"This is the way Stonehenge and Avebury used to be," the old man said. "No crowds. You can feel the past." We were standing on a windswept plain on Mainland Island, largest of the 67 Orkney Islands a rocky archipelago north of the northeast corner of Scotland, and the past was all around us. This green island with its undulating hills contains the most significant archaeological sites in Britain. The Orkney Archaeological Trust lists a "Top 50" among hundreds going back to the tombs of 3700BC, continuing to the German fleet sunk in Scapa Flow after World War I and the British battleship Royal Oak torpedoed at anchor during World War II.

The oldest rocks in the world -- Lewisian gneiss -- are right here, and human occupation has been constant for at least 5200 years. Yet, because these are bleak islands with little topsoil and no trees to speak of, you wonder why they were so attractive to settlers. A warming break in the post-Ice Age? Once fertile soil now eroded away? Before the discovery of North Sea oil (and that prosperity of the 1960s is already declining) the islanders made their livings fishing and farming. In recent years the isles have become home to colonies of artists and artisans; the goal of ornithologists and whale watchers. Tourism has been courted only as a hope of financing the preservation of what everyone recognizes as the treasure of the past.

On both the Orkneys and the Shetlands, the relics of milleniums ago are accessible whether you travel by bicycle or by bus. Orkney's Bronze Age standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar (thought to be a lunar observatory) are by the side of the road. Shetland's Clickhimin Broch (Bronze and Iron Age) is on a tiny peninsula across the water from recently erected prefab "kit houses." Shetland ponies and miniature sheep are irresistible attractions along the road to Jarlshof (see photo above), a settlement that spans Neolithic, Viking and Medieval periods. The Pict-built fort on Mousa Isle in Mousa Sound, is reached by a 15 minute boat ride. The stone tower broken but still 43 feet high with six galleries inside is more than 2000 years old. The Isle and its waters are full of wildlife.

Thanks to the Heritage Foundation and the Scottish National Trust these and many other sites are being preserved. The most ambitious undertaking has been the restoration of Neolithic Skara Brae where a visitor center opened in 1998.

Skara Brae, overlooking the Bay of Skaill on Mainland, Orkney, was a settled community before the pyramids were built in Egypt and was continually inhabited for over 5000 years. Then it remained hidden until 1850 when a storm blew away its blanket of sand. Serious excavation began in 1927 revealing ten stone huts connected by stone-built passages and covered alleyways; a drainage system and toilets; stone chairs and beds. The prehistoric site has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status.

In 1998, a visitor center opened complete with restaurant and craft shop. Here the smaller found objects are displayed; the discoveries explained with interactive computer images and a film. Outside the door a Neolithic stone house has been replicated, while footpaths lead you through the original village. (Tickets include "Skaill House," the nearby 18th century mansion of the Lairds of Breckness and are about $6.64 adult, $1.66 child.)

Orkney, a post-glacial tundra dotting more than 376 square miles of water, is the same latitude as Stockholm, Sweden, and Skagway, Alaska. This is where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet and clash creating tide rips that tear boats apart. In the distant past perhaps an ice flow to the north created a path through the seas.

We know Viking longboats crossed easily from Norway. The Norsemen must have seen the islands as mild--less snowy than home, less geologically turbulent than Iceland. Scandinavian place names are common in the Shetlands, not so much in the Orkneys, though Britain acquired both simultaneously in the dowry of Margaret of Denmark.

The Shetlands contend not only with the North Sea and the Atlantic, but also the Arctic Ocean. Like Orkney, they are nesting places for more than 300 varieties of sea and shore birds. Seals bask on the beach and rocks oblivious to picnickers. The local folk tales all seem to have a "sealie" as a fairy force even to replacing human babies in the crib and give new meaning to the old concept of the "changeling."

More often than not it rains. I came on a July day with skittering clouds but no rain and no dark either. "It's the midsummer dim," a Highlander guide said. "Now winter will come and there will be no light at all." June-September are the months to visit.

I was on a shore excursion from the Minerva, flagship of the British Swan Hellenic line. The cruise was called "Celtic Tapestry" and had taken me from tropical gardens on Tresco, Isles of Scilly, around the southern and eastern coast of Ireland and across to Wales before going up the Western Isles (Mull, Bute, Iona) north to Orkney and Shetland. On a straight line there's nothing further north except the Arctic.

Ancient & Recent Times:
Skara Brae & Diving at Scapa Flow

Inclement weather plays havoc with airplane schedules, but ships and ferryboats come regularly to these islands. Only the 6-mile wide Pentland Firth separates the Orkneys from the body of Britain. The roads are excellent reflecting the wise reinvestment of oil money into infrastructure. Bringing or renting a bicycle and staying in a croft (farm) house offering bed & breakfast would be the ideal way to experience the island. A Scot, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, invented the bicycle, and perhaps that's why bikes are carried on ferries free of charge.

You can also rent boats and diving gear to explore the wrecks in the harbor of Scapa Flow. Here 74 German battleships, cruisers and destroyers were scuttled June 21, 1919, by order of Admiral Von Reuter rather than let them pass into British hands as part of the Armistice negotiations. Non-divers can take a 50-foot boat to see artifacts in a museum on the island of Hoy and watch on television monitors as an ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) is lowered to one of the wrecks.

Sightseeing flights and an "Adventure Ticket" that permits stop-off at 3 islands are available on Loganair Scottish Airlines (01856 87249). Note you can only buy your ticket on the day of departure since weather and a sufficient number of passengers determine whether the plane will go.

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