The North (Lindisfarne et alia)

Lindisfarne Island is only a few miles from Bamburgh and the site of the now ruined Lindisfarne Abbey, where St. Cuthbert lived for a short time and served as bishop for two years. The island, however, is connected by a road...at low tide. Above is a great picture of the road to Lindisfarne being gradually submerged. When the tide goes out, all this water will be gone for a number of hours. We took refuge in a nearby farm and restaurant while we waited for the tides to change.

The arches of Lindisfarne Abbey, supposedly made by the same architect of Durham cathedral to the south (more on that later).

Rowan sits on a stone in a picture-perfect pose, holding his school bus and wearing his mushroom bib. It was a very hot, sunny day that day, so we slathered him in sunblock (which he despises) and made him wear his hat (which he insists upon whenever it's too sunny).

Lindisfarne is also home to yet another castle called...Lindisfarne Castle. You can see it in the background here, with Rowan trying to get away from Mama so he can play with the rocks on the beach.

Rowan once more insists upon the rocks, and we're obliged to let him go. Beyond the wall to the left, there are sheep (even though you can't see them).

We decided to let Rowan do something that HE would enjoy, so we opted to take this tiny steam train tour of Etal Castle, and let Rowan ride on a "real" train. Here, he looks out the window while his bottom lip points at a nearby cow.

Mama and Rowan at Etal Castle, one of the numerous abandoned castles throughout Northumberland that fell into ruin. Rowan eats some strawberries while Daddy takes a look around the place.

The return trip--Rowan has had enough and needs a nap. Winnie is trying hard not to be bothered by the stench of burning coal.

Back at Bamburgh for one more day, we go to the beach, where Rowan decides to plop down in the wet sand, pants and all, and start digging. We also get our feet wet in the North Sea, but with all the jellyfish in the area we had to keep a watchful eye. Rowan is still a bit disturbed by his dirty feet, but a quick rinse in the salt water takes care of that.

From here, we go south to Durham before hitting the town of York.