{"id":32448,"date":"2023-06-05T20:09:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T10:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=32448"},"modified":"2023-06-05T20:10:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T10:10:13","slug":"holy-island-england-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=32448","title":{"rendered":"Holy Island, England 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 3rd June 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 170 kms Durham to Coldstream via Holy Island \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited:\u00a0 Holy Island (Lindisfarne) \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: Cold Stream. Free, N55.64880, W02.25420\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget: 12 days @ \u20ac101 per day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s a beautiful sunny morning so we make an early start. We use the services and make ready for the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durham was our do or don\u2019t point. Our original plan was to spend a day or two doing the Mull of Kintyre in west Scotland, but the ferry service across the peninsula has been suspended UFN. It was supposed to recommence on the 1st. The newspapers up here are full of stories about all the tourist places suing Calmac the ferry operator. So our fall back was to continue north to one of ancient Britain most religious sites, Holy Island or Lindisfarne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we set the GPS and get on our way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Angel of the North sculpture near Newcastle, obviously better seen heading south.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The countryside around Alnwick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Turning down toward Holy Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The troublesome tidal causeway to the island. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Visiting Holy Island or Lindisfarne<\/a> does require some planning, which at times is not our strongest point. The causeway can only be crossed on the tidal window of 7 hours twice a day. So we arrive with a three hour plus window to explore and be back across the causeway to the mainland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monastery of Lindisfarne was established in 634 by an Irish monk named Aidan, later known as Saint Aidan, coincidentally Pam\u2019s had an Uncle Aidan until he passed a couple of years ago. Some years later a monk named Cuthbert served here and later became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 686, Cuthbert would go on to Sainthood. According to the blurb Cuthbert is considered the most venerated religious figure in Britain. Hence the monastery ruins here are a starting and\/or finishing point for pilgrims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So a monetary or priory had stood on this site from 634 to 1536, outlasting the Vikings and William the Conqueror. It was King Henry VIII\u2019s \u2018dissolution of monasteries\u2019 that brought monastic life here to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ruins of the priory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Another view from across the graveyard of the Church of Saint Mary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our next stop is only a cemetery away, Saint Mary the Virgin Church to give its full name. A wooden church was built on the spot by Saint Aidan here in 635 but the current lovely church has been this way since 1860. It\u2019s looking its best this morning, all flowered up for a wedding later today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Time and tide wait for no man so we set off for the 1 km walk across a peninsula to Lindisfarne Castle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid 16th century Lindisfarne marked the border between Scotland and England added to those problems the Vikings still occasionally raided here, so Anne Boleyn\u2019s boyfriend Henry VIII ordered a fort be built in 1549. Eventually the border moved 10 miles up the road to Berwick and the castle outlived its military requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So come 1901 a wealthy publisher Edward Hudson purchases the castle and sets about restoring it as a holiday home. Now controlled by the National Trust we cough \u00a38 pp for a look around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restoration is still magnificent even today, the furniture and fittings all very 1920 and the information panels highlight the relationship between Hudson and his long time on and off fianc\u00e9e Guillermina Suggia. Adds a bit of romance to the castle\u2019s storyline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The front entrance faces the see.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From the castle battlements looking out over the Farne Islands in the distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looking back on the village from the castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nice photo of us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So that\u2019s it Holy Island done. We scurry back to the Hymer and make our way across the causeway with 30 minutes to spare. We drive on north another 10 miles to Berwick-on-Tweed making an unsuccessful attempt to find a parking spot. After 30 minutes of traffic snarls we bail out with a couple of inches to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Berwick\u2019s magnificent railway viaduct<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Berwick traffic chaos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Made is easy with an inch to spare, despite the co-pilots negative vibes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So we drive on to Coldstream in Scotland for another free stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael + Pam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: 3rd June 2023 Travelled: 170 kms Durham to Coldstream via Holy Island \u00a0\u00a0 Visited:\u00a0 Holy Island (Lindisfarne) \u00a0 Stayed: Cold Stream. Free, N55.64880, W02.25420\u00a0\u00a0 Budget: 12 days @ \u20ac101 per day It\u2019s a beautiful sunny morning so we make an early start. We use the services and make ready for the road. Durham was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":32455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16,25],"tags":[137],"class_list":{"0":"post-32448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"category-scotland","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-museums","11":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32448"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32489,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32448\/revisions\/32489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}