Northumberland Castles

 I'm on the 13:35 pm train from York to Edinburgh. Dropped off the rental car, and left my reading glasses in that tricky compartment under the rear vision mirror, as I always do in my own car at home. Well, I did bring my second pair, just in case. The scouts are right: BP!

Spent yesterday derving round to all the castles I knew of in the vicinity of Seahouses, where I was staying. There was Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle and Lindisfarne Castle. 

Only saw Bamburgh from the outside while I strolled through the wildflowers along the coastal path early in the morning. It looked forbidding. Truth be known, I was not really looking to walk around lavishly furnished rooms hung with the portraits of in-bred ancestors, and gawp at collections of silverware and china. But the view of the castle on the cliff above the sea was spectacular.

I'm really more interested in castle ruins, and those were my favourites: Lindisfarne Castle, which again, unfortunately, I only got to look at from the outside--I will tell you the that story below--and Dustanburgh Castle. 

So, Lindisfarne Castle (at left) is on Holy Island, which is reached over a causeway, only accessible at low tide. I had been told the time by which I had to leave the island if I didn't want to spend 8-10 hours there waiting for the tide to go down enough to reveal the causeway. They told me I had to leave by 12:00 noon. By the time I got to the carpark, it was 10:30. The carpark was in the village, a couple of kilometres from the castle. Well, that is the way of things here: the streets are narrow. There are a few spaces by the side of some roads, but generally parking is as scarce as hen's teeth. It's not uncommon for the parking for a venue to be several kilometres away and you have to pay for it as well as entry to the attraction. 

According to English Heritage "Lindisfarne. . . is one of the most important centres of early English Christianity" 

So I walked as fast as my little fat legs would carry me behind the others who had paid and displayed at the carpark. I was very mindful of the time limit and wished that I had got there earlier, but what can you do? 

Lindisfarne Castle was amazing. The whole island: the beach, the fields, the stone walls were a fairytale. And great for  black and white photography. 

Dustanburgh Castle was another delight. I got there late afternoon and the beautiful light, the clouds were what photographers hope for. This is Dunstanburgh below. 

I'm in Edinburgh now. Arrived yesterday on the train. Have made a mistake with the accommodation. It's very from the Royal Mile and all the things I want to see. Working out the buses is going to be a bit tricky. You have to pay with exact change, and I hadn't even used cash until yesterday. In London you can just tap your debit or credit card to pay your fare, just like in Sydney, so I didn't need to handle cash.