St. Cuthbert's Way 2019 Day 5

Wednesday 18^th September West Mains

I headed out around 8:15 in the morning, walking toward Lindisfarne.  The first half was roadside footpath walking, then the second was straight paths on the opposite side of the hedge from the road.  Once I got to the causeway the road began being busy with cars, some crossing despite the information to wait until a certain time after high tide.  It was a bit crazy walking, as there was no designated path (despite being an official LDW) and I was walking on the road at times, keeping a careful eye out for the traffic.

I wandered straight through the town past the Abbey ruins, which had an entry fee, but you could see most of what you needed to from outside.

Then it was out to Lindisfarne Castle, where I walked around for a bit taking photos before going inside to look through. 

Included in the purchase price of the ticket was an informational talk about the castle, but that wasn’t until a bit later.  The size of the castle was deceptive, as it looks bigger from the outside, but I guess a lot of that is the rock it is built on.  I left the castle and walked around it, taking more photos.

Then I returned to the castle to listen to the talk, and when entering I ran into Josh again, who was just leaving.  I stayed for the talk in the castle, then headed toward town.

At a cafe I enquired about a statue of a hare that had caught my eye.  I was told it was £95 (and that there were some online sites that sold it), and I would have to lug it around until I found a way to get it back to NZ so, reluctantly, I passed on getting it (but fare not, as you will find out at the end of the West Highland Way if you read that blog).

Leaving the island, and with it being low tide, I made a last-minute decision to walk the Pilgrim’s way back to the mainland (which nicely avoided the, now even busier, road).

It was very muddy and halfway across I ran into Josh yet again.  We walked the rest of the mudflats together, then parted ways as he was walking north along the Northumberland coastal walk to Berwick-Upon-Tweed – a place I initially wanted to stay tomorrow night but couldn’t get reasonably priced accommodation because of a film festival (I ended up going to Alnick for a night instead, which you can read about here).

Back at West Mains at the bunkhouse in the early afternoon I researched the hare statue online and found that anyone who had it in stock either would not ship to NZ or wanted £120 to do so!  I read for the rest of the day and got more “ready” meals from the petrol shop for dinner.

Today marks four weeks of not using any vehicles for transport!  That's a month of only using my feet to get around - not bad when you are on holiday overseas, covering 3 separate long distance walks during that time, and staying in a different place (almost) every night. Sadly, that run comes to an end tomorrow when I catch the bus to Alnick.