We woke early, breakfasted and left the site for our timed and guided tour of Maeshowe, the oldest Neolithic Tomb in the UK. The sky was very grey, it had rained quite hard whilst having breakfast so we donned waterproofs and wellies in preparation for getting soaked! As members of English Heritage we were able to purchase concessionary tickets at half price which was good news and we made our way quickly across the road to the Meashowe mound for the start of our tour.
The tour was over far too quickly then we made our way to the Ring of Brodgar where, after a cup of tea, we joined a free guided tour given by a world heritage site ranger. He was very knowledgeable and shared information with us about the local flora and fauna as well as the archeology associated with the Ring, the third largest in the UK.
It is a magical place, very atmospheric and surrounded by hills on all sides. Whilst the actual purpose of the Ring is not known as few artefacts have been recovered from the site, the structure and its proximity to other rings, cairns and the recently discovered foundations of a set of buildings on the Ness of Brodgar, suggest it was part of a very large complex built for some form of celebration and ritual.
We lunched in the car park in our van during which time the weather brightened so we made our way to the Bay of Markham hoping to see Puffins on the cliffs. We followed the footpath along the beach and up the hill of Markham Head and there we saw a Puffin sitting on a ledge amongst a number of other birds. The cliffs were also full of nesting Guillemots and Gulls.
Returning to the van in sunshine we travelled back to the campsite, pitched and set about cooking dinner together. Whilst we waited for the beef stew to cook we sat in the cab overlooking Hoy Sound which was much brighter than last night with the sun setting behind us over Stromness. Hopefully, Lesley will sleep better tonight and we do not have to rush to get up in the morning as we are fairly close to Skara Brae and our next campsite at Kirkwall.
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