Great Britain 2024 - Part Six - The Holy Island

Day Thirteen - 24 September

We taxied to the Oxford train station.  When we couldn't find our train on the schedule we asked a station employee who told us "that train hasn't run all week."  He provided an alternate train route that would get us to Berwick-upon-Tweed an hour after our original scheduled arrival.  Our arrival time was important as we were going to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is only accessible by a causeway that submerges during high tide.  You have to make sure you arrive at low tide so you can get across (apparently people get stuck on the causeway during high tide often).  I used an online booking site to reserve a taxi from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Holy Island.  A couple trains later and we arrived in Berwick-upon-Tweed.  We waited past the time for the taxi until I gave up and called the taxi company directly.  They had no record of our reservation and had never heard of the online taxi booking site - crap.  They sent over a taxi and we headed for the Holy Island.  I figured the online site was a scam so, as we drove, I tried to see if I could cancel the charge to our credit card.  The charge was still pending so I couldn't contest it yet but, twenty minutes later, a credit appeared in our account.  I was relieved to see the site was not a scam and they had refunded my charge without being prompted.  Whew.

Our hotel on the Holy Island.

We arrived at our hotel (the taxi cost one half the charge from the taxi booking site - whew again).  I left our bags with the Wife at the hotel and I walked a couple blocks to another hotel to claim our key.  When I got back to the Wife our friends, N_k and J_n, who drove up to join us for a couple days, were there.

The only industry/businesses on the island are pubs, a few small hotels, fishing, and tourism - no grocery stores or other businesses you find in most towns.  Everyone had to leave the island to get things (or have things delivered).  This made the town feel cozy and old.  It had a magical atmosphere at times, especially when all the day tourists had gone.

The remains of the Lindisfarne Abbey (right) and the church of Saint Mary the Virgin (left)
from a nearby ridge. 

There are basically three things you can see/do on the Holy Island.  The first of these is visiting the abbey and Saint Mary the Virgin church.  The Lindisfarne Abbey was established in AD 634 and was the location of the first significant Viking raid on Britain.  It is sometimes considered the beginning of the Viking Age.  This Abbey, once led by Saint Cuthbert, has become the end point of a pilgrimage.  St. Cuthbert's Way is a 62.5 miles (100 km) pilgrim route from Melrose to the Holy Island.  We saw several people with backpacks walking the streets of the town often with big smiles on their tired faces.  It reminded me of the Camino including getting a certificate when you finish.

We visited the abbey and church before climbing up a short ridge where you had a great view of the abbey complex, the north sea, and the Lindisfarne castle.

This evening we ate as a small pub with good food.

Day Fourteen - 25 September

The second thing to see/do on the Holy Island is bird watching.  The entire island is part of the National Trust and there are trails and bird sanctuaries throughout the island.

The bay at low tide.

We got up and had breakfast at our hotel before going out to walk the island's trails.  The weather that had been rainy, drizzly, and overcast the past few days was absolutely gorgeous this day.  The sun shone through fluffy clouds and not a drop of rain in sight.  We walked along the north sea coast to a blind where we watched waterfowl swimming on a marshy pond.

The grassy hike along the island coast.

After completing a loop we headed out to the third thing you can see/do on the Holy Island.  We visited the rather impressive Lindisfarne Castle.  The 16th century castle rests on the highest point of the Holy Island.  You walk along the harbor to get to the castle.  Along the way I touched the North Sea for the first time.  We toured the castle that was renovated in 1901 by a magazine publisher who bought it.  It changed hands a few times before the National Trust took it over.  It was pretty cool and offered views of the harbor the castle once protected.

We visited the castle gardens - once vegetable gardens - and admired the late summer flowers and the buzzing bees.

We had lunch in a cafe before we split with our friends.  The Wife and I went back to the Abbey to visit the museum and go into the abbey ruins.

The Lindisfarne Castle as seen from the Abbey grounds.

We met back up with our friends for dinner.  The food was excellent again.  When we left the pub the streets were deserted.  It was high tide and all the visitors, except for the few with rooms on the island, had gone home for the day.  The past couple days had been a delight.  It was a short but relaxing respite from the go-go touring we'd had over the past couple of weeks.  Good company, good weather, and a place with a lot of history and nature - just what I needed.

We decided to get up early enough the next morning to beat the end of the next low tide.  This would give our friends a five or six hour head start on their drive home and we would take an earlier train to our next destination: nearby Scotland.

Pictures can be found in my 2024-09 Great Britain Google Photos album.