Stenness at Sunset – Two Stone Circles and Supper
A few hours.
The route
West of Kirkwall, on a strip of land between two lochs, stand two of Orkney's great stone circles, and they are at their most beautiful in the last of the light.
Walk round the Ring of Brodgar, watch the sun go down over the loch beside the tall Stones of Stenness a mile down the road, then have supper at the Standing Stones Hotel.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is House of the Northern Gate, 25 miles away. Sleeps 18.
Book the Standing Stones Hotel
Book a table at the Standing Stones Hotel on 01856 850449 for supper after the sunset: the Stones Restaurant serves evening meals Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm to 8pm, and only a roast lunch on Sundays.
The day
Stenness
An evening among the stone circles west of Kirkwall. A turn round the Ring of Brodgar in the late light, the sunset at the Stones of Stenness, then a warm supper.
About three hours
Ring of Brodgar
An attraction
Park at the Brodgar car park, where two disabled bays sit closer to the stones. The great ring is 104 metres across, inside a ditch cut from the rock, with hills and water all round, and it was built more than 4,000 years ago for reasons nobody knows. Walk round it on the grass path, which is uneven and muddy in places; parts of the inner path are sometimes closed to let the grass recover. There are no toilets and no shelter, so come wrapped up, and give yourself half an hour here before the sun goes down.
2 min by car
Standing Stones of Stenness
An attraction
Drive 2 minutes back down the B9055 to the Stones of Stenness, where the car park is right next to the stones. Four great slabs still stand, the tallest about six metres, from a ring of twelve put up some 5,000 years ago round a stone hearth you can still see in the middle. Stand among them as the sun goes down over the Loch of Stenness. From late September to the end of October, and February and March, it sets between about 4.30 and 7pm, so supper follows it; the rest of the year it sets too early or too late for this evening. The grass is fairly flat but muddy after rain.
3 min by car
The Standing Stones Hotel
Supper
Supper is 3 minutes' drive away at the Standing Stones Hotel: back to the A965, then right towards Stromness. Its Stones Restaurant serves evening meals from 5.30pm to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, cooked from Orkney produce, and on Sundays only a roast lunch from noon to 3pm. Ring 01856 850449 to book a table. On a Sunday, or if it's full, Lucano on Victoria Street in Kirkwall serves until 9pm every day.
If it rains
On a wet or wild evening the circles are bleak and open, with no shelter: see them briefly from beside the car parks and go early to supper.
Where to stay
Photograph by Hans Reijn via Google