27 Orkney’s Stone Age sites, Rousay Island

While the crowds flock to Skara Brae, the island of Rousay lies just to the north, waiting for the world to notice that it boasts more than 100 archaeological sites, including 15 chambered tombs, as concentrated a compendium of ancient monuments as anywhere in northern Europe. Centre stage is the Westness coastline, considered the most important archaeological mile in Scotland, and its Midhowe chambered cairn, a huge communal burial chamber dating back thousands of years, and known as the Great Ship of Death. Close by, above wave-pounded ledges, is Midhowe Broch, one of Scotland’s best-preserved examples of these enigmatic Iron Age structures. If you’re not tombed out, make for the Knowe of Yarso Cairn. The highest of Orkney’s tombs, the site offers views across Eynhallow Sound and the Orkney Mainland. MR www.discoverrousay.co.uk