Day 6 (25th June 2022)

I was very excited about today as it involved a trip to a place that as far as I'm aware, no one I know has ever been to. I got up super early so that should any untoward events out of my control get hurled my way, I'd still be on time and all would be well. It was a bit of a shlep from my campsite on the motorway slip road outside Durham, but once I set off, I realised I might be able to sneak in a visit to a ruined castle on the Northumbrian coast. However, once I arrived at the nearest road access to said castle ruin, the number of people in serious walking gear set off internal alarm bells. I looked at the map in the car park and realised that to get to Dunstabrough Castle would involve a 2 hour romp over the cliff path. So much for this idea. 

Northumbria is wild and wonderful, and each time I glimpsed the sea, I wanted to stop and hit the beach. But I had a specific, time-critical appointment at stop #17

THE FARNE ISLANDS

I arrived in plenty of time, only to find that the boat I was travelling on had been refused permission to land on the islands by the National Trust who own them. The boat company offered me a later slot, but that meant I wouldn't be able to fit in my other places - or so I thought. Anyway, they offered me a £5 reduction and a trip on a boat around the islands instead, which I took. The Farne Islands are a twitchers paradise. Squillions of birds including Puffins, Razorbills, Shags, Guillemots, Cormorants and various kinds of Gulls & Terns. We also got to see some cheeky Grey Seals and some Dolphins, and even some jellyfish and a very happy fisherman on one of the islands holding up a sizeable Lobster (NT let him land, I noticed). I almost lost my hat - which the more eagle-eyed amongst you will recognise as a prize bit of merch from Sea Power regular support slot band Penelope Isles. I managed to catch it before it blew off into the North Sea.

I had a short stroll around Seahouses, the village where the boat departed from and then drove along the coast to stop #18

HOLY ISLAND (1)

As you can see, I named this one (1) as there are two Holy Islands in the UK, the other one being off Anglesey. It was always my intention to use just this one - I mean it has Lindisfarne Castle on it for crying out loud, but tide and time were against me. The causeway was under 5 feet of water and there was no way of getting there for at least another 4 hours. Some people were prepared to sit it out, but I wasn't. I did have a quick chat with one couple who had actually heard of Sea Power  and were fascinated by both my T-shirt and my quest to visit all the places on it. I wish I had printed out a little business card with the blog address on it to give to people. Hindsight, eh?

Quick stop to celebrate changing country;

Then it was a pleasant drive through the Golf coast or whatever the Scottish tourist board are calling this coastline to stop #19

TANTALLON

Sadly, the castle itself is currently closed to visitors (I'm really not having much luck today) and as I was getting out of the campervan, my phone fell out of my pocket and part of the glass covering the camera lenses smashed. I was gutted, but luckily it still takes pictures in normal mode. I'll come back to this nightmare later. Tantallon is amazing, peached on the cliff top overlooking some awesome looking islands in the Firth of Forth. On the way out, I had a little chat with the man at the entrance. Turns out he not only had heard of Sea Power but had seen them, albeit about 15 years ago. So that's a first for this trip. Hurrah.

Because I'd broken my phone, I had to make a decision about tomorrow. I was due another boat trip but I can't risk not having a functioning camera on it otherwise ... well, who wants to read a travel blog with no pictures? So, I decided to do a different version of stop #20

BASS ROCK

It does look amazing, and I would love to see it close up and tell you all about it, but instead I'll be heading into Edinburgh to see if I can get my phone fixed.

Campsite is lovely tonight - this is my view:

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out