So, what to say about the Ring of Brodgar? It completely and utterly blew me away. I know, I know, I have said that sooooooo many time before but I could happily have stayed at this site all day. Other sites, that I have longed to see and then made the pilgrimage to, have sometimes had an anti-climatic feeling about them, but not here. As I approached the circle, I decided to take a slight detour and instead of heading straight to the stones, I turned away and walked towards the striking mound of Salt Knowe. I think I was just too overcome by the enormity of Brodgar and felt like I needed to get a different perspective of the stones and I am so glad I did. The view from here was just fabulous; looking towards the circle, you could really see the lie of the land and how the stones sit in the landscape. I finally headed towards the stones, skirting around them and then decided I still needed a different view, so headed straight towards the Comet Stone so see how the site looked from here. Again, a completely different perspective and from here you can see the whole circle against the horizon whereas from Salt Knowe you see the site within the landscape. The stones themselves are mighty beasts and almost too numerous to comprehend. Bloody hell, it is just awe-inspiring - this is a site that I need to return to and (hopefully) soon.

I feel like a bit of an old grump saying this but Skara Brae left me feeling a bit disappointed. My favourite part of it was the re-constructed house, which has been built with care and attention and you are allowed to go in and have a wee play.....but the site itself? I think I have just read too many books and seen too many programmes about it but it just didn't have the expected "wow" feeling. I know that Jane and Hob both suggested going after hours, which would probably have helped, but the officious little signs everywhere and the HS woman having a hissy fit because one of us dared to lean over a bit of grass (grass, for gawd's sake!) to get a photo just felt really rubbish. I only hung around for a few minutes then headed back up to the visitor centre to read a bit of George Mackay Brown and have a cuppa. Isn't that awful? This is such an amazing site that I should have been awestruck but I was more impressed with Barnhouse – it isn't the site itself but the way it is managed and I think I probably expected too much. I have since told myself off for being such a grumpy bugger and wish I had been a bit more interested in it all but it just didn't grab me on the day. Bah - and indeed - humbug.

Brochs are not my strong point, having only ever visited Carlway on Lewis previously, but Gurness was something to behold. The sheer amount of archaeological remains were stunning; evidence of buildings left, right and centre! I could see how the whole village worked, with the defensive structure (with possible kennels at the front doors!) surrounded by what appear to be domestic houses. Looking across the Eynhallow Sound to Rousay from Gurness, to the site of other brochs (and the location on Mid Howe) gave a real sense of perspective and we spent a good couple of hours mooching round the site. On the beach, Vicky even braved the elements and went for a paddle and we found what appeared to be cup marks in the natural stone shelves.

A short but steep-ish walk up the hill and we were there; then there was the obligatory crawl through the passage into PITCH BLACKNESS. We had a couple of torches but there was no real sense of the size of the place until we managed to get all 9 of us in there! There was lots of hilarity as we tried to work out what was there and I used my camera flash to illuminate the whole chamber a couple of times but this felt like the real thing.....discovering little side chambers and squeezing inside with just a pin prick of light from the torch was just incredible. Even better than Unstan which, with its helpful glass skylight at least allows you some perspective, Cuween leaves it up to you to find your bearings and create your own light. All 9 of us trying to talk at once, someone suddenly saying "oooh, there's a wee chamber here, give me some light" and constantly bumping into one another, I am not sure we gave this tomb the respect it deserved but we had a fabulous time and we all agreed that Cuween was the unexpected highlight of the trip. Emerging back out into the most beautiful, bright sunshine with 9 sets of muddy knees and bums, Alan pointed out places where other excavations had taken place and we pin-pointed the cairn on Wideford Hill opposite.