The Fabulous Farne Islands

I've wanted to go visit as soon as I realised you could.  Peter on the other hand, did not have quite my enthusiasm. "You want to go on a boat, to see birds?" was his comment.

Me of course, I love the birds, and studying them.  I love their colours and shapes, their patterns and their noise. I want to learn everything about them, understand them and watch them.  In fact, I could watch them for hours.

Peter just thinks they're birds.

OK, so it takes nearly two hours to drive there from Richmond.  And OK, the trip to Staple Island that I had wanted for us to go on wasn't available.  But, having just completed the trip to Inner Farne, we can't recommend Billy Shiels Farne Island boat trip highly enough.  And I mean we.  Peter really enjoyed it too.  Definitely value for money, and definitely worth the drive and our time.  We enjoyed it so much, we got off the boat at the end and asked each other "Can we go again?"
I've deleted over 100 photo's and I still have 181 left, which of course made it very difficult to select which ones to put on here.

First there was the little boat trip/tour showing us the islands in general. This is Staple Island, the one that I had hoped we could land on.

The Pinnacles just off Staple Island

I picked this one because of the bird flying.  Looks odd doesn't it.  These are Guillemots and Kittiwakes

You can't even begin to work out how many there are.

Moving on from Staple Island, we were taken to see the grey seal colony.

I was dead chuffed with this picture, cos I didn't even know I'd taken it, and it was quite hard to get a photo of the seals in the water. 

Big mama seals.  The bulls are bigger and black.  

So cute.  This must be a very late pup, as there was only one other that looked like a youngster.  Normally, the pups are born in the Autumn.

From what I can make out, there are tours to see the grey seals available in October, check out the NT site for more info National Trust - Farne Islands

After the seals, a look at the lighthouse from where Grace Darling did her thing.

The Longstone lighthouse from where Grace Darling spotted the wrecked ship and then went with her father in a rowing boat to rescue the survivors.
  For those of you who need reminding of the story, there is a whole website dedicated to her: Grace Darling  

So, after our little tour, we were taken to Inner Farne, where we could get off the boat and have a walk round, we were given an hour and 15 mins. 

Inner Farne is tiny.  People have got bigger back gardens!  But I have to say, for us, an hour and a quarter just wasn't enough time.  We absolutely loved it.  Here are the pictures:

Arctic Terns

Aggressive little beggars - they attack as you walk past.  We were advised to put hats on, but they can still hurt with them sharp little beaks.

They are only protecting their nests, which are right alongside the walkway.  You have to be careful where you put your feet lest you stand on eggs, or chicks, or a sitting bird.

When you see this coming towards you, you duck.

 Beautiful birds though, and this one is in a much happier mood.  He was only a few feet away from my camera.

Black-headed Gulls

Black-headed Gulls have chocolate brown heads.  These seem like nesting in the same area as the Puffins.

Guillemot

I think there might have been more Guillemots than any other type of bird.  There are also Shags and Kittiwakes nesting on these cliffs. 

Unlike the other birds on the island, the Guillemots seemed to keep well away from the visitors.  I managed to get pictures of these chicks using Peter's camera.

Some of the Guillemots have a white ring around their eye, with a line to the back of the head, a bit like they've overdone it with the white eyeliner. These are called Bridled Guillemots, although I don't know why, we saw a few, and there doesn't appear to be any racism amongst the birds, they were quite happy mixing n breeding with the non bridled Guillemots.  

Kittiwake

I only got one clear picture of a Kittiwake. They tended to stay away from the people too. Very noisy birds, but pretty too. 

Razorbill

Easy to mix up with Guillemots from a distance.  I really like these, especially with those white go faster stripes on the bill

Sandwich Tern

A noisy group of Sandwich Terns nesting away from the visitors walkway.  I like the black crests, a bit like a loose toupee in the wind.

Shag

This bird still has unhatched eggs.  But many Shags had nests of two or three large furry chicks.

Not a pretty bird.  When you see them like this, it's easy to imagine their reptilian ancestry.

Puffin

I saved the cutest till last (or nearly till last).

I must of taken 50 photo's of empty sky and fuzzy things whizzing past, trying to get this picture.  It was like Kings Cross Station - birds coming in with beaks full of sand eels, and birds flying out to get more. 

All in all a wonderful wonderful trip.  Highly recommended, even if you're like Peter and not that interested in birds. 

And finally, just cos it's my blog and I can, a couple of pictures taken at Seahouses. 

Cormorant 

Cormorants and Shags do not have the oils that other sea birds have to make their feathers waterproof.  That's why you often see them stood like this - they're drying out!

Eiderduck

Ducks on the sea seemed so wrong, especially with chicks.  I quite like the way I seem to have caught three gents in various stages of dress here.  The white one still has his winter plumage, and you can see two others going through the change to their summer plumage.  

All just fantastically fabulous as far as I'm concerned.  Definitely a trip to do again, and definitely worth the money.  £15 for the boat trip, and £6.80 to the National Trust to go onto the island, (unless you're members of course).   

Cragside

Cragside House

So we're in Northumberland for a couple of days, and we're looking about for things to do, places to visit, that sort of thing.  Being members of the National Trust, we checked out what was on offer and found Cragside.  I remembered my day at Gibside and thought that Cragside would be similar, perfect for a 5-6 mile walk with plenty of shelter from any passing shower. As an added point of interest Cragside was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity, which meant that we may actually have a look round the inside.  But to be honest, we were looking forward to the a wander around the grounds – apparently there are 42 miles of paths. Perfect!

And it was a brilliant day. We parked in the Formal Garden car park and then wandered just as we pleased. Before lunch we managed to spot a couple of deer and have look at the visitor centre before crossing the iron bridge and visiting the house. The house is quite awesome and full of gadgets, such as a hydraulic lift for the staff. Sadly a lot of the rooms are quite dark because the Trust are trying to protect the contents from sun damage. I think Peter’s favourite room was the billiard room. I liked the suite at the top of the house which had been set up for a royal visit. Quite fantastic, and the views across the estate are stunning.

Debdon Burn from the rustic bridge.  This is where we saw the deer

This is the only picture I took inside the house.  This magnificent marble fireplace weighs around 10 tons and is supported by the cliff (it's upstairs).  Just extraordinary!

After our first mooch, we convened back at the campervan for tea and some freshly made tortilla wraps. I had a quick look in the wildlife hide just off the carpark.  Although people were telling me there was a greater spotted woodpecker about, sadly I never got to see it. Plenty of tits, robins and chaffinches around though. 

After lunch we set off up the Crag for the to have a walk around the estate in earnest. We walked around the Nelly Moss Lakes and over to the drained Blackburn Lake with it’s thatched boathouse. From there we made our way back to Cragend, which is actually a quarry and an area I found fascinating.

Nelly's Moss North Lake

Nelly's Moss South Lake

The thatched boathouse, onto Blackburn Lake.  As you can tell, the lake has been drained, 30+ years ago at a guess, but the boathouse remains.  It's even got a boat in it.

On we went to Cockcrow Stone and Slipper Tarn, where  paths in between were wonderful. Surrounded by woodland, we much preferred these wilder area to the gravelled/paved walks lower down.

We wandered all afternoon before eventually making our way back to the house.

All in all a fantastic day. We didn’t get to see a lot of things I’d have liked, such as the Waterwheel and the Powerhouse, but that just means we’ll have to go back, which we’ll do without hesitation as soon as the time is right.

And our fantastic day was finished off with an evening meal in Clennell Hall which I can highly recommend. The food was really good, with the best chips ever, and a very reasonable price too. What more can you ask for?

Tomorrow we will be going home after a little bit of shopping.   But we will be back, Cragside is definitely worth the visit. 

Copper Snout and Clennell Street.

So me and Peter have got a long weekend arranged, and then, when we look at the weather forecast, it’s raining! And it’s not only raining in Richmond, it’s gonna rain right across the UK, and it will last all weekend. 

I looked more carefully. Nope. The Lake District was in for a bad couple of days, so was the Peak District, and the Dales, Wales, the Moors............ Nowhere looked inviting, except maybe the North East. And so that was it decided, the area around Rothbury and Alnwick was due to have a dry(ish) three days, so that’s where we were going.

Peter found a caravan park which had a space for us at Clennell Hall, Alwinton, right on the edge of the Northumberland National Park, and so Saturday morning saw us driving north on the A1 to Alnwinton to follow a walk route detailed on the Northumberland National Park Website - Northumberland National Park Leaflets and Guides

Our walk took us from Alwinton, up Copper Snout, past Saughy Hill and back along Clennell Street, (brilliant names), which is apparently and ancient drove road.  Here are the pictures:

Looking back after starting up Pass Peth, heading towards The Knocks.

It was very cold and windy to start, we were all wrapped up, against the few, but very cold showers on the as we walked.  The showers turned to rain, and we had to don our waterproof jackets.

Law Knowe is the lump in the middle, and the stream is called Wholehope Burn.  But it might be called Flushey Sike........   There is only so much you can tell from an OS Map

We came across notices about the Otterburn Military Range.  They warned that we might come across soldiers training, but not to worry because they would be firing blanks?

We made our way from up Saugh Rigg to Copper Snout.  The views of the surrounding hills were quite wonderful.  I've know idea which one is which though, if they have names at all.

I liked the grassy landscape, sort of bleak, broken up by the rolls and curves of the hills around us, but not by walls.  There are very few of the stone walls that we are used out here. 

At the top of Copper Snout, we turned towards the managed pine forest covering Peat Law.  Only, as you can see from the devastation in the picture above, there isn't a lot of the forest left in this area.  I don't like these areas of force grown pine woodland.  I think they are characterless, but sadly they are very necessary to meet the demands of our throwaway society.  The scar left behind when they are cut down is ugly, so I suppose it is a good thing is that new trees have already been planted, and that they'll grow quickly to provide shelter to walkers from nithering winds or burning sun.

We are now on Clennell Street, heading back to Alnwinton

It was a lovely peaceful walk, we didn't see another person apart from a farmer putting up a fence up on one of the hills we passed.

Lords Seat on the right, looking quite impressive from where we were walking. 

But we saw hares and heard skylarks.  It had turned into a really beautiful day, despite the bitterly cold wind. And of course there were plenty of sheep to keep us company.

This'll be mens club I think.  I really like those long curly horns.

And then, before you know it, we were back at Alnwinton, feeling very satisfied with our 8 mile walk.  The map and route guide for it is here: Copper Snout and Clennell Street

The end of the day was spent with a meal in the campervan and a quiet drink over at Clennell Hall. A very pleasant end to a lovely day.  Tomorrow it's Cragside...........  Class!

Windy Gyle from Barrowburn

I sort of nagged Yvonne to come up with a route and this was the result. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, and was pleased to see the slopes of the Cheviot Hills rising around me as I drove towards Barrowburn.

We started from the car park there, and proceeded up and down a series of pleasantly rolling hills. The Cheviots sort of remind me of the Howgills, although maybe not quite as high, and maybe the gills aren’t quite as steep sided.

With very little sign of civilisation, you can walk for miles across the grassy moors. The hills rise and fall around you, providing beautiful, peaceful views.

We walked for a while, enjoying all this, until we reached the Pennine Way. We joined it, walking along the border to reach the top of Windy Gyle  All the time looking over the border (little fence), to Scotland.

In fact, we did actually venture into Scotland, since Windy Gyle is on their side of the line. Very appropriate name, Windy Gyle, the wind was very strong as we approached. I loved it, especially as the air was warm.
We enjoyed our lunch and the views into Scotland from the trig point. The air was clear, and we could see for miles, including watching the downpours as they crossed to the North of us. We could also see three little hills that seemed to just grow out of the ground, unattached to anything else. I checked later, they are the Eildon Hills, near Melrose, 22 1/2 miles away.  Created by volcanic activity, but not extinct volcanoes.

Fed and watered, it was time to go down. We followed the Pennine Way and the border for a little while before turning southwest and heading for Davidson’s Linn. There is a brilliant little waterfall here. In fact, you get two for the price of one.

The weather changed now, and went from being very warm and pleasant to cold and wet. The shower didn’t last long, but it was enough to make us change the planned route and take a quicker path through the pine forest. We emerged into a valley surrounded by the gently rounded hills.

And now it was back to walking amongst these lovely hills. More down than up this time and surrounded by the rolling green hills. A delightful way to while away the day. And then, we were back at our cars. Legs and feet were satisfyingly tired; we’d completed over 13 miles and about 2300ft of up and down. Cool.