Tag: #holyisland

Around Lindisfarne Castle

The lower castle walls studded with wildflowers and the sheep in the meadow give the Holy Island of Lindisfarne a colorful and lively surrounding.

#castle, #wildflowers, #lindisfarne, #colorful, #pink, #pinkandgreen, #clouds, #northsea, #walls
In rain or shine, low tide or high, this castle wall on Lindisfarne Island would not be easy to scale.
#sheep, #castle, #lindisfarne, #wildflowers, #northsea, #holy island, #colorful, #pinkandgreen, #pond, #pasture, #grass
Sheep grazing at the foot of LIndisfarne Castle. They don’t mind the scaffolding for the restoration.

Restoration of Lindisfarne Castle

There are times when we travel across the globe only to be hugely disappointed that the monument of our dreams is covered in scaffolding. The U. S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.? The Trevi Fountain in Rome? Well, this time it was Lindisfarne Castle on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in England. I had admired photos of Lindisfarne Castle online with brilliant colors of sunrise or sunset and high tide surrounding the sky high castle. I had even bought a book on photography in the region.

Fortunately, the castle was reopened to the public on April 1, and I was able to walk the interior. A local shopkeeper told me the scaffolding is much less intrusive than it has been. This old castle gets quite a bit of wind and rain damage from its perch right on the North Sea.

#scaffolding, #fence, #restoration, #castle, #lindisfarne
My views were restricted and obstructed by construction fences, so I hope to return another time.

With a footnote that the above true photo was altered in Photoshop, here is my edited image. It helps us to imagine the site without scaffolding. The timing of my visit was 3pm.

#castle, #photoshopped, #imaginethis, #lindisfarne, #pastoral, #landscape #england
With scaffolding and fencing removed in Photoshop, the top of the castle is missing, but the scene regains its pastoral beauty.

 

 

Sheep on Lindisfarne

How appropriate that I should find sheep grazing on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, since sheep are often used in Bible stories as symbols of the common man in need of a good shepherd. I was able to walk fairly close to this small herd and this one sheep who had wandered off. I must have looked more like a wolf than a shepherd, because the sheep were calling out, “Baaaaah.”

 

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Sheep need to avoid eating this beautiful blue flower, Viper’s Bugloss, that grows wild in England, because its burrs can become lodged in the throat, often creating the need for extraction or even surgery. Burrs aside, the flowers affect the sheep’s liver.

#echium, #echiumvulgaris, #vipersbugloss, #flowers, #sheep, #england, #wildflowers, #burr, #poison, #blue, #purple, #nature
This Viper’s Bugloss was growing alongside the Lindisfarne Castle. It’s not good for the sheep to eat

I learned about these beautiful yet troublesome flowers in the Poison Garden of Alnwick Castle, which is also located in Northumberland, on the northeast coast of England.

Hiking the Holy Island

Lindisfarne, the Holy Island, is isolated from the mainland by the tides for five hours a day, but can be visited during low tide. Most visitors flock to the 16 century castle, which is normally quite picturesque, but is now shrouded in scaffolding as part of its restoration. I found the hike to the castle quite beautiful, along the border of this sheep farm.

#stonefence, #fields, #lindisfarne, #holyisland, #hike, #lowtide, #northumbira, #northumblerland, #england, #travel, #travelphotography, #sony
This stone fence led the way to the 16 century castle on Lindisfarne, the Holy Island, in Northumbria, England.

Saints Aidan and Cuthbert, both living in the first century, spent time on this island. Saint Aiden was an Irish missionary who founded a monastery here, and St. Cuthbert was a monk who lived as a hermit on Inner Farne and later became bishop of Lindisfarne. (Source: Eyewitness Travel, Great Britain.)