Morning
After another peaceful
night’s sleep, I was woken at ten past six by a car alarm going off… a
potential downside of sleeping in a car park, I guess but it could happen
anywhere really. It wasn’t a problem though, as we were planning an early get
away, ready for a slightly longer drive north.
Most of the journey was
on the A1 and I have to say, Zerubbabel cruises like a dream on the open road!
We had a lovely comfortable journey into Northumberland and enjoyed leaving the
busyness of Newcastle for the quiet open landscapes further north.
NE128/21
We had planned to stay at
this BritStop tonight, but ongoing Covid restrictions meant that we were unable
to plan in anywhere to empty the toilet, so we had a bit of a change of plan
and booked a couple of nights on Camping and Caravanning Club sites instead.
However, I had been particularly looking forward to this one, so we decided to
call in at the farm shop on our way up to Holy Island and buy some nice stuff
for lunch/dinner. It did look rather lovely and I’m sure we will use it as a
stopover at some point, especially if we eventually get up to Scotland.
Holy Island
For those who don’t know,
Holy Island is just off the coast at Beal. You come off the A1, drive about a
mile and then the road becomes a causeway across the sea. Obviously, because it
is the North Sea, you can only cross when the tide is out. Like many places on
this coastline, the tides come in quite quickly and what can look safe… well…
isn’t. Every year, there are those that risk it and get cut off. There are
rescue posts but you would be saying a permanent goodbye to your car and probably
getting a huge bill for its recovery! So it’s important to check the safe
travel times. We were fortunate that today, safe travel was between 10:15 and
17:20, which is perfect for a day out.
I had already checked the parking arrangements on the island. Normally, motorhomes have to park in coach parking if they are long, but the main car park is a huge field and this is where they want you to park… specifically along the far back edge. So we did. Gradually, throughout the morning, it got busier and busier, so that by lunchtime, it looks like there was no chance of us actually getting out. I’m not sure what would have happened if we’d ended up stuck there, but I figured that others would leave before us… and they did. By the time we left at four o’ clock, the field was quite empty.
Lindisfarne Priory
I had pre-booked tickets
for the priory, which was good, as the island was packed and we wouldn’t have
been able to just turn up and go in. Fortunately, we had pre-decided that today
was a mountain trike kind of day. A very nice lady escorted us all the way
round the back to the accessible entrance, which was along very uneven ground,
up and down hills, over grass and through a big gate. It might have been more
accessible than steps but I wouldn’t have wanted to push a normal wheelchair
that way!
The priory grounds are lovely and rather like our recent visit to Rievaulx Abbey, we enjoyed the challenge of getting my trike in and out of all the sections of the ruins. To allow me a little more manoeuvrability, Neil took Liggy on a normal lead. One of the areas was the brewery. At the back was a round hole, which I guess might have been used for treading grain or something. Liggy was fascinated by it and seemed very excited about exploring it. When she realised it wasn’t as exciting as she thought, she looked quite disappointed.
Lindisfarne Castle
After exploring the
priory, we took a fairly leisurely stroll up to the castle. We hadn’t managed
to get tickets to go into the castle but, to be fair, it didn’t look very
accessible anyway. We were happy to just enjoy the walk, the views and the
photo opportunities.
Beadnell Bay Camping and Caravanning Club Site
Having crossed back over
the causeway, which is really part of the attraction of visiting the island, we
dropped back down the A1 a little before taking the coastal route through
Bamburgh and Seahouses to Beadnell Bay. The drive was gorgeous and we lost
count of the number of times we vowed to come back and spend more time here.
After the relative isolation of BritStops, the club site felt overwhelmingly busy, though quite civilised. It was nice to have electricity, water, empty the grey waste and, most importantly, empty the toilet… which unbelievably was not quite full. Having electric hook-up meant that Neil could watch the England – Germany match on the telly, without thinking about the battery. I took my chance to get an early night and Liggy certainly approved of this, after such a long day out.
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