By Bernie Bell

We meant to visit the Stones on the shortest day – but the weather was vile. We thought we’d do the walk we’d intended, on Christmas day – but the weather was vile. 

The 11^th of January dawned clear, crisp, cold and sunny so we went for it.  We parked in the car park at the Stenness Stones and took a pic

Then crossed the road to stand by the Watchstone and admire the diamond sparkle of ice on ice on Stenness Loch

Then across the Brig O’ Brodgar and onto the board-walk by Harry Loch.  We cut up the bank and across the road to lean over the gate and look at the site of the Ness of Brodgar – which is still there, under earth & snow

…..and still needs funding for post-excavation work….. 

https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk

Back to the  boardwalk, which provides a vantage point for seeing appealing ice-patterns around the emergent vegetation

Then across the road and turning right to the Ring of Brodgar, with the moon rising and the sun setting – for which I’ll just post lots of pics

While we were there, a drone was flying low over the Ring – buzzing and being intrusive. 

I ask drone-flyers to please think about what they’re doing – think about what places such as Brodgar mean to people and why people go there. A buzzing drone shatters the peace.

There’s a sign asking you not to fly drones – and that sign is there for a reason.

Back the way we came, with the sun setting behind the Hoy Hills, and we noticed something we’d never seen before – as the sun set over/through the Hoy Hills, we could see a beam of light, cutting across the left-hand hill – that same beam of light, presumably, carried on across country to go down the passageway in Maes Howe.  Watching it, we felt we were part of it – part of the event

From the board-walk, an example of when a piece of rubbish can transform into something appealing

And across the Loch,  a mixture of frozen and flowing water, where the ice makes ‘chirruping’ noises

By the Stenness Stones, as the sky and land turned pink…

….and home