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 O'Groats, the Northlink Ferry drops you off at Stromness which is right in the middle of all the 4 locations of this WHS (Kirkwall and St Margaret's Hope are quite far away). From Stromness you can also easily rent a bike to cover all the sites on a sunny day. It can get VERY windy on the ferry but the car ferry is relatively new and can easily withstand even the roughest seas apparently. If you're lucky to find sunny weather, you'll easily spot puffins, gannets, dolphins, sharks and maybe some whales (depending on the season you visit) en route to the Orkneys.

Arriving early in Stromness meant that we were ahead of most of the tourist groups so we decided to head to Skara Brae first (top left photo). This turned out to be a very wise move as from here we also managed to book 2 spots for a guided tour of Maes Howe in the afternoon. Archaeologisits believe that the settlement of Skara Brae was inhabited for several centuries from around 3100 BC and that it did not grow larger than eight structures housing 50 to 100 people. Structure 8 is the only building in the settlement which is not a house and is indeed the largest structure. It appears to have been a workshop for making stone tools and perhaps pottery, bone tools and wooden implements. There was a central hearth but no box beds or dressers. Another remarkable structure is Structure 1 where you can see what looks like a very neat stone set of shelves. With a zoom lens you can also spot the small but important stone carvings found at Structure 7. These carvings are right on the edge of one of the box beds made of local flagstones. Several artefacts were found here such as gaming dice, whalebone pins, stone balls, tools, etc. and some of them can be seen at the visitor centre together with a replica 'earth-roof' structure where an informative video is played. Skara Brae lay buried under the sand for almost 4500 years until it was discovered in 1850 when a storm stripped the grass from the dunes. 

The two stone circles of the Ring of Brodgar (bottom left photo) and the Stones of Stenness (top right photo), together with the astonishing nearby mound of Maes Howe (bottom right photo), the many smaller mounds, standing stones and the central stone aligned with the mountains in the background, indicate that the centre of Neolithic Orkney was a place of immense ceremonial significance. What they really signified we can only guess now, but like Callanish in Lewis, Machrie Moor in Arran, Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Newgrange in Ireland, and the Megalithic temples in Malta and Gozo, they are evidence of communal efforts on a grand scale, by people whose beliefs united them with a much wider society.

The Ring of Brodgar was originally made up of 60 stones in a huge circle, surrounded by a ditch 10 metres wide and 3 metres deep, which would have taken some 80,000 working hours to cut with stone tools! Nearby, only 4 stones remain at Stenness, out of the original 12, encircled by a ditch cut from solid rock with an outer bank. From Maes Howe, you will easily spot both locations as well as the central stone and other stone dangerously located by the roadside and the only farmhouse in the vicinity with which there were several disputes over the years.

If you have time, do visit the Ness of Brodgar which is open to the public in the summer months with tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. Here you will have the chance to watch excavations taking place or even lend out a helping hand on special organised tours. The Ness of Brodgar is a very large site compared to the other inscribed sites and is currently divided in three trenches. In due time it should easily be part of an extension.

A guided visit of Maes Howe will give you a good idea of what the large slanting standing stones were used for. Mainly these were used as the basis supporting the whole covered mound. Photography is not allowed inside but I managed to at least take a couple of photos going out of the mound. Maes Howe turned out to be a highlight of my visit to the Orkneys as it not only helps you appreciate the centre of Neolithic Orkney but also surprises you with the sheer amount of Viking carvings and etchings. As described in the Orkneyinga Saga, Maes Howe was looted by Vikings in the 12th century. The several runic inscriptions on the walls of the chamber represent the largest single collection of such carvings in the world. In my opinion the runic inscriptions rival those found in Scandinavia!

All in all I really had a good time and I enjoyed this WHS (apart from the very early wake up call). There are 2 UNESCO plaques at Skara Brae and Maes Howe and 2 information boards with the UNESCO symbol at the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.