The GPS Blog| Activity | Activity date | Activity description |
|---|---|---|
| Skara Brae | 2026-05-12 | The best-preserved group of prehistoric houses in all of Western Europe. Stunning to think that this group of houses is 5000 years old - older than the pyramids or Stonehenge.
A coach load of American tourists disgorged as we visited the re-created, example home and all tried to pile in at once. So we came back later after they'd left.
Then a quick tour round the rather austere (from the outside) Skaill House - home of the laird who discovered the neolithic houses after a large storm.
The cullen skink from the Skara Brae visitor centre cafe was nothing to write home about but the visitor centre was good background before visiting the site.
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Skaill House
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| Midhowe broch and tomb | 2026-05-21 | If you like your history or archaeology, Rousay is a simply stunning place! Known, apparently, as "the Egypt of the north" for the concentration of ancient sites, a few miles along the south west coast of
Rousay is full of archaeology.
First up, the "Westness walk" and the stand outs of the Midhowe Broch and the Midhowe Tomb.
The broch is one of Scotland's best preserved and dates from about 200BC to 200AD.
Right next to it is Midhowe chambered cairn which is about 5000 years old. It is now housed in a "warehouse" with gantries that allow you to walk above the cairn. It housed 25 bodies in their own "stalls" (leading to the nickname the "great ship of death").
A wealthy local distiller in the 1930s excavated and "preserved" a lot of the Rousay tombs with steel and concrete which has its pros and cons. With all the places we visited on Rousay we could walk right into the sites and were the only people there.
The "Westness Walk" continues through sites with iron age, pictish, viking and later origins. For example, it was great to know we were walking through the site where Earl Paul the Silent was abducted by Swein Asleifsson while hunting for otters. Tye was strictly on the lead as he was hunting for otters in the same spot a 1000 years later.
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Skaill Farm
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| Dartmoor walk | 2016-06-05 | Because Scooby gave me such a nice welcome after being away for a week sailing (me - not Scooby), we took him for a walk on Dartmoor. Up high on the moor near the Warren House inn.
A lovely short walk on Dartmoor.
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Warren House Inn
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| Red House | 2021-04-05 | Liz bike ride to the Red House
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Red House
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