The wild Northumbrian coast…

A rather dull morning, weatherwise, but we are looking forward to our trip to Holy Island – Lindisfarne. It’s a longish island just off the coast above Seahouses and is linked to the mainland by a road which disappears under water for several hours in the day, dependant on tides. You need an up to date tide table when visiting and today the causeway will be open between 10.15am and 4.25pm. Quite exciting really.

Now, you may wonder why Bessie is facing the wrong way. This is because we couldn’t stop to take the photo on the way over because we had traffic behind us!

The road is awash with water and I shouldn’t think it is ever completely dry. All very wild.

You are expected to park in the official car park but we noticed other vehicles parked randomly. When we got to the car park we realised why – it was packed! Hordes of people were making their way along the road, there were roadside stalls selling their wares to a captive market. We drove on past the car park with difficulty only to arrive at a coach park with at least a dozen coaches already there.

It didn’t take us long to decide – I took a hasty photo of the castle over the heads of the throng (Bessie is so good for seeing over hedges etc) while Peter did an about turn and we headed back the way we had come. Too many people!

It was such a shame. Maybe it’s because we have spent such a long time in the under-populated islands that makes us so intolerant of crowds. I don’t know.

Anyway, I took some photos on the way back along the causeway:

Yet another coachload of people!

Dire warnings!

A watch tower

So, what to do now with our day? We turned to the Northumberland Coast Path once again – this time to the north of Holy Island and the Cocklawburn Beach. On the way I was lucky enough to photograph this kestrel on a telegraph wire.

Not to mention these sheep sheltering from the wind!

At Cocklawburn we found space to park at the top of the dunes:

And was that really an ice cream van there?

Yes, and very nice ice cream too!

It soon started to rain unfortunately but we went for a walk along the beach anyway and it was fascinating with its strange rock formations, seaweed and interesting patterns in the sand.

The waves were impressive – see the featured image above – and the path edges were strewn with wild flowers.

Bloody Cranesbill

A type of Hedge Parsley with purple stems (I think!)

On a nearby post a Rook was fed up with being wet through:

We did some shopping in Seahouses (a real disappointment – more like a mini Blackpool, complete with games arcades, than the picturesque harbour town we were expecting) and got some fish and chips which we ate in Bessie by the seawall at Beadnell, a mile or so down the coast.

Here the sea was ferocious and every few seconds there were giant sprays of water which drenched the pavement beyond.