The Gospel Truth

Having decided to holiday in Whitby, we thought that we could fit in a trip to Lindisfarne, which I visited with my wife on our first holiday as a couple err-hum years ago. On that occasion, it was November and everything was closed.

Anyway, a week before our holiday, I actually decided to look at a map of the region and discovered that Lindisfarne is 130 miles north of Whitby. Oops. We also had to factor in the tidal causeway which links the island to the mainland. Around the time of our visit, it was impassible between midday and six pm, which made a day trip from our base near Whitby difficult to organise.

So, we canned the idea of a day trip and decided to drive up on the Saturday at the end of our holiday and stay over in a nearby hotel. As long as we left our accommodation around eight am, we could get onto the island before the causeway closed and spend the day there. No problem.

On the day, we were still packing the car at eight thirty and finally got away about nine am. Still, we agreed that we could make it. Apart from the fact the A1 was one long series of minor accidents, which held us up just long enough to prevent that.

So, we had to replan. Go to the hotel, check in and then find something to do with the afternoon and go onto Lindisfarne in the evening. In Alnmouth, we raided the hotel's supply of tourist leaflets and discovered that boat trips to Lindisfarne were available from Seahouses. Back into the car and off to see if we could get onto the island that way.

After nearly an hour hacking about on country lanes, we got to the harbour to discover that no boat trips were running that day - apparently the "convenient" causeway opening times meant that there was no current demand. 

So, we had to replan, again. Back in the car we decided to go to Bamburgh Castle, which we finally reached about three pm.

And so, at six pm, we finally made it onto Lindisfarne, were we spent  a few hours before the sun set. We walked out the the castle (pictured above), strolled round the village and peered at the priory through the locked gates.

As we drove back down the causeway about nine pm, my wife said "Next time, we'll come when the place is actually open..." and I thought to myself, "What next time?"