The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney – Winter Sunset.
I headed to Orkney this last week, playing with all of the elements. Blizzards and drifting snow, with a rather arctic windchill, followed by spring days of perfect sunshine and blue skies – and no wind whatsoever – the Orcadian equivalent of snow in the Sahara! Everywhere the sound, light and energy of the sea, and the interplay with the land.
The Ring of Brodgar is an impressive stone circle, some 104 metres wide. Click for more information about the monument. It features many astronomical alignments. I visited it many times over the week, in many different conditions! This image shows one side of the circle, against the sunset.
“Nor can earth, heir
of the harvesting sun
cherish strongly
her cold daughter, the moon.
Ocean alone
is enthralled, whatever lives
on the trembling verges,
shells, seabirds,
Fishermen, children, shipwrights
Sea tilts, twice daily
With silver surgings
at the enchantress. “
– George Mackay Brown,
Orkney writer and poet, 1921 – 1996.