On wednesday we took a trip down to South Ronaldsay, stopping on the way for a look at the amazing Italian Chapel which was built by Italian prisoners of war during the Second World War out of two Nissan huts. Apologies that the pictures are a little dull – it was a bit cloudy!

Once on South Ronaldsay we headed for Skerries Bistro of a lovely lunch (recommended) and the a tour round their “private” tomb, the Tomb of the Otters where we had a talk and a guided tour. The tomb is still being investigated with carbon-dating and DNA testing due this year but they have been able to leave much of the tomb untouched, so when you are in it, you are still surrounded by 5,000 year old bones. It is probably the first time that I have held human bones!

From there we went to the more tourist oriented Tomb of the Eagles where we had more presentations and a wonderful cliff-top walk (in high wind and rain) to see the remains of a Bronze Age house and another Neolithic tomb, this time fully emptied and capped with concrete – but still having a novel way of gaining entry! From the cliffs on the way back we could see seals swimming about in the water below.