Day Five - journey's end at last - in the very attractive village of Warkworth. Built on a loop in the River Coquet, the village is dominated by Warkworth Castle, with its medieval (14th century) keep, towering walls and gatehouse. The castle belonged to the Percy family for a large part of its history. The first Earl of Northumberland's son, 'Harry Hotspur', became a legendary figure. Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II begins at Warkworth Castle: "this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone, where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland, lies crafty-sick." These days the castle, reflected so beautifully in the river, has a lovely air of tranquillity that belies its colourful past.
And so we packed up our boots and headed home...but I always feel I leave a little of myself behind in the fresh air and wonderful space of this part of England. I'm grateful for the beautiful weather we had. (Nothing short of miraculous, some would say! - not a drop of rain for five whole days, though it did rain the day we came home.) No blisters, no injuries, lots of photos and some lovely memories of a wonderful time with friends. Aren't holidays great?
Ah well, back to Saltaire tomorrow, folks....Hope you enjoyed the vacation.
Day Four's walking, mostly along the beach, was from Seahouses via Beadnell to Craster, an attractive little fishing village with another small harbour. (Craster is famous for its smoked fish - kippers and salmon.) These beaches are some of the best - long stretches of golden sand with outcrops of rock that give lovely rockpools. The rock formation above is known as Saddle Rock - a folded limestone outcrop, buckled by the intrusion of molten dolerite (locally called whinstone). It was at about this point that I nearly got felled by a flying golfball. The cry of "Fore!" made me reconsider the shot I was about to bag, of an orange flag against the outline of Dunstanburgh Castle! Northumberland must be heaven for golfers (those prepared to put up with a bit of wind, anyway.) 
And here is Dunstanburgh Castle - an impressive ruin that from a distance looks a bit like teeth! Built in 1313 by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, it was a status symbol rather than a strategic castle, to demonstrate the Earl's opposition to King Edward II. The Earl's rebellion was defeated and he was executed in 1322. The castle was strengthened and improved by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster in the late 1300s and during the Wars of the Roses it was captured twice by the Yorkists. After that, the castle fell to ruin - but what remains has survived for nearly 700 years! It's now in the care of English Heritage.
And so on to Seahouses, which is a lovely little seaside town with proper amenities like good fish and chip shops and pubs, ice cream and gift shops. It has an attractive harbour, which gave me an hour of deep enjoyment, wandering around with my camera in the evening light. You can take boat trips from here to the Farne Islands to see the birds and seals. Seahouses also has a RNLI Lifeboat. I always used to love looking around lifeboat stations as a child and marvelling at the heroic stories - they usually have pictures and newspaper cuttings on display about their rescues. I find it astonishing that the lifeboats are crewed by volunteers - what heroes!
I took far too many photos that evening. (Thank heavens for digital!) The colours were glorious and it was all so tempting.
(Best viewed large)
The third day's walking, from Belford to Seahouses, was, I think, my favourite. It took us through the Nature Reserve at Budle Bay, and then on to Bamburgh, a small village with a magnificent castle. (You could spend a week simply visiting all the amazing castles in Northumberland - Lindisfarne, Bamburgh, Alnwick, Dunstanburgh, Warkworth.) Bamburgh was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. There has been a castle here since 547, initially a wooden one, and the present structure incorporates a Norman keep dating from 1164. Some of the castle is still inhabited (it has belonged to the Armstrong family since 1894) as well as being a major tourist attraction and wedding venue.The village itself is attractive (one of its coffee shops provided a welcome stop for us!). St Aidan's Church has a memorial to Grace Darling, daughter of the Longstone lighthouse keeper on the Farne Islands, who, in 1838, helped rescue nine people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire in a terrible storm, using only a coble (a large rowing boat). It's an interesting story and she became a celebrated Victorian heroine, much sentimentalised.
Our second day's walking in Northumberland took us another 13 or so miles from Holy Island to Belford, which is a village slightly inland. We were following St Cuthbert's Way, a way-marked path that goes past St Cuthbert's Cave, one of the places where it's said that the monks rested with St Cuthbert's bones when they were fleeing the Vikings.We had to cross the busy A1 road, as well as the main Edinburgh to London East Coast rail line (which involved protracted chats by phone with a signalman!) As we were walking towards the line, we more or less bumped into this steam train. On searching the web I have discovered it was a Railway Touring Company tour - the Great Britain III - on its way from Edinburgh to York and then London. At this point the loco was the Princess Elizabeth 46201. And that, not being a train buff, is all I know. But I do like to see steam trains and so it was a serendipitous moment.(For those who like trains, a click on the pic will make it bigger.)
Not me sailing...I was walking...but I can still feel the wind in my hair. The Northumbrian coastline has marvellous long sandy beaches, with hardly a body on them. (If you could guarantee the weather, I suppose they'd be covered in sun-loungers, so there is something to be said for British summers).
There's much more to Holy Island than the castle and the sea. The village of Lindisfarne itself is very attractive and good for exploring (not to mention eating the fudge and tasting the Lindisfarne mead!) The island and surrounding bay is also a National Nature Reserve: a wintering ground for pale-bellied brent geese, eider ducks and all manner of waders and other birds.
But this tiny island was also the place where, during the Dark Ages after the Roman occupation, Celtic Christianity took root and spread throughout the north of England. In 635 AD, the Irish monk St Aidan came from the Scottish island of Iona and founded a Benedictine monastery on Lindisfarne, at the invitation of the Anglo-Saxon Christian King Oswald at the nearby castle of Bamburgh. The monks worked as missionaries, spreading the gospel throughout pagan Northumbria. It was one of the great seats of Christian learning and was where the Lindisfarne Gospels - beautifully illuminated manuscripts now in the British Library - were written. In 665, St Cuthbert became the abbey's Prior, before living as a hermit for ten years on the island called Inner Farne, and then becoming Bishop of Northumbria. He died on Inner Farne and was buried at Lindisfarne. Many healing miracles were claimed and his relics became venerated. In 875, Vikings attacked the island and some of the monks escaped with the body of St Cuthbert, which was eventually reburied in Durham. His shrine is now part of the great Norman cathedral there.
(You will note that I've been putting into practice what I learned this week on my course - 3D frames! I think it's not bad for a first attempt...)
PS I have just learned through Bob's Durham Daily Photo blog that the sculpture is "The Journey" by Fenwick Lawson. This is made in elm and there is a similar work cast in bronze in Durham's Millennium Square. Thanks Bob!
Day One's walking was Berwick on Tweed to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne (about 13 miles). We deliberately made an early start and did some fairly determined walking to arrive at Holy Island's causeway before the tide covered it over. You can get stuck if you're not careful - and we didn't fancy 4 or 5 hours sitting watching the tide come in and out! Anyway, we made it in good time and were rewarded by a fabulous sunny afternoon to explore the island. I've been several times before and it has to be one of my favourite places of all. It's beautiful and very unspoiled. I just blissed out, wandering around with my camera. The photo shows a fishing boat coming into the lagoon harbour, with Lindisfarne Castle in the background. That's now run by the National Trust and has an interesting history - it's a Tudor (1550) fort that had a makeover into a private house by Edward Lutyens in 1903. There's also a small walled garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll, but I didn't get as far as that on this trip.We stayed at the Lindisfarne Hotel on Holy Island - a lovely place, where we received a very warm welcome. I highly recommend it. (I had a four-poster bed....all to myself!)
Well, I'm back! (If you didn't miss me all last week, it's because of Blogger's auto-publishing feature, ensuring a photo a day got posted in absentia. I'm looking forward to catching up on everyone else's posts that I've missed.)
I have been walking the Northumberland Coastal Path with a group of friends. It's been a great week, with fantastic weather, ideal for walking - cool but mostly bright and not a drop of rain. The scenery in Northumberland is stunning and the walking was good. The walk was about 55 miles in total over 5 days - not too demanding, and I survived without blisters, so that was a relief. Even though it's nowhere near Saltaire (it's something like 130 miles north), I shall post a few photos, just because Northumberland is such a lovely part of England and many people aren't familiar with it.
We started our walk in Berwick upon Tweed, which is an ancient port and fortified town, right on the border of Scotland and England. It has inevitably had a turbulent history, but is now a peaceful old place, surrounded by magnificent thick walls and with plenty to explore. My first photo shows the old houses on the Quay Walls. Berwick sits on the north shore of the River Tweed and has three bridges - the oldest, shown above, was built in 1624 to replace an earlier wooden bridge. We enjoyed a lovely evening meal at 1 Sallyport. Sadly we weren't staying there, but at the Castle Hotel which doesn't seem to have changed much since LS Lowry, the artist, stayed there!
Day Five - journey's end at last - in the very attractive village of Warkworth. Built on a loop in the River Coquet, the village is dominated by Warkworth Castle, with its medieval (14th century) keep, towering walls and gatehouse. The castle belonged to the Percy family for a large part of its history. The first Earl of Northumberland's son, 'Harry Hotspur', became a legendary figure. Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II begins at Warkworth Castle: "this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone, where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland, lies crafty-sick." These days the castle, reflected so beautifully in the river, has a lovely air of tranquillity that belies its colourful past.
