Neolithic Orkney

I visited all four components of this WHS in March 2023. With an asterisk, more on which later.

The two freely-accessible parts, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness both sit fairly close to each other on the major road that runs towards the western coastline of the Mainland Orkney and are impossible to miss. Each of them can be explored relatively quickly (although the parking lot for the Ring is a few hundred yards down the road from it). For my money, the Stones are more picturesque, while the Ring feels more spiritually charged. If you have extra time, walking around the Stones towards the shore will bring you after a couple of hundred yards to a relatively recently (1980s) discovered Barnhouse Settlement - not part of the WHS as it is, but worth a look for some.

The Maeshowe chambered cairn is also close by, but this is the one component that requires advanced reservations and a bit of additional time investment: you need to show up at the visitor center - which is not by the cairn - a few minutes before the start of the tour, and board a shuttle to go there and back for the guided portion of the tour that will last an hour or so. The mound is picturesque enough when seen from the outside and impressively built, if somewhat barren, on the inside. And then the guide will highlight runes and writings on the walls – admittedly …

N.b the excursion described in the following review did not run during 2024. The ferry business previously doing so was up for sale with no indication as to whether it will ever restart.

I report below on a way of visiting the Orkney WHS not yet described among the numerous reviews to date - a “1 day return coach tour” from John O’Groats (J O’G). We had previously visited Orkney and its WHS across several days with our own car and, if you have got that far north in UK, have never previously visited and have the time, then the islands definitely deserve more than the tour I am about to describe. On the other hand, if you are short of time, then this option is worth considering if you at least want to pick up the WHS (and a bit more!!). There is plenty written about the WHS so I will concentrate on the logistics as we investigated and experienced them other than saying that, whatever logistical choices you make, then give top priority to ensuring that you see Scara Brea!

There are 3 "short sea" ferry routes between the north coast of Scotland and the Orkneys. Unfortunately for “day trippers” the first 2 of these below operate their daily first/last sailings Southwards/Northwards respectively which reduces the “1 day island time” for those going in the opposite directions. “Last check in” is also 30 mins absolute minimum pre departure on the return - thus further reducing …

Since I had read „At home“ by Bill Bryson with its great chapter on Skara Brae I had dreamed to visit the Orkneys. And when I planned my trip to Scotland for summer 2019 it was my top priority to see these islands.
We travelled around the whole northern coast of the country including the most important Islands and I found the landscape absolutely stunning: The lushness of the vegetation and the shades of green in the wonderful Glencoe valley asked for a longer exploration then we had time for. Five days on the Isle of Skye were hardly enough, even more so since it included a day trip to the Outer Hebrides and a great, long, rough and very expensive day trip to St. Kilda. More about that in another post.
When we continued north towards the Cape of Wrath and the Orkneys the vegetation changed a lot but the landscape remained fascinating: Trees disappeared almost completely, there were only bushes, meadows and mainly moss. This increased until we arrived on the Orkneys with their scraggy vegetation. It seems that the Orkneys have been lacking trees for thousands of years and even its neolithic population - and everybody after them - had to look for other material. Fortunately there is the typical tabular Orkney flagstone that can be found almost anywhere and that seems very easy to work with. This combination makes the Orkneys the most fascinating neolithic sites of northern Europe.
 
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney
 
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I'll always associate the Orkney Islands with the 2019 World Heritage Site meet-up, since they were the first place I met some of the regulars from this forum, to include Nan in Kirkwall, Hubert in Stromness, and a near miss of Philipp and Jasam and their wives, whom I unknowingly passed by at lunch. Orkney also had an exceptionally interesting World Heritage Site, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, the components of which have been very well documented below. Of the components, I most enjoyed Skara Brae, a neolithic coastal settlement uncovered in the 19th century, though I'd also highly recommend a visit to the mounded tomb of Maes Howe, which generally requires an advance reservation for a guided tour. If there is time, the walk between the two groups of standing stones is very scenic, and takes one right next to the Ness of Brodgar archaeological site, which I though was well worth the detour. Summer turned out to be a great time to explore this site, and I can only hope the weather is as nice for other visitors as it was for me.

Logistics: Many others have documented how to get to Orkney via Stromness, but if you have your own car, I can recommend the short ferry ride from St. Margaret's Hope to Gills Bay, from where one can drive along causeways around the Scapa Flow to Kirkwall on Orkney.

I visited this WHS in July 2019. Seeing that our trip to St Kilda got cancelled on both days, I was determined to at least make up for it partially with a visit to Neolithic Orkney. So the day before my visit, I bought car ferry tickets for Jacob Choi and myself through the Northlink Ferry website. Even though on their website Northlink state that you have to be there 90 minutes before departure, in reality 45mins to 1hr should be enough especially on the way to Stromness from Scrabster.

That said, I didn't want to risk missing the ferry so at around 2am I was already driving from Stein in Skye to Scrabster via Portree. After the cattle grid areas full of sheep since it was lambing season, the roads were in a very good state and I only had to be careful of the occasional HUGE stags drinking near the waterstreams by the roadside and obviously stay awake. Jacob religiously followed Nan's and others' advice to make sure I remainied awake and after 5.5hrs of driving we made it to the Scrabster ferry point. The weather was gorgeous and after having a quick breakfast we saw the sun rise opposite the Holburn Head Lighthouse just a short walk from the ferry.

The car ferry from Scrabster took around 90 minutes to get to Stromness. Apart from being the only option if you want to travel by rental car, compared to the other ferries departing from John …

I didn't quite know what to expect, when I made plans to visit the Orkney Islands. On the one hand, it's a neolithic site and those tend to be rather simple, if not outright dull. On the other hand, I have been curious about the Orkney Islands in general. Add to this me getting a WHS tick and I was good to go. As it turned out, this was the highlight of my 2019 UK trip.

The site covers so much for a neolithic site: two stone circles (Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness), a winter solstice oriented tomb grave (Maeshowe) and really tangible remains of a neolithic village (Skara Brae). The cherry on top are the viking inscriptions in the tomb and the active excavation site at Ness of Brodgar (picture). And the gorgeous landscape of the Orkney's which is effectively part of the site as the tomb grave was aligned for the winter solstice with the hills of Hoy, the neighboring island.

Getting There

There are fairly expensive direct flights from Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness). You can also connect by plane to the Shetland Islands.

Seeing it’s an island, the other options always involve a ferry ride. Existing ferry lines are:

• Scrabster to Stromness: Scrabster is connected to the Scottish Rail network (Thurso).
• John o’ Groats to St. Margaret’s Hope: There is a direct bus connection from Inverness including the ferry ride.
• Aberdeen to Kirkwall: Long …

Ever since I encountered a group of “druids” dressing up at the parking lot of Stonehenge, I have had a hard time taking these megalithic sites seriously. Especially the UK ones, as they seem to be surrounded by a mix of semi-religious revival and commercial exploitation more than others. However, Neolithic Orkney was still on my to-do list. This site comprises 4 locations: two stone circles (Ring of Brodgar and Standing Stones of Stennes), a burial mound (Maes Howe), and the remains of a village (Skara Brae). All are located not far from each other on the Orkney island of Mainland.

I was tempting the logistical odds by visiting Mainland including this WHS on a weekend trip from my home. I flew to Inverness on Friday evening and returned Sunday evening. It’s a loooong commute and of course, it would be better to take more time. But I managed to tick off the WHS and see some particular features of the Scottish highlands and Orkney as well.

I started out from Inverness at 7.15 am on Saturday morning. There’s a bus that connects with the ferry to Orkney from John O’Groats. The bus ride in itself is a tour already, as it comes with a guide. On the Orkney side, a bus is waiting to take you up to Kirkwall and even to do a full tour of the island. I had only booked to Kirkwall, rather wanting to see things at my own speed. The tour bus …

For over 25 years I have been traveling to World Heritage Sites around the world. This is a film about the Orkney Island north of Scotland (Swedish voice-over and English subtitles).

Orkney Coaches run a fantastic service linking the four parts of the WHS with Stomness and Kirkwall. A day ticket cost 7 pounds, and I felt right at home on the bus (the driver was from Tasmania). I found the ancient dwellings at Skara Brae very intesting, but Maes Howe seemed a smaller version of the mound at Newgrange, Ireland.

Connecting from the Scottish rail system to Kirkwall was made very simple with a return ticket costing 28 pounds, which covered the journey fron Thurso to Kirkwall via John O'Groats and Burwick and back again to Wick, in itself an interesting journey.

I have made two trips to Orkney. It's a magical place. The neolithic sites of the Ring of Brogdar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe and Skara Brae are all wonderful. Part of the magic is that it's not over crowded. The rest of Orkney is worth visiting as well. St. Magnus Cathedral is fascinating. And the town of Stromness is more than a ferry port. South Ronaldsay, where my grandfather grew up is over the Churchill Barriers. You can visit the Italian Chapel which was done built by 20th century POWs. There are many jewelry designers and other artists on the island. Go to Hoy to say a more wild place than Orkney's mainland. You can see towers that were built for defense during the Napoleonic Wars. From near Longhope you can look back over the Pentland Firth to the mainland of Scotland. Read George Mackay Brown's stories to learn more about Orkney.

My trip to the Orkney Islands was wonderful. I spent one full day and parts of two. With my friend I visited the Ring of Brodgar, the Maeshowe tomb, and the settlement of Skara Brae. All were very interesting.

The ring is very large and can be walked around freely (unlike, say, Stonehenge). You can walk right up to the slabs. It's right off the road.

The tomb is awe-inspiring. The space is maybe 15'x15'x15'. It is pretty completely dark except for the light from the guide's torch (flashlight for us Americans). My friend and I were the only folks in the tomb with the guide, and it was all the better for it. Not only do you get a 5000-year old stone tomb that took a hundred thousand man hours to build, but you also get a collection of 11th century Viking graffiti, too. The tomb is in a grass mound a short way from the road; you must buy a ticket (I think it was 10 quid) at the converted farmhouse opposite.

And the settlement is the most beautiful. Set right by the ocean, it is a sprawling area of holes in the ground, surrounded by rocks, and with some treasures inside. You can actually see a 5000-year old "stone dresser", which is clearly a shelving unit built out of rock for the room's inhabitants. It's still standing. On a nice day this is a really wonderful place to be. Another 5 or 10 quid.