Woke up yesterday at 5:30am to walk the Pilgrim’s Way across the sands at low tide to the island. The sun was already solidly in the sky as it had rose at 4:30. It’s a pretty high latitude here. It was a beautiful morning, and we walked the couple miles to the water’s edge across the busy A1, over a small hill, through a field of cows and calves who gratefully seemed afraid of us, passing a level crossing of a mainline railroad track where I had to call the signal engineer to make sure it was safe as the trains zoom by at 100+ mph, between huge WWII concrete defensive blocks, and eventually onto the sands. The whole day’s mileage was about 8 miles, and 3 miles of it was following wooden guide posts placed in the sand to mark the safest passage to the island. You can only cross on a receding low tide as the water comes back in very swiftly and people get stuck out there on the sands. To aid the unwary, there are two refuge towers along the way to climb up if you get in trouble. Fortunately, although we started across the sand a little later than we had planned, we made it safe and sound. There is a separate causeway for cars, but it also gets submerged by the tide, and the island is cut off twice a day from the mainland. It has been this way for centuries, the causeway not being built until the 1950s. It was an eerie and exciting sensation to be splashing through a few inches to half a foot of North Sea water for an hour, not quite being able to see the shore where you are headed, despite the bright sun illuminating the morning.
Once on the island, we walked to the village’s public toilets (a continual amazement to me that almost every town has public, clean, open conveniences), and cleaned up the sand and dried ourselves off. Then waited for the cafés to open. We wandered around to start absorbing the very rich history of the island. There are many information boards around describing the medieval founding of the priory by Irish monks, the life of Saints Cuthbert and Aiden, the violent Viking raids, the departure to safety and then the return of the monks and rebuilding of the monastery, the castle built in the 16th century to protect the port in battles against the Scottish, more fortresses built to protect from Dutch privateers in the 17th century, the businesses of farming, fishing and lime-making that ebbed and flowed over the centuries, the 1901 gilded country home built into the castle, and now the tourist trade of spiritual and creative retreats. And on top of all that, the natural history of the island is off the charts with unique geology, plants, bird life, sand dunes, seals, rock pools. I was exhausted from reading and wondering about this all by the time we could find a place open for breakfast! Needing to rest from our early rising and all the learning, we found a perfect quiet walled garden with a bench to wait for check-in time at our hotel. Here’s a swallow in slow flight! https://m.youtube.com/shorts/s9qepzgwifU?ra=m
Later in the afternoon, we explored the island’s physically small but huge in excellent displays cultural center. They had a deeply detailed and satisfying exhibit about medieval manuscripts; the Lindisfarne Gospels created here in the early 8th century are considered the most valuable complete Anglo-Saxon document on record. They also had video narratives of local people of the island that were very interesting. Eventually, we really needed some fresh air and just to experience the island by walking it. We walked to the castle, found the area where ground nests are being protected, wandered around the ruins of the monastery, climbed the viewing tower, visited the parish church which holds a fabulous wooden sculpture of six monks carrying Cuthbert’s coffin to safety on the mainland.
It was only 3pm and I was beat. I returned to our room, did some handwashing laundry in the sink, had a cup of tea, and took a nap. The sun doesn’t set till very late (the high latitude thing again), so we took another (shorter) walk after an absolutely delicious dinner at a pub - best soup I think I’ve ever had. Then it was to the task of sorting out luggage, for Bill departed for Edinburgh this morning, flying home tomorrow, and he was taking many of my items to reduce my pack weight of things I no longer need. Finally, the sky grew dark enough so my mind could get in the mood for sleep.
Today has been a REST DAY, so after saying goodbye to Bill, I did a little shopping, took some shorter strolls (spotted the shoreline very far up the coast I’ll be walking to in 3 or 4 days), and went to a traditional music concert at the church in the evening. I also went over my walking maps and plans for the week. Now that I am off any official trail, I’m back to navigating through a cobbled together network of paths to get to my next big destination of Edinburgh. It will take me seven days to get there.
These two days on Lindisfarne have exceeded my expectations. I have learned much, reflected deeply, enjoyed and grew in patience watching all the different birds (herons, swallows, ducks, oystercatchers, meadow pipits, gulls, so many more); there is a great peaceful and welcome energy here. Although this has been a place of violence, tragedy, industrial pollution and exploitation at times over the centuries, it has also been one of avowed faith, immense beauty and tight community. The odd truth of this all mixed up together is such an honest representation of the continuity of life, and the wonderful mayhem of mystery it highlights has settled something inside me.
Tomorrow I return to walking alone for a few days; but I feel more connected than ever.
