Holy Island, Batman!
24th October 2005
I’ve just returned from a weekend with friends on Holy Island, a remote community just off the North-East coast a stones throw from Scotland (Flickr gallery).
Holy Island, with it’s instantly recognisable Lindisfarne Castle, is only reachable for a few hours each day when the tide is out and the causeway is exposed. Whilst it has undeniable beauty, it is not a place I’d like to spend a great deal of time. I’m relieved to be back, as life on the island felt a little weird. Anyone seen The Wicker Man?!
I love the North-East of England - always have. I lived in Sunderland for three years, and always loved Maccams and Geordies (the locals), so it’s always a pleasure to revisit the places I enjoyed. This time around Emma and I met up with my very good friends, Olly, Sarah, Mike and Lucy for a trip firstly to impressive fortress Bamburgh Castle which dominates the coastline, and then on across the causeway to Holy Island.
This trip was great for three reasons: Great to have a rest; great to spend time with people I love; great to visit new places. Such a shame then that some of the locals were pretty rude to us when we first arrived. Nothing especially bad, but tangible and unnecessary nonetheless.
Indeed, there is something weird about Holy Island. It is an isolated community, and it’s easy for a casual visitor like me to try and romanticise some kind of misplaced idea of witchcraft, cannibalism or other dark art, and with this in mind I’m happy to admit that I have no great evidence here. However, the islanders seemed a little odd with us in a way I’d never experienced on other similar communities. I think I felt unwelcomed at first, and I didn’t like that. Still, at 2am at the end of the pub lock-in and muchos Jack and Coke, I didn’t really care any more.
As mentioned earlier, I’ve uploaded a Holy Island gallery if you ‘d care to try and get a visual angle on all of this. The weather was crappy from start to finish, so expect to work hard for the highlights amidst a collection of overcast snaps.
Responses
# Yvonne Adams responded on 24th October 2005 with...
I love The Wicker Man. I imagine if you’re not a puritanical virgin, you’d be pretty safe.
# Peter J Lambert responded on 24th October 2005 with...
I went to Holy Island last month. I’d never been before and was astounded by how beautiful and quiet it was, despite there being loads of tourists walking around. It was a bit eerie. There’s some fantastic scenery around there. My photos of Northumberland and Holy Island
# Stuart responded on 24th October 2005 with...
That’s a blast from the past. My family used to go up north for holidays quite regularly and we always went to Lindisfarne castle.
My dad always had to have crab sandwiches which were sold out of the fishermans houses.
If you enjoyed the causeway action, then be sure to check out Mont St. Michel in Brittany, France. Which really is in a lot of senses the french equivalent of Holy island.
Responses are now disabled Your ability to respond is disabled automatically some 30 days after articles are published, or manually much sooner if spamming guttersnipes target a particular article.
External References
Copyright © Mr. Simon Collison 2003-2011. Protected and licensed under a Creative Commons License. Grab the RSS feed
Engineered in Nottingham, scaffolded by ExpressionEngine, steam-pumped by United & kept alive with tea and roll-ups.