Standing Stones of Stennis; Ring of Brodgar; Scapa Flow;

Ring of Brodgar Orkney Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones, Orkney

 
Standing Stones, Stennis, Orkney; Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

There are layers of culture here: Standing stones. Ancient: Neolothic, Picts, Norse, Scots.




 Scapa Flow. These lovely waterways also were the scenes of World War tragedies - //www.orcadian.co.uk/features/20thcentury/7.htm- October 13, 1939. Scapa Flow, the anchorage thought to be secure, was breached by the Germans and a battleship, The Royal Oak, lost. I believe this is Scapa Flow, but there are so many waterways I cannot be sure.

The site says that the first German bomb landing on British soil was here, at Hoy, Orkney. The "Old Man of Hoy" is a famous rock seastack, a sole upcropping chimney in the sea. Do an images search, or go to //www.orkney-seastacks.co.uk/oldman.htm

All in a name: "Orkney" is also The Orkney Islands, or The Orkneys. See easy source for this kind of noncontroversial subject at //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney_Islands. The Wikipedia site is an excellent information and photo overview.

Read the news and find that the communities that are near these ancient places face the same issues as more accessible places - see http://www.orcadian.co.uk/archive/index.html. Wind turbines, football, drugs.

Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones, Orkney

Ring of Brodgar Standing Stones www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/stones.htm. For an overview of the islands that comprise Orkney, see www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usmapindexes/orkney. There is a map of the Orkney Islands there. Click on the towns and place names for the best overview.

These date from 2500-2000 BCE, see ://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/

We put the car on the Scrabness Ferry from Scotland mainland, and went the route past Hoy (that is a tall stovepipe stone formation called the Old Man of Hoy) to the town of Stromness. We had no reservations, so were on line at the ferry at 5:30 AM. Fun once in a while, and great food on the ferries. Huge breakfasts,with the addition of baked beans to the fried eggs, sausage, bacon, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, breads. Big ferries, lots to walk around and see, or just nap.

Standing stones: if you get your pictures mixed, internet photos help identify. See that fine site for an overview of much of Orkney, at www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/. There are some 27 of an original 60 stones originally set in the ground there, for more on the Ring of Brodgar.  It is considered a "henge" because of the outer earthwork area, a large ditch.  The alignments were important.