Trip to Orkney in Scotland

A

Ameriscot

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A friend and I spent the last 3 days on the main island of Orkney in north Scotland. It is rich with neolithic sites dating back 5,000 years.

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/areaorkn/

One of the sites we visited was the Ring of Brodgar: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/ring-of-brodgar-stone-circle-and-henge/

Unfortunately, it was raining when we visited but I still got photos. Since it is August, the landscape is rich with purple heather.

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The site I was most excited to see was Skara Brae - a 5,000 year old neolithic village which was uncovered during a storm in 1850. We booked a private evening tour which meant there were only 15 of us instead of mobs and mobs which are there during the day. We had a great guide and we also were allowed to go in each dwelling which is always off limit during the day.

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/

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We just happened to hear on one of our guided tours that there were tours of a huge archaelogical dig that's been going on since 2002. So we toured and listened to a fascinating talk for an hour. BBC was filming and there is going to be another BBC programme about this site - 3 one hour programmes. My photos weren't great so better to share this site for anyone interested in ancient sites: There are updates of past finds and a daily update.

http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/

For £10 people can pick a small square of this huge site and you get email updates of what was found there and your name is associated with this specific site. I chose one as did my friend.
 

Bobw235 said:
What a fascinating place to visit. One day I hope to get there.
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It was! Yes, add that to your list of must see places. It would take about a month to see all the sites as many of the islands have great ancient sites as well.
 
Thanks for posting all of your photos and your story. I was really looking forward to them after your trip. I'll keep an eye out for that BBC series too; hopefully we'll get it over here.
 
SeaBreeze said:
That evening tour sounded great! Very interesting, nice photos! :)
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Thanks. When we were planning this trip I signed up for news and events on Orkney. And just a few weeks ago I got an email saying they had just started doing private evening tours this summer. I thought 'yea, and how much will this cost!?'. But it was only 10 each. Supposed to be for 12 but the guide let in 3 more that showed up. Excellent!

I am a Historic Scotland member so except for that private tour admittance was free to everything else. But my friend had to go to the tourist centre and she bought an explorer pass. The man on staff who sold her the ticket mentioned that the next day was going to be 'manic' and that it would good we had bought the evening tour. We weren't sure was manic meant but found out - a massive cruise ship and tons and tons of coaches full of tourists flooded the island!

My friend is from an island off Washington state and it was unbelievable the number of people we ran into from Washington!
 
bluebreezes said:
Thanks for posting all of your photos and your story. I was really looking forward to them after your trip. I'll keep an eye out for that BBC series too; hopefully we'll get it over here.
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I've got TONS more photos which I'm still sorting out from my phone camera and regular camera. So I'll post some more today.

We watched some programmes last night about the archaelogical dig and about the other sites. They were all on Youtube. So just google Ness of Brodgar and Neil Oliver and you get some good ones.
 
Lovely photos. I've been to several of the western isles, but never to Orkney or Shetland. Closest I've been is John o' Groats, but I must add Orkney to my list of places to see.

Going off at a slight tangent - Loganair, the airline that serves the Scottish islands, use to do a 'touchdown' ticket. You stayed on the plane while it flew a round trip to some of the more remote islands. They also run the world's shortest scheduled flight from the island of Westray to the neighbouring Papa Westray. Time 1 min 30 secs, but it can be done in 1 minute with a following wind!
 
Capt Lightning said:
Lovely photos. I've been to several of the western isles, but never to Orkney or Shetland. Closest I've been is John o' Groats, but I must add Orkney to my list of places to see.

Going off at a slight tangent - Loganair, the airline that serves the Scottish islands, use to do a 'touchdown' ticket. You stayed on the plane while it flew a round trip to some of the more remote islands. They also run the world's shortest scheduled flight from the island of Westray to the neighbouring Papa Westray. Time 1 min 30 secs, but it can be done in 1 minute with a following wind!
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Thanks, Capt. I highly recommend Orkney, especially if you like ancient sites. We flew via Loganair from Glasgow as any other way looked like a total nightmare.

I've seen the video of that very short flight! Wild. We only had time for the main island but I'd love to see more of them.

I've only been to Barra in the Western Isles, Skye, and almost all of the Inner Hebrides.
 
Maeshowe. No photos could be taken inside and I can't find my pic of the outside, so I borrowed this one from online:

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http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/ We had a tour that I'd booked ahead of the trip. Very interesting! This site dates from 2700BC and is considered the best chambered cairn in Europe. What we all found interesting was that later on, Vikings carved lots of 'graffiti' on the walls. And it was virtually a 'Ragnor was here' type of graffiti.
 
Decided I will go back to Orkney in the spring for a visit on my own. My friend was limited in where she could go and how long she could walk as she uses a cane. So I'm going back and hoping I can find an automatic car to rent. There were several hikes I would have enjoyed, one a cliffside hike which looks spectacular.

Husband isn't interested enough in visiting as he would lose interest after 2 or 3 ancient sites. He suggested we go together with our bikes, but normally Orkney is very windy which makes biking a chore.

Next time I will go for 3 nights and have booked a hotel in the centre of the island instead of the main town. I can cancel any time up to a month ahead of time so I'll keep researching, and the trip depends on me finding an automatic car to rent.
 
I finally had a chance to sit and look through your photos. What a WONDERFUL trip! You got some great shots too! Thank you so much for sharing them. That would be a trip I would love to take. Some of the places we visited in Scotland seemed to just exude history while some seemed to be just old rocks. Did you get the sense of history as you stood among the ruins? That ring of Brodgar commands such an amazing view of the surrounding area and loch. What a spectacular place! I miss it.
 
Myquest55 said:
I finally had a chance to sit and look through your photos. What a WONDERFUL trip! You got some great shots too! Thank you so much for sharing them. That would be a trip I would love to take. Some of the places we visited in Scotland seemed to just exude history while some seemed to be just old rocks. Did you get the sense of history as you stood among the ruins? That ring of Brodgar commands such an amazing view of the surrounding area and loch. What a spectacular place! I miss it.
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Easy to get a sense of history from 5,000 years ago when you visit these ancient sites. Makes you wonder about the people who built them (and how) and what their lives were like.
 
I enjoyed the travelogue as well, Annie, this is all fascinating, thank you again for such a wonderful virtual tour.

You may have covered this and I missed it but....

Was there a building or museum displaying the artifacts from the dig and if so could you take pictures?
 
Great pictures of a wonderful place. I have never been there and would love to get there some day. But even for this small country, it is a fair old trip.
 

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