Orkney: Stones of Stenness, Ring of Brodgar, Broch of Gurness, Italian Chapel-Scottish Isles and Glens
Ring of Brodgar After a wild weather night on Orkney (lashing rain, gale force winds) and after some much needed coffee, our crew is ready to explore some of the Neolithic sites on Orkney. The rain has let up some but the winds are still roaring, not 50 MPH but a good solid 20-30 MPH. Our first stop is to The Stones of Stenness . The standing stones are part of the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" which consists of Skara Brae, Maeshowe, The Stones of Stenness, and The Ring of Brodgar. These 5,000 year old structures are examples of what the Neolithic people could do with stone. The Stones of Stenness consist of four upright stones that originally had 12 stones. The surviving stones are sited on a promontory at the south bank of the stream that joins the southern ends of the sea loch Loch of Stenness and the freshwater Loch of Harray. The name, which is pronounced stane-is in Orcadian dialect, comes from Old Norse meaning stone headland. Although the site today lacks the encircli...