We’ve a weekend in Northumberland coming up and we were planning on visiting Lindisfarne on Friday. Tide times look good for the day but that’s about all I know – is there anything on there we should go see in particular? Best to walk over or drive? Anything really!

The Castle is closed at the moment.It’s a still a lovely walk out to it and the Limekilns are interesting if you’re as dull as I am.

The Priory is obviously worth a visit.

Lookout Tower is good.

The walk across the sands might be a tad chilly this time of year.

It’s a small island it’s easy to get round everything in one visit.

It’s a long walk over, but quite possible (um…well not really that long, but added to a walk around the island…). Much quieter if you are there when the tide is up, rather than down (but you probably don’t have much choice over that).

The safe to cross times are between 10 am and 5 pm so it’s gonna be open all the time we’re there. I figured most of it might be shut, that’s why I thought a walk over there might be quite nice. Plus we’ll have just driven three and a half hours to get there!

Birds. Lots of birds.

Just go – it’s great.

It’ll take a long time to walk and visit the village and priory so drive over, which is fun, but don’t go and get marooned in the refuge so that your kids can have a ride in a helicopter. Local folklore has it that a bloke who did that then admitted what he’d done to the press, received a bill for £40,000 for an hour’s use of an RAF helicopter and crew.

It has a special atmosphere, bright, breezy and magical, a little like Sunderland Point in Lancashire. Look out for the cottage where the inside cover photo of Lindisfarne’s excellent Fog on the Tyne album was taken.

I love the place. The castle is great, the priory lovely and, if the parish church still has a display of the Lindisfarne Gospels (a copy, of course!), it is well worth seeing.

Also, make sure you get to the mead shop.

Awesome, cheers. Just had a look and it would be a big old walk over, so I reckon drive it is. Hopefully the car park shouldn’t be too full at this time of year.

Car park? Things have changed….

As we’re on STW I feel I need to point out that cycling over is a good option 😉

Cycling would, in fairness, be my preference. However I’m away with the Mrs who doesn’t really do biking and we won’t be taking bikes. So sadly not really an option.

When you going?

Friday. Then over to Kielder for a couple of nights.

If you go when the tide is out it can be mega busy. I road across once as the tide was going out (sections still in water) and it was like a different island so peaceful and quiet.

As I was leaving the hords were decending.

Fog on the Tyne was a good song….and Meet Me on The Corner!

Sorry!

it was like a different island so peaceful and quiet.

I stayed overnight once, the tide came in about 6.00 pm so the evening was amazing.

Well worth doing it at least once. Just check the tides and pick a day when the tide comes in at about 6 so you get the evening and the next morning before the crowds start towards midday.

If you see a little fat bloke with glasses being dragged round by a Ginger Labrador pup……it could be me!

I’ll keep an eye out! I’ll be the grumpy bearded Yorkshireman with a camera.

I love Lindisfarne. Great for walking by the sea. I’ve spent a whole week there several times. Most visitors confine themselves to the road between the village and castle. Elsewhere it’s quiet. St Cuthbert’s isle is good to walk out to if the tide is out.

I went to school with a girl who claimed to know them, 1992ish, and had an unhealthy obsession with them. She made out once that there may have been heavy petting going on with a member of the band at a family party.

First time I saw a fat bike in the flesh was on Lindsfarne.

never should have let gazza sing!!

As I wrote above, folk on t’other side of the island can visit Sunderland Point near Heysham, now accessible without the need to crawl through Lancaster thanks to the new bypass. It’s also along a tidal road and has an eerie atmosphere, the few houses look unchanged from the 1700s. There is also the strange and poignant Sambo’s Grave to visit. Don’t try to cycle there, the road is covered in filthy salty slime at low tide.

Sambo’s Grave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo%27s_Grave

If you’re up that way, I’d suggest walking from Craster to Dunstanburgh , or looking round Bamburgh rather than going to Kielder unless you’re into watersports. Not the Donald Trump sort. I thought that Kielder was just a lot of forest blocking the views.
Don’t forget Alnwick or Warkworth, either.

We’re staying in Kielder but we’ll only be spending a day there, I want to check out some of the sculptures around the lake. We did think about going to the National Trust place at Alnwick, but it’s closed for winter. Some castley ambling would be nice.

My wife’s ex husbands sister married Billy Mitchell.

Craster nice for a decent pint and some pub food, walk to a castle. Buy some kippers. As is alnmouth minus the kippers.
Alnwick castle/ gardens is nice as well, barter books in Alnwick is worth a look.
Lovely coastal walks pretty much anywhere along the coast.
Don’t bother with seahouses.
The little pub at low newton by the sea is worth a visit at the end of a coast walk.

Harthope valley, Ingram valley are nice for picnics on the east side of the cheviots. The old road to chew green is worth a trip if it’s open.

Lindisfarne is great but always better to stay if the tides coming up and everyone else leaves. We have a campervan and just to sit in the car park, watch everyone hurry off and then watch the delivery vans hurry over and hurry back and wait for the wildlife to come out is amazing. Watching kestrels and owls hunting in the car ok field margins and waders galore turning up is amazing. The place is transformed.

There’s a really nice round the island walk which is well worth a couple,of hrs with a bit of exploring and beachcombing. Don’t know what pubs best at the moment. The ship in the main st is a bit old fashioned and disappointing. The crown and anchor looks better these days.

Cragside nt is worth a visit and the stuff for kids and the drive is good, as is the house and cafe etc but closed now. Wellington nt is a good alternative not too far away and on the way from kielder to the coast.

The barn at beal on the ridge before you drop down into the lindisfarne causeway is good for coffee/ food.

Lots of stuff to see, walk, picnic, eat etc. Some good galleries around even in the smaller towns. Good art gallery in wooler as well as the best women’s only running/ walking/ fitness gear supplier. If only they did men’s clothes, great selection of really top notch niche brands.

We have a campervan and just to sit in the car park, watch everyone hurry off

Do you not get any hassle? I thought that was strictly verboten? The locals, despite relying very heavily on tourism, don’t seem to like them very much.

best women’s only running/ walking/ fitness gear supplier. If only they did men’s clothes,

Never understood that shop? Specialist shop in remote location and straight away cuts it’s customer base in half?

There’s a little walled garden behind the Priory, which is secluded and beautiful.

It’s where I intend to propose to Kylie.

Don’t bother with seahouses.

Unless you want to visit the Farne Islands, which are incredible.

Also, The Olde Ship Inn is a worth a visit. The beer garden on a summer evening has the most beautiful views.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Lindisfarne. Lindis, lindis, lindis, lindisfarne…

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9lTd80Cu4[/video]

If your staying at Kielder try a night at the observatory, you need to book but with a decent sky its something else

It’s a great wee place, we’ve stayed there a few times. It’s very different when the tide is in, but even in tourist time there are quiet places. St Cuthbert’s is good, then stroll along the cliff above the harbour. Harbour itself has the famous boat shacks, then along to the castle – even if it’s closed it’s worth a look. The lime kilns next to the castle are fun to explore.

If you have a bit more time, the north end of the island is lovely – sandy beaches, almost deserted even in the summer. There’s a marker at the top corner that’s a good walk to get to.

And yes, seems to attract fat bikes – first time we went, there was some kind of meetup and there were a dozen of them parked outside the mead shop!

Tell me about Lindisfarne…

Currently locked in a bitter legal wrangle with Gazza over custody of the fog.

Unfortunately the observatory at Kielder is all booked up, but we still plan on having a wander outside at night to look at the stars.

We’ve got a grey VW Cali so it doesn’t stick out like a campervan I guess. We haven’t overnighted in the car pk. Guess that’s frowned on?

Soon as the tourists go and the tides up nobody bothers you. Pubs are quiet as well. It’s great. Worth doing in your car even. Take a flask, go for a walk, watch some wildlife come back and have a cuppa and some picnic snacks then a pint in the pub and soon it’ll be time to drive off. It’s amazing waiting for the water to subside who zooms past you and gets through.

Burko saved me a lot of typing some great advice.

If you get stuck with the tide coming in you had better run for home!
Sorry, my coat and hat are just here.

Yep, the women’s running shop in wooler. Drives me mad. Loads of good stuff for women but nothing to buy if you’re a bloke. It can’t be a good business model. It’s not like there’s anywhere else to buy any outdoor stuff locally.