sites - it was pretty exciting to see them in person. 

Ring of Brodgar
This perfect circle is 341' in diameter. It originally had 60 stones - 27 remain. It's so big that I couldn't get a good picture of the whole of it. 

Stone of Stenness
Less than a mile away is another site with standing stones. Twelve stones were originally laid out in an elipses - four are left. It was a really informal site where we could walk right up to the stones and even touch them if we liked. There's a hearth in the center, implying that neolithic people used it as a gathering place - as it's used today. 

Barnhouse Settlement
Across a field was yet another site - this time houses. Remains of at least 15 neolithic houses were adjacent to the Stones of Stenness. 

Bird Hide
And a stones throw from Barnhouse Settlement was one of RSPB's bird hides - a small building set on the edge of a loch, with narrow horizontal windows, perfect for watching birds out on the water. Wendy and I loved getting out of the wind and the rain for a few minutes, and sitting on the benches to admire the swans out on the loch. 

Unstan Chambered Cairn

We carefully bumped the rental car along a short gravel road just past a farmhouse to see Unstan. It felt like we were pulling up in someone's yard, but there was an official Historic Scotland parking area, and the route to the mound was carefully fenced off. 

When we got there, we moved the grate aside and were free to crawl inside. And ... none of us quite wanted to do that. It felt quite claustrophobic! So we just took pictures.