11th October Holy Island
4 miles or more – depending on the weather – EASY.
This walk actually was easy, and the weather was fairly lovely for October!
Eighteen of us (squashed into as few cars as possible) headed up the A1 to meet Mike and June Drage on the mainland side of the causeway. It was one of those beautiful Autumn days where the sky is blue, the air feels freash and the sunlight glints on the sea. (A great deal of the conversation surrounded our surprise at what a lovely day it was!) Mike and June kindly equipped us all with leaflets about the different birds, flora and fauna we might spot and then led us in convoy across the causeway (before the tide came in!) and up to the main car park. There we promptly lost everyone due to the lack of loo breaks between HT and Holy Island, the need for emergency picnic supplies and the price of parking! Mike and June rounded us up nicely and we then headed through the village to the beach overlooking St Cuthbert's Isle. It was a beautiful spot, though none of us quite knew the story behind the island, its stone cross or its link with St Cuthbert, despite much deliberating!
We then headed on round the coast past the Priory and along ‘The Ouse’ back towards the village where we turned north along ‘Straight Lonnen’. The birders among us spotted a merlin which we were all keen to look at down the telescopic lense. We continued on until we lost our track to flooding (flashbacks to the previous walk where the path had turned to mud!) Not to be outdone, we tramped up, over and around to reach the northern most point of the Island at Castlehead Rocks. (Although we were attacked by peri-peri burs which apparently are foreign to this region and therefore had to be removed from all items of clothing before they spread to the mainland!)
After lunch we headed on towards Emmanual Head and then down the eastern side of the island where some of us were thrilled to spot some seals and even a fox! We finished up in the walled garden by the castle which provided a lovely peaceful end to our walk. Some of use headed off round the castle or for tea and cakes in the village, followed by a long and very sleepy drive home! A lovely peaceful day which was enjoyed by all – many thanks to Mike and June for organising!