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moonvoiceOne of the novelties of the Orkney Mainland for us was how close everything was if you were driving. The Standing Stones of Stenness were a 15 minute drive from where we were staying, and the Ring of Brodgar another 15 minutes from that, and then Skara Brae another 20 or so minutes on. (If that). And all of it connected, so you can do it all at once (which we did).
I was low on energy, so I took my time at all of the places. We didn't start that early and I honestly expected things to be pretty busy as it was the Easter long weekend. But conversely, Stenness was empty of all people except for one Canadian photographer who was on a giant retirement journey and taking a timelapse of the Stones (we snuck in between his shots to get our photos and then chatted to him for a while). There was no one at the Ring of Brodgar, though there were some cars in the parking lot.
And while Skara Brae had people, I got to do a very slow, leisurely circuit around the site completely on my own, bar the guy who was there to provide information and protect the site. I ended up talking to him for a while too.
The day was bright, blue, and filled with nesting seabirds, and curlews doing courting flights. There were rabbits in the fields, though I admit I can't see them and not think of them as feral, even when they very much aren't. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to look at a rabbit and think 'you belong in the ecosystem' thanks to Australian feral incursion.
The Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic henge erected around 2,500 BC.
The Standing Stones of Stenness, Neolithic and erected about 5,000 years ago. Also, all around Orkney, there are lone Neolithic Standing Stones.
I actually felt a surprising connection with this place, and not really the others in the same way. I lingered here longest.
You can't really (legally) go up and touch Stonehenge anymore, but you can get a feel for the Standing Stones of Stenness as much as you like.
As for the Ring of Brodgar, you can normally go up and touch it, but they had erected posts to stop this when we visited, because they wanted to rehabilitate the land around the stones. So we kept a respectful distance.
Their dandelions are so much fatter and happier than ours.
There is a story that explains how a race of giants once lived in Orkney. They weren't very bright and they couldn't look at the sun without turning into stone, but they did love to dance more than anything.
One evening a fiddler came, and played such music as to rouse all the giants into great excited dancing. The music came endlessly, the night stretched on, and the huge feet stomping the land must have sounded like thunder. They lost track of time and the sun came up, and the giants all at once, dancing in a circle, turned to stone. This became the Ring of Brodgar. Nearby, the Comet Stone, a little distance away, was the fiddler, rendered silent evermore.
Sleeping/frozen giants.
The drive from Skara Brae back home, as you can see, the Standing Stones of Stenness are right there in front of us. Also the novelty of having the sea on either side of us was something I fell in love with and desperately want to experience again.
Next up, Skara Brae!
I was low on energy, so I took my time at all of the places. We didn't start that early and I honestly expected things to be pretty busy as it was the Easter long weekend. But conversely, Stenness was empty of all people except for one Canadian photographer who was on a giant retirement journey and taking a timelapse of the Stones (we snuck in between his shots to get our photos and then chatted to him for a while). There was no one at the Ring of Brodgar, though there were some cars in the parking lot.
And while Skara Brae had people, I got to do a very slow, leisurely circuit around the site completely on my own, bar the guy who was there to provide information and protect the site. I ended up talking to him for a while too.
The day was bright, blue, and filled with nesting seabirds, and curlews doing courting flights. There were rabbits in the fields, though I admit I can't see them and not think of them as feral, even when they very much aren't. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to look at a rabbit and think 'you belong in the ecosystem' thanks to Australian feral incursion.
The Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic henge erected around 2,500 BC.
The Standing Stones of Stenness, Neolithic and erected about 5,000 years ago. Also, all around Orkney, there are lone Neolithic Standing Stones.
I actually felt a surprising connection with this place, and not really the others in the same way. I lingered here longest.
You can't really (legally) go up and touch Stonehenge anymore, but you can get a feel for the Standing Stones of Stenness as much as you like.
As for the Ring of Brodgar, you can normally go up and touch it, but they had erected posts to stop this when we visited, because they wanted to rehabilitate the land around the stones. So we kept a respectful distance.
Their dandelions are so much fatter and happier than ours.
There is a story that explains how a race of giants once lived in Orkney. They weren't very bright and they couldn't look at the sun without turning into stone, but they did love to dance more than anything.
One evening a fiddler came, and played such music as to rouse all the giants into great excited dancing. The music came endlessly, the night stretched on, and the huge feet stomping the land must have sounded like thunder. They lost track of time and the sun came up, and the giants all at once, dancing in a circle, turned to stone. This became the Ring of Brodgar. Nearby, the Comet Stone, a little distance away, was the fiddler, rendered silent evermore.
Sleeping/frozen giants.
The drive from Skara Brae back home, as you can see, the Standing Stones of Stenness are right there in front of us. Also the novelty of having the sea on either side of us was something I fell in love with and desperately want to experience again.
Next up, Skara Brae!
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