Lindisfarne- the Sea

September 06, 2022 by Mia B.

I’m recovering form abdominal surgery and in the midst of moving, so things have been a bit chaotic. Nothing calms me more than the ocean, so here are some images of the sea surrounding Lindisfarne.

We had gloriously sunny weather while we were on Holy Island. We weren’t able to explore the whole island because we were limited by the tide schedule so next visit I’ll definitely be staying over on the island to have some extra time to explore the castle and all of the nature reserve.

There is an active fishing community in Northumberland and we got to see many fishing boats come and go on the waters surrounding Lindisfarne.

Lindisfarne Priory

July 21, 2022 by Mia B.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne was my absolute favorite place . My biggest regret was we only had a few hours there. It’s a tidal island so unless you are staying on the island (next time!), your time is limited by the tide schedule. My son was recently reading a Horrible Histories book Smashing Saxons (we have the complete Horrible Histories set, highly recommend for your history loving kiddos), and told me about St Cuthbert and Lindisfarne and I excitedly exclaimed, “I’ve been there!!”

Statue of St Cuthbert at Lindisfarne Priory

My mum exploring the island (that’s Eleanor Elizabeth Bunny peeking out of her bag- she travels the world with mom!).

The priory was built in the seventh century and was a frequent target of Viking raids in the 8th and 9th centuries and, many centuries later, Scottish raids. Notable historical figures associated with Lindisfarne are the 7th century Northumbrian King, Oswald, who brought St. Aidan from Ireland to form a monastery on the island. Also, St. Cuthbert is well known for his connection to the island and the priory. Lots of interesting stories revolve around these saints and David Adam’s book on the Saints of Lindisfarne is high on my ‘post nursing school’ reading list.

Bamburgh Castle in the distance, seen from the south side of Holy Island

From a pop culture perspective, if you’ve watched the television show The Last Kingdom, you’ve undoubtedly heard about St Cuthbert, Bamburgh and Northumbria. It was a gloriously clear and sunny day to visit Lindisfarne and I majorly geeked out getting to look across and see Bamburgh Castle in the distance. I cannot wait to visit again and spend a few weeks just in Northumberland, having more time at each of these sites and hiking St. Cuthbert’s Way and St. Oswald’s Way!!

Lowick

July 07, 2022 by Mia B.

Our plane was late leaving JFK, which meant we were late arriving in London.

Which meant we caught a later train to Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Which meant we missed the last bus to Lowick.

We had a lot of random mishaps like this, despite carefully planning the details ahead of time. We were constantly amazed at the kindness of those around us in helping out! A local from Berwick saw us looking aghast at the bus stop outside the train station and immediately called a cab to take us to Lowick. We arrived at the White Swan Inn just in time to check in and order take away from the Black Bull Inn. While we waited for our food, we took a walk around the little village as the day waned away to dusk.