Wednesday was a notable day – it is the first day on this entire trip that we have not seen the sun at all. Have we really been in the UK and Ireland all this time?. Still, it did not rain, so it was not a miserable day by any means.
Getting a bit tired with all the touring, we decided to make today a fairly short but not a culture free day. We drove to Lindisfarne, better known as the Holy Island. It is a tidal island, accessible by the excellent Lindisfarne Causeway during periods of low tide, completely surrounded by the sea at high tide. Basically there are two six-hour windows during the day when you can drive to and from Lindisfarne. The time schedule is well published and, as do the tides, changes from day-to-day. Today’s window was from 9:35 AM until 3:45 PM. We were about the twelfth car to cross the causeway. All parking is in a public lot just on the outskirts of town. Only residents can drive in the town itself. Damn residents!
So, what to see? First we embarked on the long walk to Lindisfarne Castle which is administered by the National Trust. I think we were the first ones to arrive and enter. The castle was a fortification dating back to 1550 and saw battles between English and Scottish armies as well as incursions by the Vikings. It was built with stones from the Priory (more on that later) which went out of use at about that time. In 1901 the castle was acquired by Edward Hudson, the publisher of Country Life magazine. He had it refurbished by Edward Lutyens, often referred to as the greatest British architect, into an Edwardian holiday home. Lutyens also designed furniture, and much of the furniture in the house was designed by him. Quirkily but beautifully furnished, the castle was sold several times, complete with furniture, until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1921. The NT now displays it as it was a holiday home.
YOUR DAILY REMINDER – CLICK ON PICS TO ENLARGE THEM
Lindisfarne Priory, today just a ruin, was once the center of Christianity in Northumberland. It was the headquarters of St Aidan – we visited his church in Bamburgh in a previous post. “Aidan of Lindisfarne (died August 31, 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, served as its first bishop, and traveled ceaselessly throughout the countryside, spreading the gospel to both the Anglo-Saxon nobility and to the socially disenfranchised (including children and slaves). He is known as the Apostle of Northumbria and is recognized as a saint by the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others.” There is history galore at Lindisfarne Priory. I will spare you. Click the links above if you are interested.
We also paid a brief visit to St Mary’s Parish Church in Lindisfarne. (Is there a church not named St Mary’s anywhere? – OK, we did see St Aidan’s in Bamburgh.) “The church is reputed to stand on the site of the original monastery founded by Aidan in 635 AD. Parts of the structure date back to the 7th century, several hundred years before the appearance of the Priory. While its main role is to serve the small Island community it is also a year-around focus for tens of thousands of visitors and pilgrims – Christian and others.”
It being noon, the Holy Island was now crowded with visitors. We hustled our butts over to the Ship’s Inn and secured a table for lunch. Elaine had her cider (Aspall’s this time) and I celebrated Christianity with a pint of Holy Island Blessed Bitter on draught, brewed in nearby Newcastle. We both had delicious fish and chips.
Then it was back to Vic the Volvo for the thirty-minute ride back to Craster for much needed naps. Dinner tonight was at home. Tomorrow, our last full day in Craster, we plan to stay in town. Maybe I’ll take some pictures of the Anchor Inn pub in town. But there is no Anchor Inn pub in Craster. How will I do it then? Come back tomorrow.
Update: I wrote this at 5 PM on Wednesday and reported on no sun today. At 6 PM the sun came out briefly!
Travel Technology Tidbits (for those who care)
- Always carry a spare SD card so when your camera SD card fails, you have a spare. And always transfer your photos every day to another device as backup
- The WiFi on this trip has been excellent, much better than previous trips – uploading photos for the blog, usually a hastle, has not been an issue
- My Bluetooth portable speaker (Pac2Go Speaker) works brilliantly for playing music during dinner at home
- It is nigh on impossible to connect to Cox Web Mail from a European WiFi server. (Shame on Cox) Fortunately I have a subscription to HMA (HideMyAss) VPN (virtual private network), aptly named, that allows me to change the connection to a US based server. It also encrypts all internet traffic so I can safely access sites like banking and credit cards sites when and if necessary
- The WiFi here is often unsecured. I use a travel router (D-Link DIR 510-L) to make it more secure, and I can connect multiple devices (like a Kindle or a mobile phone as well as my PC) through it
- The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 continues to be an excellent (albeit expensive) travel computer
- My Camera (Canon G16) and my camera bag (SnapR) rock! The camera is excellent in low light, a blessing indoors, as flash is usually not allowed at historic sites
- My PAC2GO plug adapter lets me charge three devices at one time – one via plugging it in and two via USB. That’s helpful as we have to charge the computer, my cell phone, camera batteries, our Kindles, the D-Link router, the portable speaker, and, last but not least, our toothbrushes
- Rather annoyingly, Braun toothbrushes come with a charger that works only on US 120 V power. It would burn up on Europe’s 240 V. All the other devices we carry will work on 120-240 V. So I had to search out and buy a 240 V. charger for the Braun toothbrushes before we left home. Amazon rocks!
