Holy Island (Lindisfarne) England

Latitude: 55°40'8.49"N, Longitude: 1°47'5.01"W

We made the pilgrimage to the Holy Isle in northern England. Lindisfarne is another name for the Holy Island. Along the way on this trip we've been listening to The Mist of Avalon on an MP3 player piped through the radio, this is to get us in the spirit of Olde England in the times of King Arthur and the priestesses and the druids. Marion Zimmer Bradley invokes the Holy Isle of the Christian priests and the Lady of the Lake, shrouded in mist, next the Holy Isle. I am still not sure if the Holy Island is thee Holy Isle of the The Mists, but I like to think there is some pagan blood and sweat in the ground here. Now, it seems, the property is for sale.

To get out to the island, one must wait for the tide to recede, to leave, you must be mindful of the rising tide. The castle shown at the right is an Elizabethan fort that protected the Holy Island harbor. Building on the castle began in 1570 and was used as a fort for over 300 years. It has been privately owned for about 100 years.

Latitude: 55°40'9.44"N, Longitude: 1°48'3.33"W

The village is the site of the lovely Lindisfarne Prior, one of the most important centers of British Christianity. The Priory was founded in AD 635 and is the site of St. Cuthbert's remains. The ruins are beautiful, with large stone arches of weathered red sandstone and preserved building spaces showing the monks housing quarters for when the site used to be a monastery. There is still an active church right next to the Priory because there are about 200 people who live in the Holy Island.

We got to see an interesting raptor display on Holy Island. Given by raptor rescue people, apparently owls have been purchased in abundance following all the Harry Potter joy. Well, people, you cannot keep an owl in a little cage, like Harry does, and expect it to be very pleased. The kids liked getting to hold an owl and a hawk and now hope to volunteer at the local Raptor Center back home when we get back to the U.S.

For dinner we ate in a pub. I had Shepard's Pie and a pint. One odd thing, though, we couldn't find a place to eat at 5:30 pm and had to wait until dinner was served locally at 6 pm. This is a phenomenon we encountered at that time in most places around the UK. It wasn't a big huge deal but we did not want to get caught trying to get back to Alnmouth at high tide. No worries. We made it.

These photos and more from the trip are located on my Flickr page.