Northumberland - Day 2 - Lindisfarne and Bamburgh

We had a good journey north to Northumberland

from Boroughbridge and made the causeway to Lindisfarne just as the tide retreated.  It was however raining but undeterred we set off to explore.

We had excellent coffee in Pilgrims Coffee with superb cake and then set off on a 2 hour anti-clockwise circuit of the island.  Great walk despite the rain and the masses of pirri pirri burs which covered the dogs.

The willow sculptures on the trail were lovely.

As were the stone towers on the beach.

Michael's attempt!

Emmanuel Head

One of the most dreaded stretches of the Northumbria coast was the North Sea off Holy Island where the shipwreck of vessels, particularly fishing yawls and trawlers, totalled a loss of 700 lives in one year alone.

One of the causes was a small headland jutting out from the island which had the same geological features as the adjacent Emmanuel Head; thus earning itself the name of the 'false Emmanuel Head'. The false Emmanuel Head was often mistaken by navigators as the entrance to the deep channel and safety of the island, only to be thrown onto the rock studded coast.

Therefore somewhen between 1801 and 1810 the Master and Brethren of the local Trinity House arranged for the building of a white brick pyramid, standing 35 feet high, on a small cliff barely 10 feet high, on Emmanuel Head at the north eastern point of Holy Island. It is suggested that perhaps this was the first daymark ever built on the shores of Britain and remains today as a testimony to its builders.

Here it is!

We finally made our home for the next few nights - Fowberry Farm - in the pouring rain via Bamburgh!

However that has now cleared and there is a great view back to Bamburgh Castle.