Ring of Brodgar

This morning we drove out to the Ring of Brodgar, an ancient stone circle which dates back to around 2,500BCE and is the third largest stone circle in the UK.  A fascinating place in a unique landscape, being situated on a thin strip of land that separates the fresh water Loch of Harray from the brackish waters of the Loch of Stenness.  It wasn't possible to get the whole thing on one camera shot so this is a panorama taken on my phone.  To give an idea of scale I've added an extra of some of the stones on their own; over the whole site they range from between 2.1m and 4.7m tall.

We then drove to Kirkwall and on to Shiela Fleet's jewellery workshop where we had lunch in her new cafe, before heading home again.  I've added a couple more extras; a few of the large flock of Eider ducks that have accompanied us at the cottage this week, and a view from the garden of the cottage out across our jetty; we'll miss it.  An early night tonight as we have an early ferry in the morning back to the mainland; check-in starts at 5am!