Maeshowe, Orkney

SATURDAY


After a quick trip into Kirkwall we headed off to Maeshowe where we had pre-booked a tour of yet another tomb. It's one of the largest tombs in Orkney with a mound of 35 m diameter and a height of 7.3 m. The grass mound hides a complex of passages and chambers built of carefully crafted slabs of sandstone weighing up to 30 tons. It's aligned so that the rear wall of its central chamber is illuminated on the winter solstice.


We revisited Skara Brae and then, in the evening, attended a formal reception  at the Town Hall and a concert by the Royal Marines Band in St. Magnus Cathedral (see extra).