Shetland holiday 5

This is Orkney, where I went next. It's the first time I've been back since my first backpacking trip at age 17 with my sister. It seemed pretty remote then- I was surprised at how gentle and well-farmed it seemed after Shetland.

These two drawings are the Stones of Stenness.
Stromness in the rain. I hung around for a while getting wet and eventually had to seek shelter in a tapestry artist's studio. She was pretty inspirational- she emigrated from Yorkshire two years ago, set up a tiny house cum studio cum gallery and makes a living teaching art and selling sculpture and tapestries.
This is Tomb of the Eagles. This made a big impression on me at age 17 because it was the only museum I'd ever been in which allowed you to handle 3000 year old artefacts. These were made by Neolithic people, but they were pretty much exactly the same as people today. They weren't daft. The average woman back then was taller than me. I'm a midget*.

The hill from Finstown. The mound in front is another tomb. They're pretty common on Orkney.

*You were likely to be crippled by arthritis and die aged 35 but that's wonderful modern medicine for you