The Ring of Brodgar

Our first full day on Orkney.

We decided to go into tourist mode and visit some of the can't miss Orkney sights. All of them return visits for us :-)

Firstly we went up to Birsay to the Brough of Birsay with a side trip to The Yellowbird Gallery where we had a chat with one of the owners and came away with two colourful prints of Marwick Head from Birsay. We already have a big print of gannets by the other other owner of the gallery which we got way back in 2000.

After Birsay we drove to Scara Brae and had a good look around before lunch. The mist was in over the cliffs and the beach so we didn't get to see all the wonderful sea views on this occasion.

In the afternoon we drove to the area between Stenness loch and Harray loch and paid a visit to The Ring of Brodgar. We also walked along the pathway by the shore of Harray loch to see the standing stones at Stenness and the standing stones between the two megalithic monuments.

We completed our afternoon with a wander along the main street in Stromness. As we passed along we had a look up at the flat where we spent the winter of 2004/5. It was stormy then but we loved it, and Mr Sandy the lurcher was with us too :-)

Can you spot the stone hugging blipper ?