Northumberland. Just the sound of that sounds so mysterious and almost fairy-tale like to me.
Northumberland is English most Northern area bordering Scotland in the north. It's a four hour drive from our house to Northumberland, thus making it difficult to explore in a day or even a weekend. But for us, a two day trip had to do, although there is so much to see and do in the area. We left right after work on Friday and drove North.
It's hard to imagine that all the following pictures were taken in July. The weather was extremely windy and chilly, nothing pleasant about it. So we bundled up and drove to our first stop of the day--the Holy Island.
Imagine an island in the middle of the cold sea reached by car only during low tide. That is the Holy Island.
If you get stranded, leave the car and get into that observation tower.
We made it!
Cute little village on the island is quite touristy as it attracts millions of visitors and tour buses each year. They stop for a bite to eat in one of the many pubs and shop at the small gift shops for souvenirs.
Lindsfarne Priory is located in the village. We didn't go to the sight, but took pictures of the remnants of it from the footpath we took towards the Lindisfarne Castle.
The island was the cradle of Christianity. For centuries monks would come here to seek solace and peace. The priory had to be closed after Henry VIII ordered all monasteries to be closed. He liked this place, the Holy Island, mostly for its strategic position...
...So he decided to build a fort out in the sea on a hill. Much of the fort was built from "recycled" Priory stones. The fort was meant to protect "the last harbour" before Scotland.
We found these upside down boats made into sheds on our walk from the Priory to the Castle.
And we found this bagpiper next to the castle.
So windy!
Now we had to climb up the hill to get to the Castle, but it turned out to be not too bad, despite the extreme winds.
Edward Hudson, the founder of Country Life magazine saw this fort in 1901 while he was vacationing in Northumberland, and decided to take out a lease on it and then buy it to convert into a "Castle".
They did a good job decorating the house, of course, but I could never imagine myself feeling cozy here as the stone walls and constant sea noises would be just too cold feeling for me:).
Beautiful views from the terrace though-look at those boats.
Managing a picture before getting blown away by the wind.
We had a bit of extra time to wander around, so we went down to the rock pools on the seaside of this beach. It was so windy though, that it was difficult to enjoy this JULY morning.
So we walked back to our car, drove to the village of Bamburgh, had a filling lunch at one of the shops and then parked along the coastal road and walked to the beach.
Oh, the water was freezing!!! But it was beautiful!
Mark was enjoying his new-found talent of writing in the sand.
"Northumberland-2015"
And here is "England. July 2015".
These two...building castles just to see them being destroyed.
Mark's funny profile.
Katya's funny selfie. We love her freckles.
In the meantime, Alex and I took a break in our tent (which we were so grateful to have as it protected us from the wind). Alex wasn't feeling well at all this weekend, but he was a trooper, doing everything with us. We just didn't know he actually had an ear infection and a bit of a fever...
I actually don't remember what we did for dinner that evening...I think we might have bought some food at Tesco and cooked at home. Then we drove to Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Don't you love this name?:)
We only took a few minutes to walk around the center of the city as it was getting late and Alex was very tired.
We marveled at this viaduct built in the 1800s. The bridge is called the Royal Border Bridge.
It is 659 meters (2162 ft) long, includes 28 arches, carrying the trains at 37 (121 ft) meters above the river level.
The last town before the Scottish border.
We had a full day and everyone needed rest before our next day's adventure on a boat.
Lyana.
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