The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Tuesday, 2nd August 2011
9 km (5.7 miles)

A walk of contrasts with a mix of nature and tourism !!  This walk came from Country Walking magazine and allowed us to take in the whole of the island.
After crossing the Causeway there is a visitors car park just before the village (GR NU 126 423). The walk took us firstly into the start of the village before turning left and left again onto a track which quickly turns into a green lane and strikes directly north across the island.  It's added benefit was that it took us away from the crowds who were just beginning to gather !

The lane finally gives out and the route continues through dunes to the site of our cache (we dropped off the trackable from the day before. 
Just beyond the cache we had a moment of absolute magic as we sat and watched seals basking and swimming off Castlehead Rocks (GR NU 131 439).
We then cut across the top of the island to Emmanuel Head with is pyramid obelisk.  Whilst the guide said we should be able to see the Farne Islands and Bamburgh Castle unfortunately the sea mist and gloom meant our views were limited.
After Emmanuel Head the walk again followed the shoreline taking us down to the castle, and a re-introduction to tourism (overheard "I'm not paying to go into the castle, I've just paid a bloody pound to get here on that bus").
After visiting the (outside) of the castle, we headed over to the Priory before returning to the car park just in time as the rain set in.
A fantastic end to three days in the North-East.  The sight (and sound) of the seals was a truly memorable moment and really put the icing on the cake.  Sadly, the weather was not conducive to photography and the seals demanded a long lens (which I don't have). Still, and idea of the day is available from the link

Boulmer, Craster & Dunstanburgh Castle

Monday, 1st August 2011
20.7 km (12.8 miles)

Our 30th Wedding Anniversary and a couple of days away in Northumberland.  We stayed in the Hope and Anchor in Alnmouth and, after visiting The Alnwick Garden on Sunday decided on this walk on the Monday (the actual date of our anniversary).
We began from Boulmer (pronouced "boomer) GR NU 265 139 and the first part of our walk took us along an unmarked road and past the helicopter station at RAF Boulmer. The road eventually reaches the village of Longhaughton, a linear village that stretched for over a kilometre.  At the end of the village a path led through fields to join yet another road (GR NU 243 166) at Howick Grange. This road runs down and passes Howick Hall, famous for its gardens and arboretum. 
Here, thankfully, the road walking finished and we headed out across fields and over the shoulder of Hips Heugh before cutting through Arnold Reserve and emerging in Craster (GR NU 258 198).  This is a delightful Northumberland finshing village which owes much of its popularity to its proximity to Dustanburgh Castle.
The approach to the castle is a good walk along the coast with the castle itself dominating the horizon.
Here we picked up our normal cache - grabbing a trackable which, I later found out, had arrived from the Netherlands two days previousy.
We returned to Craster and then returned via. the coast path back to our start point in Boulmer.
A fantastic day's walking - the coastline walk was absolutely spectacular and I'm sure that my photographs do not do it justice.