A Visit to Holy Isle and Alnwick and then a Promenade Walk

Its 5 years since we last visited Holy Isle and then we stayed overnight. Today we arrived at 10.30am thinking it would be fairly quiet as the schools started in Northumberland today. It was mobbed and the causeway would close at 1.45pm but when we left at 12.46pm there were still people coming over. I am willing to bet there were people stranded today.

There were Starlings everywhere.

The harbour area with the ruined Abbey behind. 

The main street.

Upturned boats now used as sheds.

Lindisfarne Castle but we did not go along there as there were just too many people. 

Gaye enjoying a seat beside the harbour but she had forgotten Suntan lotion and was in danger of burning so we did not linger for long. 

On our way back we stopped for a walk round Alnwick and Gaye managed to buy something at a Charity shop so was very happy. 

Back home in Newbiggin I finished off the day with a 3 mile promenade walk. The beautiful Sailing Yacht was anchored in the bay.

Looks like they had come to rescue the young couple stranded on the breakwater 

High tide and this fisherman was having no luck.

More Starlings. At night they seem to roost in the big church on the headland.

Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Bay

The Crew having a swim.

 

Islands & Castles

We arrived on Holy Isle on Sunday evening as soon as the causeway was open and checked into our B & B and headed to The Ship Inn for a nice meal. The weather was superb and Carlo & Sidne just loved the rural charm of the island.

The tide not fully out yet. We never saw the island when the tide was high as we were either away somewhere or it was in the middle of the night.

St.Mary's Church 

Enjoying a seat in the community garden

Gaye looking very relaxed and enjoying herself. 

 Our visit on Monday gave the girls a chance to sit on the throne. Sidne looks more like a Queen than Gaye as she has a regal look about her. 

The superb view of the Northumberland Coast from the ramparts of Bamburgh Castle

From Bamburgh we headed to Alnwick Castle Gardens where the main feature is the splendid fountains 

Back on Holy Isle on Monday evening I went for a walk to St.Cuthberts Island where this photos taken showing the village on Holy Isle

St. Cuthberts Cross on his small island

Kens Birthday Walk and the Strange Story of Elizabeth's Boots

Today was Ken's Birthday Walk so he selected a starting point near the village of Holburn in Northumberland not far from Berwick-upon-Tweed. The walk was a 7 mile circular taking in St. Cuthbert's Cave and following parts of the St. Cuthbert's Way and showing some wonderful views of Northumberland and Holy Isle on the coast. Sandria's sister Sheila joined us today as a guest Last of the Summer Wine walker. She is visiting Edinburgh for the Festival and was delighted to join this select group. 

St. Cuthberts cave is very near the start of the walk. Photographs taken near and in the cave were very dark so this is the best view I managed.

The views from the cave are spectacular. These fields of Barley have all been harvested but there are many fields in the area still waiting for the combine harvester.  

There are several of these outcrops on the walk and this one we walked round the back of.  

These feet belong to Elizabeth and you will see that the left foot (size 10) is larger than the right (size 7) which was Peter's fault as he put their boots in the car and managed to bring his own and one of hers along with another of his old boots. She managed to walk the 7 miles without too much difficulty but husband Peter is in big trouble for this mistake and revenge will be taken in some form or another in due course.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the distance with the tide out.

The highest point of the walk looking north towards Scotland

We are looking west towards the Scottish Borders and the Heather is looking beautiful.

The Trig point on the highest point of the walk but still below 1000ft. 

This is a field of Poppies for use in the Pharmaceutical industry according to our two retired Pharmacists John and Ken.

Our guest walker Sheila with her future brother in law John and a beautiful bunch of Heather.
We finished the day with a nice meal in an Italian Restaurant in Wooler.

A Visit to Holy Isle

On arrival at the house on Sunday I had to pick these Blackberries. There is only 1 bush in the garden but it is absolutely laden with berries and I anticipate we will pick as many as this every other day this week.

We are staying in Newcastle this week so we can explore Northumberland while Fiona and the family are visiting Fraser in California. On Monday we headed for Holy Isle along with thousands of other visitors as August is such a busy month here and the sun was shining. 

The causeway was flooded in places as these next 2 photographs show. The car was covered in salt water which dried on very quickly in the sun so I had to have the car put through a carwash to get rid of the salt.

In places the water was quite deep

The bridge in the centre of the causeway 

We then headed to Alnmouth for a walk along the beach and we only just arrived there when we met Islay and Lochan who are Niall & Elspeth Weatherstone's grandchildren. They were on a camping holiday with their Mum & Dad. Quite a coincidence as we knew they were on the Northumberland coast but no idea where. 

Lochan and I had to go for a paddle, but the sea was very cold.

The girls were not as brave as Lochan and me.

An RAF Helicopter came overhead just after I had been in the sea so maybe they were worried about me.

Visit to Holy Isle

I had always wanted to stay on Holy Isle once all the tourists had left and the causeway was closed so we spent a couple of days there this week. Unfortunately the weather was awful and we also had to put up with a Power Cut lasting at least 12 hours so there was no cooked breakfast and no nice morning shower.