Today was a day of traveling north of Newcastle on Tyne to Bamburg…getting quite close to the Scottish border.

We decided on an early departure because we knew we had at least a 2 hour drive, and it being a bank holiday weekend, we thought we might also run into a bit of traffic.

I was up bright and early, and had enough time before departure to walk up to the square to see the market being set up.

Not a huge variety of stalls, but the wares all looked inviting!

The morning was beautiful and Richmond was looking its best dressed up in the sun!

By 8 am we were off to the north. The wind was buffeting us all the way and Glenn once again did a yeoman’s job of getting us safely to our destination. We were even a few minutes early… just enough time for some shots of the windy surf!

It’s hard to get perspective on these shots, but just look at the tiny people in the right hand side of the top picture battling the wind as they walk along the patch of sand to the sea!

Our destination was Bamburg Castle, formerly know as Bebanburg Castle where the kings of Northumbria took there seat. It has been the stronghold of this region since the 7th century ( with a break hiatus during the 9th century when the Danes held power here). For all of you Bernard Cornwall fans, this is Utred’s kingdom and is featured in the series “The Last Kingdom”.

The castle had fallen to ruin for a number of years until Lord Armstrong took it under his wing to rebuild this fortress for his own use. Restoration began in 1898 and incorporated a number of Lord Armstrong’s inventions including central heating with hot water radiant heat.

In this shot you can see the grandeur of the King’s Hall, with Siamese teak ceiling and wall panels and a fully “sprung” pine ballroom dance floor!

The stain glass window in the photo below bears the coat of arms of every king that ruled from this castle.

The many features of this restored castle were amazing, from the viewpoints out the gun slits…

To the steep imposing walls…

To the glories of the inner court…

There was even a little fun being had this weekend with a Viking / knights display… guess which side I was on!

The castle overlooks the pretty little town of Bamburg where the current owner resides.

Once our castle touring was done, we stopped for lunch in a wonderful seafood restaurant and decided to push further north to the Holy Island. This is where St Cuthbert is said to have come from Iona to bring Christianity to this part of England. It is also here that the Lindisfarne Gospels were created.

Alas, the tide tables were not in our favour. You see, the island is connected to the mainland by a causeway, and this causeway floods at each high tide leaving people either stranded on the island or on the mainland. We were the latter!

We did however, take advantage of the fine ( although very windy and cold) day to walk along the coastal route for a bit. The sounds of the waves crashing was deafening, but the intrepid hikers walked on!

The wind blew us back to the safety of our car, and heading south once again to Richmond. Another great adventure with some pretty fine, albeit cold, weather!

Tomorrow we are setting our sites on the Sedberg and Winder walk at the far western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. A new adventure for everyone! Stay tuned to hear all about it!