From Scotland to ... Scotland?

From Scotland to ... Scotland?




With an early start to catch the tides, the Entourage awoke early and reluctantly. After a hearty breakfast we departed Edinburgh under leaden grey skies rather than the well light grey, described by one Isle of Skye local as “sunny slate” that we had enjoyed when touring the Royal Mile.
The point was to visit Lindisfarne Abbey on the island of the same name which meant leaving Scotland. The island is tidal and can be driven to if you get your timing right. By this stage a quite strong wind had come up making the visit very cold. The drive back across the causeway was rather wet.

From there the party headed in land in search of St Cuthbert’s cave, a small natural cave where is body spent a night being was being transported for burial at Lindisfarne. Charlotte did not believe the place existed and it became clear in our wanderings that nobody had replaced, repaired or even cleaned the signs marking the way in some considerable time. However my Entourage showed that they are now made of sterner stuff and having suddenly appeared in a couple of local farm yards did find the car park for the site, at the back of farm shed. As long as we parked out of the way of the tractor we were fine.

The cave was quite some walking distance away from the spot that the car was “parked” and mostly up hill but it did lead to a “spooky forest”, a term Beth has used with great frequency on this trip, an a sizable natural rock shelter. There we meet two men walking the St Cuthbert’s trail and we talked to them a bit.

Leaving the walkers to their travels we returned to the car and began the search for our night’s accommodation. Not entirely trusting Charlotte, who was again sending us down narrow lanes inhabited by timber trucks and taking us places we are sure that we had been days previously (including back into Scotland), we checked every turn against our maps and the directions of our host. Surprisingly Charlotte was taking us directly to our destination by the best route.
Our lonely shepherd’s cottage is surprisingly cozy and comfortable with wonderful views across the moor land. 

Quote of the Day;
"Pheasant"; heard often but mostly today.
 "Lammies!", hear over most of the trip.

Drinks of Note;
The Durham Brewery - "Imperious" - a black stout with an earthy taste and a mild hops aftertaste. Very drinkable. It is also 12% alcohol.



A pub in Edinburgh that we did not visit just in case.

Driving to the Holy Island.


Part of Lindisfarne Abbey.

A part of the Entourage walk to St Cuthbert's cave. Note Sandra's warm ears.

The cave.
More Bumble bees.

Bird life.
Free Range Elderly sign (the top one).
Our remote sheerard's cottage.

Dangerous stuff this. Makes your legs drunk.


Comments

  1. jenjen25 April 2018 at 15:09

    Perhaps Charlotte is ensuring you see all the good bits you hadn't planned on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jenjen25 April 2018 at 15:49

    PS: San looks like she's posing for an outdoor wear catalogue, Marcus and Tony look like a couple of larrikins who've wandered onto the shoot.

    ReplyDelete

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