Some islands can be reached during low tide by simply walking to them. Eventually, a well walked low track of land back and forth from the island to the mainland creates a reason to build a permanent pathway called a causeway. Eventually, these pathways turn into elevated highways we use to navigate through our busy journeys to and from wherever we are going. In earlier times, it was not so easy. I know of three very famous causeways of which two are concealed during high tides. The third is mythical called the Giant’s causeway in Ireland. The Irish giant named Finn McCool created a causeway so he could do battle with the Scottish giant Benandonner. Not sure who won the battle, but Benandonner ripped up the pathway as he fled back to Scotland, so you be the judge. The remains of the causeway can be seen if you travel to Ireland. My wife and I had a chance to see the remains several years ago while touring Ireland. The second causeway we actually walked across during low tide is located in Cornwall, England leading to St. Michael’s Mount. Both of these causeways have already been written about in past travel blogs. You can search for my blog posts for more, but this post is about our latest venture across to Lindisfarne in Northumberland. This is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in that part of the world. More on that later but for now join me as we journeyed on our first phase of our yearly trek across the pond. No causeway, or modern road but by air. My how things have changed over time.
My last travel post was called “Why?” in the summer of 2023. During that time, we celebrated my wife’s mother’s 100th year with a great party of friends and family. During that time, we also made a trip to Budapest. Read my post to find out more. We then returned to England on Christmas of 2023 to celebrate my mother-in-law reaching her centenarian birthday. It is now the summer of 2024, and she is still going strong. She is truly a remarkable person.
Everyone needs a reason to cross over from where they feel comfortable to where they know they need to go. If we have to wait for a tidal change to make the crossing, then maybe we can call that a causeway crossing. Join me as I cover our travels so far on this trip.
After a hectic effort to get our ducks in a row in the USA in order to travel across to England, we hit the ground running. Call it an emotional causeway crossing. As disaster coordinator for nearly 400 churches within the Global Methodist Church, this meant trying to plan ahead for back up. Hurricane Beryl had just hit our area and recovery is ongoing. No storms the first few weeks and then came “Debby” hitting Florida. Prayers for those who are impacted. The first week over, we spent just about every day, visiting mom and taking her out for day trips in between trying to get her finances sorted. Though we have advanced in our society to allow online banking, etc. they still need security to ensure we are who we are. With that first week behind us, we went on a short vacation by rail up to Yorkshire and Northumberland with some close friends. The trip was a combination of coach, train and a lot of walking but well worth the trip.
Our first leg of the vacation was a long drive up to York and taxi from York to Harrogate to our hotel for the next three days. We met our tour manager and settled in for our evening meal. We walked the streets of Harrogate by Betty’s Café Tea Rooms, Turkish Baths, and even found Hale’s Bar dating back to the 1660’s. Apparently, we may be related as the Hale family is part of my heritage. More on that on Day 7.
York Minster
Day 2 started with a nice trip to RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate. If you love walking through gardens, you could spend all day, but we moved on to the town of York. The cobbled streets through the Shambles, the river Ouse and the York Minster gothic cathedral are fabulous sites to see. Henry the VIII managed to shut down the Catholics but did not destroy the cathedral. There were monasteries destroyed but some remains were finally preserved from repurposing into new construction, so it makes York a marvelous contrast from old vs new. We viewed the house of Margaret Clitherow who was martyred in York March 25th, 1586, and canonized October 25th, 1970. She allowed her house to be used to have a secret Catholic Mass each week until caught and tortured to death for her failure to claim allegiance to Henry’s church. Us Christians have a hell of a wicked history. Mass is still being held each Saturday at 10 am to this day. On a brighter note, near the ruins of an old monastery is a building used as a meeting place of York Methodists from 1753 to 1759 where John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield preached on several occasions. Also, Rowntree family starting with Henry in 1862 decided to buy a cocoa site in York that turned into the huge confectionary company known today. A lot of history from the Roman occupation who first laid the foundations for the cathedral and wall partially preserved around York to sweets we can buy today.
On Day 3 we go by coach to Whitby and the Abbey ruins where we watched an outdoor play based on Bram Stoker’s book about Count Dracula where much of this area inspired his creativity. We loved the interaction between actors and the children especially. That was a fun experience to observe the ruins while watching an interactive play. This site has been the home to over three-thousand-year-old communities and considered a holy place plus seat of power. This Ango-Saxon monastery was founded in the 7th century. In 1078 another abbey was built until good ole Henry shut it down in 1539. Stoker based his Dracula novel on stories of a ghostly Black Dog and a shipwreck recorded in a photograph in 1885.
Our next stop was to listen to a story of one of the oldest English RNLI stations located in Whitby. RNLI stands for Royal National Lifeboat Institution. I particularly found this interesting in knowing they are independent of the government, mostly volunteer run with a dedicated local response team. They respond to any and all coastal watercraft in trouble and they are located all along the coastline of Britian. Apart from seeing the lifeboats and equipment serving the community, what impressed me most was that they coordinate their efforts with the Coast Guard which is governmental. This ensures proper communication at all times as not all disasters are appropriate for a volunteer group with limited resources. In my personal effort as disaster coordinator for our new Global Methodist organization, I too believe in establishing a good line of communication with local government principalities. This avoids actions unnecessary or improper for the circumstance. Every disaster is unique whether it is on the water or land. We concluded our long day riding on the scenic North York Moors Railway before heading back to Harragate. By the way, the Harragate Inn was originally called Chequers Inn then renamed to Hotel St George after George III in 1778.
View inside Carlisle Cathedral
On day 4 we packed up and made our way to Settle and the Carlisle Line to a new hotel in Alnwick. The Settle-Carlisle line is a beautiful ride through fields and valleys. I imagine was once a causeway type pathway before modern road construction and eventually a railroad bridge.
After a beautiful train ride through the country, we ended up at Carlise. The cathedral is again breathtaking in size and majesty. After a slow walk around the town, we were back on a coach headed to Alnwick where we will stay for the next three days. There is a marvelous bookstore full of any book you can imagine where you can buy, and barter thus called the barter store. Near the hotel is the Bondgate Tower part of the main defense wall completed in 1480 to keep those pesty Scots and Danes away I suspect.
On day 5, we had a fairly easy day, strolling the Alnwick castle and gardens. The castle was yet again a beautiful, majestic site overlooking the North Sea and the gardens down below were absolutely gorgeous where kids could play in water features all throughout the grounds. The most impressive tour for us was the poison gardens. We learned that many plants we consider in our own gardens can be deadly if consumed improperly. Daffodils are pretty to see in the garden and can have a toxic or therapeutic impact. Poppies are transformed from beauty to nightmare, from morphine to heroin. There are so many stories of people like the smiling doctor John Adams and Dr. Death Shipman and nurse “Jolly” Jane Topan for their poppy drug deadly mixtures. There are plants so deadly that they put them in glass cages to avoid contact like Ricinus Communis (Castor bean) used in an umbrella laced point by the KGB to assassinate political enemies of their state. Even the teacup poisoner Graham Young used Astope Belladonna (Deadly night shade) to kill 70 + people just because he thought he could get away with it. They finally caught him and died in prison. There was so much never heard of plants that can kill but did you know the tops of green tomatoes are toxic and leaves of Rhubarbs can be fatal if eaten enough of it. Kind of depressing as we walked along the dangerous plants but the more you know the more you can take the necessary precautions. Can you imagine walking along an ancient causeway from one high point to another and trying the vegetation as you went along. Maybe some did not make it to the other side.
We continued on day 6 to Bamburgh Castle and Lindisfarne, otherwise known as the Holy Island. What an adventure seeing the Castle overlooking the North Sea with the Island in the distance. If you are a gothic buff who likes recreations of that era and hooked on “The Last Kingdom” then here at Bebbanburg or Bebba’s Fortress in the late 500’s or later called Bamburgh you are at home.
Looking out to the North Sea coastline, the island of Lindisfarne can be seen. St. Aidan was an Irish monk invited by Scotland’s King Oswald to Northumbria to become bishop of his kingdom. From the monastery on Lindisfarne, Aiden walked the countryside, talking to people to interest them in Christianity. He died at Bamburgh and buried at Lindisfarne in 651. Aiden and his monks spread the Celtic Christian tradition throughout the kingdom. Later in 664 King Oswiu of Northumbria decided to follow the Christian customs of Rome.
Our next stop was to cross the countryside to Lindisfarne which meant we had to wait until the tide was low so we could drive across the causeway. Imagine making that pilgrimage across miles of wetlands to reach the Holy Island. There are tall poles every 50 yards or so to mark the pathway taken to reach the high ground along the causeway. This was more than just a tourist attraction. Lives were lost and lives were changed as they journeyed to meet their new identity as a believer in Christ. Now, that is evangelism!
Inside Bamburgh Castle
Vikings raided the Island in 793 forcing the monks to flee. In spite of the raids, Christianity continued to advance, and the Church of St. Mary continues today. Remains of the Lindisfarne Priory was a pleasant historical walk as you can imagine if walls and stones could talk. The priory was shut down by good ole Henry in 1537 but later a castle was built in 1572 and was used as a military garrison protecting the natural Harbour.
O yeah, we had a Lindisfarne Meade tasting session as Meade was and still is a favorite drink made from honey. A bit sweet for me, but in a pitch, works great to ease the muscles. LOL
The Lindisfarne Gospels were written about 698 and is a preserved treasure of Northumbria’s Golden Age.
Lindisfarne (Holy Island) Priory
Day 7 is a travel day back to York via first class rail. We said our goodbyes to our travel colleagues in York. Our journey with our friends was far from over, however. We continued our adventures touring the train museum, boat cruise along the Ouse River, and miniature train back to our car in York. We drove outside the city for an evening rest before heading back to Fareham via Kings Walden.
If you look on the map for King’s Walden, there is not much to be seen but thanks to our friends driving for this excursion as we make our way back to Fareham, I was able to see where my family supposedly lived hundreds of years ago. We toured another St. Mary’s church in King’s Walden looking for grave markings, but sadly all names are obscured due to ages of neglect. We did find a pub due to re-open to new owner’s called “The Plough” that evening. Shame we could not stay for a chit chat. O well, moving on down the road.
Apparently, the Hale Estate stood for 290 years. We could not find the remains of the estate, but George Hale initially left for America from here. The community originally had 53 households, which was considered very large when compared to other Domesday era settlements. In 2001 the population was 35. Big change! Maybe, I should look at property here. You think? LOL
I did make contact with some locals who joined in the festivities at Plough @Kings Walden who shared that they knew of some Hale’s in the area. The old Estate was demolished around 1960/70 and another house was built on the property. They think we could still walk a footpath from the church to Frogmore that goes through the “Deer Park” where possible remains of the structure may be seen. Remains of some Hales are in a crypt in the church. Looking forward to our next trip to explore more.
We ended our long week of traveling back in our hotel near Fareham where we intend to share as much time as feasible with Mom, friends and family.
I started this blog describing what a causeway is physically but want you to remember the symbology of traveling from one high spot to another crossing valleys or challenges along the way. Is the trip worth the effort? I believe without a doubt if you go on faith, expect obstacles, but continue on the journeys of life, you will arrive at a new hilltop experience. Continue continuing on!