Neolithic love story

By Dilip -

The sun was starting to set over Skara Brae, a prehistoric stone village on the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off the most northerly tip of Scotland. A lone figure stood alone among the 3,000 year-old stone buildings, cradling a cup of tea in the waning light. Rachael was a history graduate in her early 20s. As a child growing up near the Scottish city of Glasgow, her imagination was captured by history classes on the Neolithic archaeological sites of Orkney. Working as a tour guide at Skara Brae was a dream come true.

In the height of summer, Rachael would show lines of tourists around the UNESCO World Heritage Site. But on this day, in March 2013, there were no visitors. Instead, Rachael was gazing out across the vast expanse of blue ocean, enjoying the calm.


The standing stones of Stenness in Orkney. White Fox/AGF/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

"I can remember looking at the sky, across the sea and the cliffs, and it just going that beautiful kind of lilac-y, sort of twilight color, as the day was beginning to close," Rachael tells CNN Travel today. Her reverie was interrupted when her radio buzzed in her pocket. "My manager radioed me to say there was a visitor coming, to kind of be on guard and put down the cup of tea."

Rachael obliged and made her way to Skara Brae's entrance. Peering down the path, she spotted a solitary figure making their way towards her.....
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/chance-encounters-orkney-romance/index.html

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