THE RING OF BRODGAR

 

Located in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, the standing stones that form Orkney’s Ring of Brodgar rise out of the tall green grass and purple heather between Loch Harray and Loch Stenness. Twenty of the original 60 stones survive, and at 340 feet (104 meters) in diameter, this is the third-biggest stone circle in Britain. Thought to have been built around 2000-2500 BC, it is even older than Stonehenge.

A map to get a sense of how close the Northern Isles are to Norway. Shetland is 291 nautical miles from Norway, relatively close for the Norse seafarers to visit. 

Orkney is reachable from the Scottish mainland via the town of Scrabster, just north of Thurso. Scrabster is the northernmost harbor in the British mainland and has been in service since the 9th Century. In old Norse, the name means "standing on the edge."