The gales of the weekend have retreated and Orkney is drying out after 2 inches of rain fell over the weekend. Nothing in comparison with the havoc on the East Coast of the USA I know, but still as wet and windy weekend is over!
On Friday last week I went to the Ring of Brodgar, one of my favourite places in Orkney. It's a Neolithic stone circle, surrounded by a ditch and earth mounds likely to date from that period. The site is managed by Historic Scotland and is a favourite place for coach tours, however we were lucky to visit when it was very quiet. The heather is out in bloom just now and looking glorious, the sun shone, it was warm and there were NO midges!
The Ring of Brodgar has never been fully excavated but is part of a number of Neolithic monuments in that area. The others being the Stones of Stenness and Maeshowe, as well as the newly discovered Ness of Brodgar. I'll do a separate post on the new dig at the Ness of Brodgar later this week.
This photo was taken from the Ring of Brodgar, and the black rings denote from left to right: Maeshowe, the Ness of Brodgar (new archaeological dig) and the Standing Stones of Stenness.
As I say the heather is looking lovely at the moment. Here are several photos of the ring of stones....
Another post on Standing Stones with photos: February 2010
Oh,I'm SO jealous - that you can visit the Ring of Brodgar anytime you like. They had to drag me back to the bus when we were there.
ReplyDeleteMary Z - well you will just have to come back and visit. I'll settle you down with a flask of tea (or coffee), and some sandwiches and leave you there all day if you like! LOL!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos, Sian. I especially love the last one.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mary in being a little jealous that you can pop by the Ring of Brodgar on a regular basis! I think it was my favourite place in Orkney too: that whole area around the Ring has a special quality. It looks so gorgeous with the heather in full bloom. Thinks - it must be breathtaking in the snow, too. Did you happen to get to it during last winter's snow?
DB - glad you appreciated the reminder of the Ring of Brodgar. Sadly no I didn't get there in the snow - I fear slipping on the ice and falling over so am very circumspect in my travels during such time. There are wonderful photos around though of the stones in deep snow....sigh....
ReplyDeleteGorgeous pics with the purply Heather :)
ReplyDelete