A photograph in which I appear to have a foot protruding from the back of my head. The foot does not belong to me. (365:188)
UK June 2011 – Day 23. The presence of said foot probably explains the stupid grin I have.
Having checked the map, worked out our timings – we wanted to arrive at Cath and Jon’s around 6 pm, we decided to drive down to Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island. We’d checked and the tides were favorable. You can only get on and off the island at certain times, failure to check the tide times will either result in disappointment or getting very wet. Before we could we set off, we spent some time shopping in Berwick, including checking out a couple of Outdoors stores to see what equipment was available in the UK.
Holy Island was full of tourists, but we got away from them by spending a lot of time in a very interesting museum. I read first-person accounts of life on the island at the time of the great and second world wars. We also looked at facsimiles of the illuminated Gospels. This activity, fortunately, coincided with a heavy downpour. By the time we’d finished in the museum, the weather had started to clear, and I managed to get a couple of pictures, though the buses and dozens of tourists spoiled the pictures of Lindisfarne Castle.
I did get a picture I liked of the obelisks on Guile Point that are the leading marks into the harbor to the South of the island. The seaward obelisk carries a light (Guile Point East Lighthouse) and is over 68 feet tall. I’ve seen the obelisks referred to as sinister, they certainly do loom forlornly over the windswept coastline.
By mid-afternoon, it was time to move on, and we took the coast road again. We eventually headed inland and on down to Darlington, arriving as planned (gosh!) just after six. Having been introduced to the madness that is Cath and Jon’s four dogs we set out our tent to dry and headed out to dinner. We had a very enjoyable evening with Cath and Jon, who we originally met on Flickr. We’d last all met in person in June 2008 when Ginger last visited the UK.
I didn’t take any self-portraits during the day, so this is a late at night shot with Ginger running interference in the background.
Today’s extras
Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Is the castle the same as the monastery?
No. The priory got walloped by Henry VIII. The castle is 16th Century apparently partly built using stones taken from the priory.
There are interesting Wikipedia entries on both:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindisfarne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindisfarne_Castle
Until visiting Lindisfarne I hadn’t realised that the Viking invasion had started so late (793).