Maybe I’m out of my titling slump. Or maybe not?
This final weekend outing from our base in Cleator Moor came about because our guide at Chester’s Fort, Paul, suggested we see Bamburgh Castle. We really loved Northumberland and were excited at the opportunity to see more of the county. However, I also have to say – we were tired. We kept a pretty fast pace in London, did a few moderately strenuous hikes near Cleator Moor (I’ll share those next post), plus traveled every weekend. One last weekend of craziness though! Throughout this week we had also been in communication with the rental car company as the tire pressure light was still randomly turning on (UGH!!!!). Since we were traveling back across the country (again) we made arrangements to trade out the car at the Newcastle Upon Tyne airport. While it was several times larger than the Kerry Airport in Ireland, the basic set up of it was surprisingly similar! We were happy to see the last of that Citroen.
Once the car situation had been taken care of, we continued our journey to the North up the A1. Our first destination on this trip had to be carefully planned as access is tide dependent. We were going to Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island. This is one of those places that has floated around in my head for who knows how long. One of those “it would be really cool to go there but when are we ever going to be in THAT area?” places. Lindisfarne is considered to be the birthplace of Christianity in Britain (a step or two behind Ireland – but we will leave THAT alone!). I won’t go into too much detail here, but there were these dudes: Cuthbert, Aidan, Oswald. And they did a lot of good stuff, mostly helping people. They were living on this tiny island, happily doing their thing at their priory, along come the Vikings – and they have to start all over again because the Vikings are rude. This time though they build their church and other buildings from stone which is a bit more Viking proof. I’m going to leave the story there, but there is more to it which I will cover when we go to Durham😁You are welcome to independently study though. Back to Lindisfarne Island…very cute little place. Killer blackberry gelato! We arrived just as the road to the island opened after the tide had receded. Very strange feeling to drive on a narrow road with water lapping at the sides! It was obvious that someone had come through and cleared the seaweed to the sides too (I imagine that would be very slick to drive on!).
Upon leaving Lindisfarne we headed back south but elected to drive along the coast route. Gorgeous drive…and this was the weekend of a huge charity walk on the coastal route, so we got a very leisurely look at the coast as we inched along! Sigh. As I mentioned at the beginning this whole weekend plan came about because of a mention of Bamburgh Castle. We intended to stop at Bamburgh, really, we did! However, it was one of the stops for the charity walk. While it looked like precautions were being taken, it also looked like one massive superspreader event! So we drove slowly past the castle, admired the very cute village, and continued on our way.
Our base for this weekend was in Alnwick (leave off the w to say it correctly), which has been the base of the Percy family (Dukes of Northumberland) since 1309. The village grew up around the castle, as villages are wont to do. Cute town. But, the castle…oh my….Alnwick Castle is magnificent! I think part of that stems from the fact that the castle has been lived in the entire time it has existed. Yes, it’s been modernized, and it doesn’t look like it did in 1309, but it also doesn’t look like a Victorian idea of a medieval castle. It is massive – I can’t imagine what it takes to keep the place in repair. The Percy family has managed to make the castle a fun place to visit, without it feeling like a caricature. My hat is off to them for this achievement. Of course, the fact that it is so incredibly castley means you will likely recognize it 🤩
Our other site of exploration was going out to Dunstanburgh Castle. This one has a funny story behind it. It was built by the Earl of Lancaster, beginning in 1313. His goal? Make a castle bigger than Bamburgh. He did succeed, and it must have been impressive! The castle located along the North Sea coast about a mile outside of the tiny (but seriously cute) village of Craster. The only way to get to the castle is to walk that mile – through the grazing sheep and cattle!
Next post I’ll give a glimpse of our hikes near Cleator Moor and Whitehaven. Then it will be time to say goodbye to Cumbria and hello Yorkshire!