Holy Island, a tour of Bamburgh Castle and off to York

We opted to have an early breakfast for an early start and managed to pick the prime table in the restaurant with an incredible panoramic view of the castle from the window table.  An ideal occasion also to sample the locally smoked kippers which were on the menu.  Very tasty too.

We had a jammed packed morning ahead and had Holy Island and the castle to view before we hit the road for York.

I had some vague idea that you could walk over the causeway to Holy Island but was so glad we didn't 'cause it was quite a drive out to the island.  As Debbie said it would have taken us all morning to get there.

Holy Island is the 'Cradle of British Christianity'.  It was from the monastery on this island that the early missionaries, led by St Aiden and St Cuthbert, spread the Christian faith throughout all of Northern Britain. Virtually all we know of Cuthbert's life comes from Bede's  Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation and from three 'Lives of Cuthbert' two of them written by Bede.  St Bede lived his whole life in the monastery at Jarrow, on the south bank of the River Tyne and as far as is known only left the monastery three times.  Once to go to York and twice to go up tp Lindisfarne to deliver his accounts of the life of Cuthbert.

 Miracles and gifts of healing have been attributed to St Cuthbert and eleven years after his death the monks opened up his coffin and found to their surprise that his body was still whole, with no signs of decay.

At school I attended a secular high school but all the school houses were named after the great saints: Bede, Aiden, Dunstan and Cuthbert.  I was proud to be in Bede....always the best house and top in the sports events, though no-one could thank me for any contribution to that.


Time was running out and not wanting to get caught in the incoming tide we made a hasty departure from the island and made our way south again to Bamburgh castle which by now was becoming familiar territory. We managed to get one of the last remaining park spots at the top of the castle drive and meadered through the huge castle grounds and fortress.
We had a good tour of the castle and its very impressive, massive halls and living areas...how did they keep warm?  The place was full of old antiques and memorablia, knights in armour and tapestries.

While the size and grandeur of the place was hugely impressive and the incredible vision and capacity of the human mind to create and construct such edifices, my overall feeling and sense about the place was that it was very oppressive and dark in a spiritual sense.  I thought about Durham Cathedral and St Cuthbert's shrine and wondered how different the light and loving atmosphere was there compared to the heaviness of the castle.  The Bronte's home at the Parsonage had that same light, welcoming feel to it too. 

We finished the morning off with lunch at the castle with a pot of tea and finally hit the road for our last stop.....York.