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How do!

Genuinely not sure if this will be of interest to folk, but I’m still hooked on the Neolithic era following my trip to Orkney.

One of the sites I couldn’t visit due to COVID related safety issues was Maeshowe, a Neolithic Cairn. Estimated to be around 5,000 years old, and often regarded as one of the finest examples in Europe.

It’s entrance is aligned for the Winter Solstice, where the setting sun illuminates the entry passage and interior chamber. And it’s being live-streamed on YouTube around 3pm U.K. time. We’re also promised poetry readings and talks too.




So if you’ve a similar interest, or want to learn more about how the ancients went about things, this feed might be for you.

I’m definitely tuning in. As I said, whilst I went to the visitor’s centre on my holiday, I couldn’t actually visit the Cairn proper. So this is the next best thing!

It's a fascinating place, when i was inside it felt like a church but ramped up to 11,

really surprisingly big,

the viking runes were also interesting

(as an aside i'm not sure if that opening shot isn't a computer fake, sun and bright on Orkney, it's the land of perpetual damp and rain!)

It's a long time since i visited (pre the recent Ness of Brodgar excavations which showed the folk up in Orkney provided the inspiration for the Stonehenge and other circles across the rest of the UK)

As a holiday spot, I don’t think those interested in Neolithics can really do any better.

Skara Brae is a fantastic place to visit, though my family may have taken part in the looting of the site….distant relation owns the farm next door, and as kids they’d actually play in the excavations.

Ring of Brodgar, Broch of Gurness, just….all of it. And Kirkwall is a pleasant enough town for a day visit.

I was lucky that when I went, it was glorious weather. And due to covid, there weren’t any cruise tourists clogging up the town.