Lindisfarne, otherwise known as Holy Island has been on my list of places to go for years, but up until now, I had never quite made it there. There was always somewhere else to go, somewhere different to explore.

One has to be organised to visit Lindisfarne, checking the tide times in advance to ensure that you don’t waste the best part of the day sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tide to go out! The day we went, we were lucky that the causeway to the island was safe from 11am, giving us the whole day to explore. Driving down to the causeway we noticed several cars parked by the side of the road, the occupants of which were not waiting for the tide, rather photographing the numerous small wading birds which were flocking to the mud, no doubt to munch on newly exposed worms and sea creatures.

The drive across to the island was calm and peaceful, we navigated the single carriageway sections with ease, I imagine it is a slightly different story in the summer when the island experiences huge numbers of visitors. The Holy Island’s own e-magazine records over 650,000 people visited the island on the August bank holiday weekend in 2016 (https://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/ezine/). Our experience of the island was calm, tranquil and serene. There were probably about 35 cars in the car park, but standing in the ancient Priory ruins, the sounds were muffled, the place quiet and beautiful – fitting for a place of pilgrimage.

The small Church of St Mary the Virgin next door to the Priory reminded me that Christian worship is still alive and well in Lindisfarne. Within the Chancel there is an interesting letter from a Norwegian Church, apologising for the actions of the Vikings in pillaging and destroying the original monastery, on whose ground the Church now sits.

Unfortunately the famous Lindisfarne Castle was closed when we went, not due to reopen until some point in 2018. However, we walked around to the harbour, where you get a great view across the water towards the Castle. We timed it right for a small fishing boat to start uploading their catch, piling up the fish in polystyrene boxes along the quayside (whilst nice to see, there is a certain fishy odour that one also experiences!)

They say that the island changes at night, as the visitors rush to leave to catch the tide. Unfortunately, this time we had to join the rush, those emptying out before the water meets over the road at the island returns once again to splendid isolation – next time, I think we’ll stay.