The Ring of Brodgar is one of my favourite places in Orkney. It's part of the "heart of Neolithic Orkney" World Heritage site. You can read about the history here.... I love to walk round this stone circle throughout the year, preferably when there are not coachloads of tourists there too. Winter is often the time (naturally) when I will have it to myself. This week there were a slow trickle of tourists and locals around the site.
The photo above is using my whizzo panorama feature on my iPod touch. I love this photo as it places the stones within the landscape.
The brown vegetation around the stones is heather. In the summer it is a glorious purple but at the end of a long hard winter it is brown and withered. In the background are the hills of Orphir, also covered in heather, bracken and gorse.
The day was grey and windy, which gave the stones a brooding look
And from the top of one of the earth mounds (not excavated but "geophysics" suggests further connections with the stone circle) - you can see Graemsay! Hoy High lighthouse, and hiding behind the wooden pylon (carries electricity) is Sandside!
I did't stay long on this visit as it was a little cold and I had to get back to Stromness. But it was a lovely interlude all the same.
Ooo, it's almost exactly a year since you took me to see the Ring of Brodgar, Sian. Super photos and thanks for the memories. I do hope it wasn't quite as cold this time as the day we went :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, you do torture me by knowing that you can go to the Ring almost any time you wish. Such a wonderful, magnificent, mystical place! One of the few places I hope I get to revisit before I have to quit traveling.
ReplyDeleteSo interested to see this. The Ring of Brodgar was on the itinerary of a school orchestra trip to Orkney my daughter was due to do a couple of years ago, but the trip was cancelled at the last minute because of blizzards on the way north and the ferries not running.
ReplyDeleteWonderful panorama. I imagine that the Ring of Brodgar is a place that you could never tire of visiting, as it must look and feel different in every light, in every season. A very special place.
ReplyDeletenice photos , a magical place ! :)
ReplyDeleteI wanna go.
ReplyDeleteI wanna go.