At Sea X 2 and Orkney Islands - May 24-26, 2025

May 24th was a day at sea, I caught up on the blog for the first half of the trip and finally spent some time reading.  May 25th we were supposed to spend at Edinburgh and its surrounding areas.  Fran and I intended to visit the Trossachs National Park, but unfortunately this was a tender port and we had 40 mph winds and rough seas and it was too dangerous to use the tenders. So...we had another leisurely day at sea.

On May 26th, we docked in Mainland Orkney and our tour left a couple of hours late (3:00 PM) due to some transportation issues earlier in the day.  Helen, our archaeologist guide, welcomed us to Orkney.

As we pulled away from the docks, she began weaving the tapestry of Orkney's past. It was very clear she is passionate about the archeological finds in Orkney and its ancient past.  The landscape is beautiful, waves of rolling green hills with only a few scattered stubby trees in the villages.  The wind blows fiercely here, and trees can’t grow. and we experienced both the winds and the quickly changing weather.

As we approached the small settlement of Finstown, nestled in a sheltered bay, Helen told us that the name "Finstown" has an interesting origin story. The village was formerly called "Toon o' Firth", and the origin of the Finstown name is thought to come from an Irishman named David Phin who came to the area in 1811. A soldier with the 9th Royal Veteran Battalion, he married a Kirkwall woman in 1813. In 1820, he opened an alehouse which was called the Toddy Hole by arrangement with John Miller of Millquoy. Four years later they quarreled, and Phin left for Aberdeen, but his name remained. 

As you can see from the above photo, the houses are not made of wood, as there is no trees on the island.  The houses are constructed of local materials adapted to this harsh maritime environment.  Stones and sandstone are the most common materials used.

Finstown is Orkney's third-largest settlement with about 1,000 residents. Helen shared insights into local life. We learned about the high educational achievements of Orkney residents - many pursue advanced degrees thanks to Scotland's free university tuition for residents, leading to the amusing reality that someone serving you in a local shop might be funding their doctorate with part-time work.  

As we continued our journey, the landscape opened around the Loch of Stenness, and suddenly we were in the heart of Neolithic Orkney. Helen’s voice took on an almost reverent tone.

"We're now entering what archaeologists call the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney,'" she said. "This area contains the densest concentration of prehistoric monuments anywhere in Britain."

We saw the Stones of Stenness first, four megaliths standing sentinel beside the loch. The Stones of Stenness may be the earliest henge monument in the British Isles, dating back over 5,000 years to around 3100. But some recent analysis suggests they could date to around 2900 BCE, but they were approximately contemporary with the mastabas of the archaic period of Egypt, the brick temples of Sumeria, and the first cities of the Harappa culture in India and older than Stonehenge. The people who built them had no metal tools, no wheels, no draft animals. Yet they managed to quarry, transport, and erect these massive blocks with precision that still seems amazing.

The stones stand up to 6 meters (about 20 feet) in height, from what was originally a circle of 12 stones. The stones are thin slabs, approximately 30 cm (12 inches) thick with sharply angled tops giving them an elegant and distinctive appearance.

The original stone circle was laid out in an ellipse about 32 meters (105 feet) in diameter on a leveled platform of 44 meters (144 feet) in diameter. The circle was surrounded by a ditch cut into rock by as much as 2 meters (6.6 feet) and 7 meters (23 feet) wide, with an earth bank and a single entrance causeway on the north side.

The Stones of Stenness are part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Unfortunately, in December 1814, a tenant farmer set out to rid his land of the megaliths, destroying the famous Odin Stone and toppling one megalith while destroying another before he was stopped. The Odin Stone was particularly significant as it had a hole through which couples would hold hands during marriage ceremonies.  Helen said that he was quickly banished from the island and never allowed to return.

The site remains freely accessible to visitors and represents one of humanity's earliest attempts at monumental architecture, predating Stonehenge by several centuries. It offers a unique window into the ritual practices and sophisticated society of Neolithic Orkney.

We continued on our journey and as we crested the final hill, the Bay of Skaill spread out before us with its white sand beach that gleamed in the afternoon light and overlooking the bay was Skara Brae.

Walking down the path to the monument, plaques along the way took us back in time until we reached the 5,000-year-old village, preserved almost perfectly by the sand that covered it. The people who lived here were farmers and craftspeople. They had running water, they had furniture, they had art and not the primitive cave-dwellers of popular imagination. The furniture was made from local flagstone which were readily available.

Descending to the site itself, we walked along the walkways that protect the ancient structures. Each house is a marvel of Stone Age engineering—thick stone walls, stone beds, stone dressers, and central hearths. The passages between the houses are roofed and connected, creating a warren of sheltered spaces.

Helen pointed out that there was no mortar, just precisely cut and placed stones. The people of Skara Brae were master builders. They understood load bearing, they understood drainage and they understood comfort.

In one house, she showed us the stone bed platforms, still bearing the impressions where heather mattresses once lay. They know from excavations that they covered their beds with furs and skins. They had privacy curtains made of hide. These weren’t just shelters, but homes.

The village's sophisticated drainage system was particularly impressive. Stone-lined drains carried wastewater away from the houses and out to the sea. They clearly understood sanitation better than many medieval towns. 

Skara Brae was built in two main phases.  Little is known about the first, as further investigation would require the demolition of the later houses.

After leaving the Skara Brae, we walked to the nearby Skaill House.  Skaill House is a remarkable historic mansion with a fascinating 400-year history. It was originally built in 1620 by Bishop George Graham (Bishop of Orkney 1615-1638 making it the finest 17th century mansion in Orkney.  The lands were given to the Bishop of Orkney after the execution of Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney for treason in 1615.

Skaill comes from the Norse word for Hall and indicates that there would have been a feasting hall here in the Bay of Skaill during the Viking. The house overlooks the spectacular Bay of Skaill is just 200 meters away from Skara Brae.

In 1850, a wild storm hit Orkney, revealing an ancient dwelling at the Bay of Skaill. William Graham Watt, the 7th Laird of Breckness, discovered the neolithic village of Skara Brae.

Skaill house has been added to by successive generations over the centuries. The oldest parts of the building surrounded three sides of a central courtyard and were constructed in the early 17th century. The building is predominantly two stories with some three-story sections and features crow-stepped gables.

The house contains fascinating artifacts spanning centuries, including Captain Cook's dinner service, Neolithic and Iron Age finds and a Norse Calendar stick.

The southern wing of Skaill House stands on a pre-Norse burial and Bronze Age mounds surround the property, and you can see remains of an Iron Age broch by the shore. This demonstrates continuous human occupation of the area for thousands of years.

The house was opened to the public in 1997 after careful restoration work and is very much the family home as it was in the 1950s. Skaill House represents one of Scotland's most complete examples of a 17th-century country mansion that has remained in the same family for four centuries, making it a unique window into Orkney's layered history from Neolithic times to the present day.

After leaving Skara Brae we visited the Ring of Brodgar area, where our guide introduced us to a landscape that functions like "a gigantic visual spider's web" of interconnected ancient sites (she is a landscape archaeologist). The Ring of Brodgar is one of Scotland's most impressive ancient monuments, located on the narrow strip of land between the Loch of Harray and the Loch of Stenness. This Neolithic stone circle dates to around 2500-2000 BCE, making it roughly 4,000-4,500 years old.

The monument originally consisted of 60 standing stones arranged in a perfect circle about 104 meters (340 feet) in diameter, though only 27 stones remain standing today. The stones are made of local sandstone and vary in height, with the tallest reaching about 4.5 meters (15 feet). What makes Brodgar particularly remarkable is its scale - it's the third-largest stone circle in the British Isles after Avebury and Stanton Drew.

The ring sits within a circular ditch (henge) carved directly into the bedrock, approximately 10 meters wide and originally up to 3 meters deep. Unusually for such monuments, there's no accompanying earthen bank, likely because the rocky terrain made this impractical.  Click HERE to see our guide Helen talking about this site.

The monument has been protected since the 19th century and is managed by Historic Environment Scotland. Its dramatic setting between two lochs, combined with Orkney's frequent dramatic skies, makes it one of Scotland's most photographed archaeological sites.

Helen and her husband (also an archaeologist and the guide on the other bus) were married on this site.

It started to rain just as we were finishing at this site and we made our way back to the bus amidst pouring rain and fierce winds!

On the way back to the ship, Helen told us about Maeshowe (also called "Mace Hall"), a remarkable Neolithic chambered cairn with precise astronomical alignments. She explained how the midwinter sun's dying rays align with the Barnhouse Stone and illuminate the 15-yard-long stone passageway. Originally built to house ancestral bones, Maeshowe gained unexpected historical significance when 50 Vikings took shelter there during a snowstorm about 1,000 years ago and left behind extensive runic graffiti - now the largest collection of carved Scandinavian runes outside Scandinavia (though she noted with humor that most of it consists of rather crude jokes that wouldn't be out of place in a modern bathroom stall).

Throughout the journey, Helen emphasized that Orkney is essentially one giant archaeological site.  She explained how local archaeologists work closely with farmers since new discoveries happen annually - you literally cannot dig anywhere without encountering ancient remains.

Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency on the other bus, we were unable to visit Scapa Flow, the world's second-largest natural harbor (after Sydney). We could see it in the distance and Helen detailed its crucial strategic importance during both World Wars, when it served as a key naval base with over 30,000 service personnel stationed there. She told us about the tragic sinking of HMS Royal Oak by a German U-boat on October 13, 1939, with the loss of 835 lives, and how Winston Churchill personally came to Orkney to strengthen the harbor's defenses.

Approaching Kirkwall (the capital), we admired the skyline dominated by St. Magnus Cathedral, built from beautiful local red sandstone to house the relics of the popular local saint. Helen, who works there as custodial staff in the winter, noted it's the northernmost cathedral in Britain. "Kirk" comes from Old Norse "kirkuvah," meaning "church by the bay," reflecting Orkney's deep Scandinavian heritage.

The tour concluded with discussions of contemporary Orkney life, including the thriving cruise ship industry (Orkney sits perfectly positioned in Northwest European shipping routes), local farming practices, and current challenges facing dairy farmers following Brexit and potential changes to EU agricultural subsidies.

Throughout, Helen shared personal anecdotes - from her teaching background and work as a Maeshowe steward to her husband's archaeological work and their daily commute. We even passed their home and learned about local characters like the expert stonemason who creates art pieces for charity (whom his wife calls "stone mad").  See the truck to the left built entirely of stone.

This was clearly much more than a standard tour, Helen provided an intimate introduction to Orkney's layered history, from Neolithic farmers through Viking raiders to modern islanders, all delivered by someone who has made this remarkable archipelago her home and passion.

As we returned to the ship, we were very lucky to be entertained by local schoolchildren performing a traditional dance.  See it HERE