Seahouses (2) to Bamburgh beach

After the "Farne Islands" boat trip and some lunch, one of the two friends I travelled with, thought it would be a good idea to have a walk on the beach. I thought he was joking when he was talking about walking all the way to Bamburgh ...... err, no ... he wasn't, it was a great walk though (6miles / 9.6km round trip)

Seaweed and Farne Islands

Classic Northumberland coastline

Footprint in the sand

... eventually, the turrets of Bamburgh castle appear, so we leave the beach..

...by climbing over the sand dunes and passing the gates of the castle...

The history of this site is too great to mention, but briefly, it has been a fortification since Roman times and beyond when it was used as a coastal beacon. Later, the sixth century kings of Northumbria used it as their local capital. In Norman times the Keep was built for a price of £4 and the upgraded walls were eventually destroyed in 1464 during the war of the roses (York/Lancaster) when the Lancaster king was located here. In 1610, James 1 decided that he no longer wanted the castle as a royal building so it fell into the hands of private owners who, to cut a long story short, couldn't restore it to its former glory. Lord Armstrong (19th century Newcastle businessman - who has left his legacy on the area with the additional Cragside house and the Newcastle Swing bridge) restored the castle into what it is today at a cost of £1 million pounds. It is unfortunate that he never saw the finished product although the house remains in the family name.



After all that walking, my two friends were focused on some refreshment and while I was more interested in photographing the castle.....I caught sight of them heading through this doorway for a cup of tea !



Bamburgh village is now a small relaxing village that attracts tourists to stop for an hour or two on the Northumbrian Coastal trail, some stay longer for the beach.



As a post script to the previous post, Grace Darling has been buried in Bamburgh churchyard and there is a museum opposite about her story which has been refurbished recently. There was no time for that today as we headed off around the cricket pitch, ........

....... back through the sand dunes and down on to the beach .........

It was once again our privilege to take in the sights that we had seen on the way up  by enjoying once again, the views of the Farne Islands...



.... the pleasures of walking on glorious sands despite the three intrepid travellers spoiling it  !!

..... and to say hello to the passing walking traffic going in the opposite direction !!!

Seahouses (1) to Farne Islands

On the way home from our "Etal" walk in July, the occupants of the car that I was travelling in, decided that it may be a good idea to visit the Farne islands as several members of the walking group were away on holiday.

In my opinion, on a good weather day, this is one of the top five days out in North East England.

Seahouses, situated on the Northumberland coast, developed as a fishing town from the latter stages of the nineteenth century and still in use today, is probably better known as the starting point for a boat trip to the Farne Islands.

The entrance to the harbour gives the potential novice sailor a variety of rival companies to choose from, each offering a different kind of trip and at first it is difficult to choose which is the most appropriate one given all the advertising boards

After choosing the seal and Longstone lighthouse tour (the longest boat trip), we boarded and left the harbour on a 90 minute excursion. Most of the boats are quite small so a reasonable day without a lot of wind for this outing is needed for maximum enjoyment. I have to point out with that in mind that this was only the third time that I was making this trip.

The first island or Inner Farne is owned by the National Trust and is a major bird colony for cormorants, puffins and other sea birds. Usually the boats sail quite near these cliffs in order to view the species, but most of the Puffins had flown the week before. some of the boats only sail to this island as they have landing rights and do tours of the island.

We carried on to outer Farne or Longstone where the Golden Gate was the only firm allowed to land on this island. This particular island is quite small and the feeling of remoteness from the mainland at 6 miles out is very evident.

We had the option to either see the interior of the building or wander the rocks observing the occasional seal. I took the second choice in this deserted landscape to take a few photographs.

Longstone lighthouse used to be the home of Grace Darling (folklore hero of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and it was on one treacherous morning in september 1838 that she noticed early one morning from her bedroom window a cargo ship in trouble.

The ship was travelling from Hull to Dundee and was so severely damaged in a storm that it began to break up on nearby rocks.....

Grace and her father took their rowing boat out in high seas and made the trip twice to rescue as many people as they could.

These days, this section of the journey is near a seal colony and visitors seem more concerned about other aspects of the journey.

After 30 minutes ashore and the sail back in the foosteps of that rescue, it was time to head back for dry land with a few happier to do so.......

...as they may have liked the peace and tranquility of Seahouses harbour.