Day Four, Morning,

I Have Split Today's Travel Into Two Parts,

 as in one post there would be too many photographs, so up bright and early,

 we waved Wooler goodbye,

for the short 10 mile or so trip to Lindisfarne,

which crossed a railway line,

of course the gate was down, so our early start was a bit delayed,

at last the train roared through,

and we were on our way,

what the !!!!???,

the causeway that should be exposed at low tide, to allow you to cross to the island, was still underwater,

so a photograph,

or two it was then,

and a panorama,

I could not believe it! but there it was,

as luck would have it just up the road there was a cafe, the Barn at Beal,

so we parked up,

for a couple of photographs,

then breakfast, cake and tea for Diana, a huge bacon roll for myself, we had an uneventful crossing across the causeway,

arriving on the island walking boots on, again Diana had the camera,

as I was taking the infrared one,

it was to say the least a tad cold,

we walked through the town,

to the sign post,

the legend,

our first port of call,

the church of the St. Mary the Virgin,

for some reason I have always been fascinated by the name Lindisfarne, maybe from the pop group of the same name, and their haunting song Lady Eleanor,

and here a part of it is,

still standing today,

it is considered to be the starting point of Christianity in the UK,

so tripod out,

and I started snapping away,

then a walk around the side of the ruins,

looking out to sea,

we walked past the churchyard,

then back again,

looking at some of the graves, the watch tower in the distance,

next a climb at the rear of the site,

down the other side where an archaeological dig was taking place,

with volunteers being helped by professional archaeologists,

a final look,

another walk,

to the watch tower and memorial,

in the distance,

Lindisfarne Castle, it is a 16th-century castle located on the island,

so a walk was in order,

at least the neighbors stereo will not keep you awake at night!

I took a few more photographs on the way,

as we neared the castle,

it was my turn to pose,

a little of the castle, well forts history, the castle is located in what was once the very volatile border area between England and Scotland, not only did the English and Scots fight, but the area was frequently attacked by Vikings, the castle was built in 1550, around the time that Lindisfarne Priory went out of use, and stones from the priory were used as building material,it is very small by the usual castle standards, and was more of a fort, the castle sits on the highest point of the island, a whinstone hill called Beblowe, 

I am in the frame again!

a little more about the castle, Lindisfarnes position in the North Sea made it vulnerable to attack from Scots and Norsemen, and by Tudor times it was clear there was a need for a stronger fortification, although by this time the Norsemen were no longer a danger, this resulted in the creation of the fort on Beblowe Crag between 1570 and 1572 which forms the basis of the present castle,

enough already!

Diana's turn to pose,

as we started our way back downhill,

I was still snapping away as we went, I am trying to build a library of infrared photographs that I can play with whilst Diana is at work,

arriving back in town we called into St Aidan's Winery, 

ice cream for Diana,

coffee for Steve,

and for Peter?

Lindisfarne mead,

a box later and we were on our way,

at one of the islands local produce stalls we bought some strawberries,

to go with the ice cream, delicious!

I said that the crossing to the island was uneventful, well it was except I mentioned to Diana that there was a dead seal on the side of the road, well she did not believe me, so on the way back I stopped,

Diana was still not sure so she walked back to have a look, and sure enough it was a dead seal,

the only problem being the lorry, three car loads of people and a full tour bus were all surmising because we had stopped we had run it over!

we caught the convoy up, at the center of the causeway it is only one vehicle wide, so we followed on,

the middle of the crossing was still underwater, now is that the tide coming in or going out? crossing the causeway is not to be taken lightly, as this article and video show,

the good news is that we made it safely back to the mainland,

and were making good progress towards Arbroath about 155 miles away, then the bain of our motoring holiday, we were stuck behind a tractor,

we were soon over the border,

and on ourway,

heading towards the Queensferry Crossing,

the bridge in the distance,

look at the concentration!

the 1.7 miles (2.7km) structure is apparently the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world,

it was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry,

nearly across,

yet another non working windmill, we were both amazed at how many farms had less than 50% of the turbines working, I guess the ones working are producing so much cheap electricity many that have been built are not needed, still good news if you have one on your land, working or not you get huge payments, so it is not all bad then,

on we went,

Arbroath,

now appearing on the road signs,

the sign says it all, just 15 miles to go,

and what appears to be good omen, just outside of town, a rainbow, what could be better? this post is for the morning, we will continue in the next post with the afternoon and evening in Arbroath.