Neolithic Stone Henge Adventure

I caught the sun rising on the Standing Stones.

Mainland Orkney is so far flung a part of Scotland that most Scots don't ever visit.

My journey began with a six hour bus ride from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, a wealthy oil town with buildings made of glittering granite. 

The public gardens in Aberdeen include an enormous granite statue of Robert the Bruce.

From there, I caught a ferry to mainland Orkney. The crossing takes about 8 hours. 

There are quite a few Neolithic sites on Orkney. One can spend a couple hundred dollars just trying to navigate the island and visit them all. 

Two of the most impressive, however, are absolutely no cost at all to visit and are open 24 hours a day.

The Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar are among the oldest manmade things on earth. 

They are stone henge monuments. That's the proper name for any stone circle. And they are Neolithic ruins, which means they predate the familiar stone henge monument that the world knows simply as Stonehenge. 

It was not sunny for my visit. Thanks Wikipedia!

Though The Standing Stones were once part of  a complete circle, only 12 remain.

The most significant stone, the Odin Stone, was used by locals to solemnize love relationships as recently as 1810 until the landowner, bothered by a steady stream of trespassers, broke it down. 

Though there is no record of what the Vikings, who built the circles, used the henges for, the thwarted local courtship tradition may point to one purpose.

At the time of my visit, it was late May and there was almost 24 hr sun. 

Still I figured there would be some photographic drama to dawn at the Standing Stones. 

The only drama was high wind and a downpour of rain, however!

The Standing Stones are located on the southern part of an isthmus, a strip of land between two lakes. In the middle of the strip, a single stone stands alone. This is known as the Watch Stone.

I'm 6'5", so you can get a feel for the height of the Watch Stone.

Just like it's partners in either ring, the Watch Stone is spotted with lichens and moss in red, green, grey, and yellow tufts like tiny dried up fireworks.

You can walk right up to these monuments. Touch them. Hug them. There are no guards.

To the north is the Ring of Brodgnar, a complete stone circle, surrounded by a peat bog.

Wikipedia photo of the ring of Brodgar. I tried to touch them all!

The sulphurous bog might have made torches burn brighter. The smell would certainly have overwhelmed the senses. 

The ancient Vikings might not have understood basic chemistry, but they certainly understood theatrics.