Northumberland 2024 - Day One

This was the 15th year since we began these walking weekends back in 2010. One year - 2021 - was missed due to Covid but Ken, our leader, has attended all 14 others. Dave and I have been on 11 each and Gordon and Ian Sharp 10.

This year we had a new recruit - Rob D, who had briefly met up with us last year in the Lake District. He became the 16th person to be on one of these weekends, bringing the aggregate attendees over the 14 years to exactly 100.

Car sharing has been the norm in the past but this year various factors meant that all of us travelled to Northumberland for Day One in our own vehicles - not exactly eco friendly. Ken had, as usual, done meticulous research and checked the tides, which were in our favour and we could cross the causeway over to Holy Island - Lindisfarne.

We weren't the only ones to take advantage - the large main car park was packed almost to capacity when we arrived. Jeb had car problems and allied to a desire to attend a friend's memorial wouldn't be able to join us until Friday night, and Vicki wouldn't make it at all. Gordon, travelling up from Yarmouth, decided the extra hour's drive up to Lindisfarne from our hotel in Rothbury was a bit too much so it was just 6 of us who gathered at Lindisfarne village - Ken, Dave, Nigel, Stewart, Rob and me.

First stop - naturally - was the Ship Inn, one of the local pubs, for a quick refreshment:

Setting off on our walk, we bypassed the Priory:

Then made our way out to the castle:

A few of us made good use of our National Trust memberships to look at the inside of the castle. Looking out over the castle walls we noticed a kestrel sitting there quite happily just a couple of feet away:

At the start of the circular walk round the island, a piece of art:

Further on, an obelisk:

There were some lovely beaches on our walk:

The island is a national nature reserve and there are trails everywhere so the walks can be as long or as short as you want. We stuck to the coastal trails although we cut off the short spur at the end and headed back to the car park, stopping first at a bench:

Here's our route and the stats:

Departing the island we all took differing routes on the 40 + minute drive south west to Rothbury and checked in to the Queens Head, a fairly typical and slightly tired looking pub/hotel. Showered and changed, one by one we followed Nigel to the local micropub, the very popular Narrow Nick, which was bedecked with various memorabilia, obviously acquired from auctions. Along the window wall, bizarrely, there was a row of Stagecoach bus seats:

I speculated that the pub was so named because it used to be the local police station or jail but we later discovered that the "Nick" is a local word referring to the adjacent narrow lane.

Dinner was back at our hotel and it was good, wholesome food, which surprised us a little.

Day one over - more to follow.