I made a trip to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and Bamburgh Castle about a week ago. I had been looking forward to visiting Lindisfarne in particular since before I left for Scotland as I had studied it quite a bit the previous semester in my Independent Study course on Anglo-Saxon England. It was a cute place that reminded me a bit of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake. The monastery which existed on the island during the time of St. Cuthbert, the writing of the Lindisfarne Gospels, and the viking raid 793 no longer exists as it was made of wood. Stone ruins of the priory built under the Normans (I really hope I’m getting my history right here) still exist though and a friend and I were able to explore those.
I was also able to visit the castle, which is about a mile away from the village.
Extra special side note – there were seals just across from the shore of the island that you could see basking in the sun! Cuties!
Later in the day I visited Bamburgh castle, which was also amazing! You could see Lindisfarne from the castle (and you could see Bamburgh from Lindisfarne). They’re just across the water from each other. I didn’t get the chance to meander all the way down to the beach but was able to walk a short trail which was lovely.
Lindisfarne was my favorite of the two stops and I’d love to go back and explore it some more.
