It was the Wednesday of our week's break in Northumberland back at the beginning of December. We were a man down but Storm Barra had passed over and the forecast was reasonable so the three of us decided to head to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
Our mission, amongst other things, was to recreate this photograph, a print of which was hanging in the kitchen of Cuthbert’s cottage …
We had checked the tide times … very carefully and after about half an hour’s drive we were heading for the causeway … though it felt quite dull there was a bit of bright sunshine really picking up the grasses on the dunes across the bay ...
Even though we were absolutely 100% certain of the tide times I always find it a bit surreal driving across a causeway ... it's not something we get the chance to do that often and it's something I can never resist. It's hard not to think about how quickly the tide can come in and make the road impassable.
As we reached the far side it was certainly looking like we were going to be lucky again with the weather and we just had to pull in and try and capture the moment ...
We were soon parked up and had a route planned for a good wander … taking in the old priory, the harbour and then maybe over to the castle, depending on we were for time and if the weather was still on our side …
We started our wander by heading for the old priory ... which looked beautiful in the hazy sunshine ...
Before exploring the priory further we made our way around the back of the church ...
.. and through the gate for some great views across St Cuthbert's Island and back to the mainland ...
St. Cuthbert's Island is connected to Lindisfarne at low tide in the same way Lindisfarne is connected to the mainland, but it is an island at high tide. It was here, within sight of the main island, that Cuthbert first attempted living as a hermit. He soon realized it was still too close to Lindisfarne; monks could still shout over to him. After that he went to Inner Farne, where no one had ever stayed for long.
We made our way back through the gate and rounded the side of the church for the most fabulous view ... of the church in the foreground, the ruins of the old priory and the castle in the distance ...
Whilst the priory was actually closed to visitors you can see the majority of it without needing to pay to visit anyway ... it really is in the most beautiful spot ...
We couldn't just do nothing so after a lot of googling we ended up calling Marine Conservation, who said they would try and get someone to come over and have a look.
We had no choice really but to leave him and hope that someone would get out to take care of him.
We headed back towards the harbour, with our goal of recreating our holiday cottage photo ... but first a selfie ... just the three of us this time ...
The harbour area on the island is very photogenic and I can imagine, with the right light and plenty of patience, there are some fabulous photo opportunities ... here are my favourites ...
As well as all of the normal harbour paraphernalia one of the things I love about the harbour on the island are the upturned boatsheds ... I've never really seen anything like it anywhere else before and we couldn't resist taking lots of photos ...
... and these two are Lesley's, taken with the iPhone ...
It was beginning to get pretty breezy and the temperature had dropped by the time we'd finished hanging around taking photos, but we decided we would walk out to the castle ... even though it hadn't yet opened to visitors for the season ...
Finally ... we found the boatshed we were looking for ... it was time to create our own masterpiece. Lesley and I both took loads of photos and here are a couple of our best efforts ... not quite an exact replication, but we were definitely in the right spot ... the first two are mine, taken with the Lumix ...
It was very exposed and blowy on the footpath across to the castle and by the time we got there it was beginning to drizzle ...
The views looking back across the bay, as the sun was beginning to drop, were pretty spectacular ...
We decided it was time to head back ... and we did manage a very quick pitstop before the rain set in ...
It was time to head for home ... we had decided we would call into Seahouses on the way back and pick up fish and chips for tea ... so at least Tom would have a bit of a treat, having had to miss out on a day of adventures.
The Holy Island had one last photo opportunity for us as we made our way back to the car ... it's a bit faint, but a rainbow is always a treat ...
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I love those upturned boat houses. I don't think I have come across one before. The seal pup being stranded would have stressed me out too, that's great that you managed to get in contact with someone about him/her. X
ReplyDeleteWe did message agin about the seal pup when we got back to see what had happened only to be told no one had been out … but from the photos we sent they felt he looked a good weight and was starting to moult which was a sign of good health … we were all really disappointed no one had been out to him but I guess we had done all that we could 😊
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