Top 10 best British islands: No. 8 - Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne, Northumberland, England

No ferries are needed to reach the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. One road leads to the island, but not all of the time. Twice a day the North Sea surges across the tarmac, cutting off the island from the mainland. For the more romantic, or religious, the island can be gained using the Pilgrim's Way. At low tide a three and a half mile route, marked out in a straight line of tall wooden poles, stretches across the sand. Pilgrims have followed this footpath for centuries to visit the Holy Island. A wooden monastery was founded here in 635AD by the Irish missionary Saint Aiden with the aim of spreading the Christian message throughout pagan England. These days the religious side of the island jostles for the tourist's attention with the castle, tearooms and natural wonders, but the underlying spirituality remains key to the unique atmosphere of Lindisfarne. 

If at all possible, we'd recommend staying a night so you can get a better sense of isolation and a quieter, more private experience of the place. 

Lindisfarne is in the Top 10... for the historical, beautiful and spiritual experience of walking the Pilgrim's Way to reach the island.

Dan's favourite islands 2011

1. Farne Islands
This has to be one of the greatest wildlife experiences in the UK. Where else can you get as close to nesting puffins, razorbills, shags and kittiwakes? On Inner Farne, at the right time of year, arctic terns dive-bomb your head while their fluffy offspring run under your feet. But the birds are only half  the story – the human behaviour is just as weird and fascinating.

2. Lindisfarne 
Holy Island, tidal island, distiller of mead, home to a storybook castle and beacon for tourists from miles around. Being cut off by the tide twice a day gives the island its sense of magic and isolation. Staying overnight transforms the experience to a slower, more spacious and quieter understanding of the place, where faith and history thrum beneath the coffee shops, rambling outfits and rushed daily visits.

3. Darnet Island

At first, Medway doesn't sound quite as exciting as the Shetlands but I guess it depends on what you're doing there. We were taken out of our comfort zone on a canoe trip and a spot of wild camping on one of Medway's many islands: Darnet Island. Next to the shipping lane, a power station and amidst a ring of busy towns it's amazing where you can find wildness and the thrill of adventure. Thanks to our guide Dave Wise we discovered the incredible scent of sea wormwood, the comfort of sea purslane as a mattress, the haunting interior of Darnet Fort, the difficulty of pinhole photography and the joy of waking up on your own secluded island.

Outdoor Photography: Island Journal Pt 16

In Outdoor Photography magazine, Issue 145, November 2011, T covers our summer visit to Lindisfarne.

Northumberland - day 7 - north coast

Berwick-upon-Tweed walls

Cocklawburn Beach

Road down to Newton Haven

Great coffee and magnificent view from The Barn at Beale — Berwick-upon-Tweed's remarkable town walls — pop in to the excellent Berwick Gymnasium gallery — lay on the picnic blanket beneath overhanging wild rose at Cocklawburn beach, listening to the waves — back of the dunes clotted with yellow and purple flowers — a crumbling lime kiln — the briefest look at St Aidan's Dunes — at Newton Haven a man in a straw hat free-wheels past on a Raleigh Burner, not a care in the world — shallow, enclosed Beadnell Bay — a group of elderly tourists point at things, silhouetted in the sun — snorkel out through the bladder wrack, skimming over the stoney bed — crabs of various sizes and armour markings — T glimpses a camouflaged flounder winking at her — gravity tugs when clambering ashore — warming fish 'n' chips at Seahouses — too tired for evening photography

Northumberland - day 6 - Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne dunes

The shelter on Lindisfarne causeway

Walking back on the Pilgrim's route

Paying £3 each allows us to pass through the beaded curtain to look at the exhibits in Lindisfarne Heritage Centre — an interesting film on the first Viking attack in Britain (793 AD) plays out — but not as interesting as the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibit, with its mesmerising film of the strange tools and processes involved in binding books (honestly) — Pilgrims Cafe is closed at 1:30pm, so we head to The Stables instead, just in time to queue behind a large walking group of religious Norwegians — a pair of Scottish ladies discuss spiritual concerns — sat in this sunny walled garden, it finally dawns on me that we are truly on a holy island, and that it has a greater significance to some people than just another tourist destination — with this in mind we head to St Mary's, and become absorbed by the illuminated page of bishops stretching back to St Aidan in 635 AD — a letter of conciliation from Norway in 1993 also hangs on the wall, officially declaring peace between the Vikings and Lindisfarne, 1200 years after the first invasion — on trying the Lindisfarne Mead T declares it to "taste of bees" — walking through the humps and hollows of the dunes, we're amazed at the flora and fauna: common blue butterflies, a swathe of cotton grass beneath a hawthorn, orchids everywhere, purple headed grasses — at The Snook, T possibly spots a Lindisfarne Helleborine — walk through the middle of the low dunes to Snook Point — cross the clean strip of tarmac into the sun — sit in the causeway shelter — follow the poles back to Lindisfarne — mirror-like pools of standing water reflect the clouds — so much further than it looks — Craster kipper supper — I still don't like kippers

Northumberland - day 5 - north coast

Ross Back Sands

Rain over the Farne Isles

Bamburgh Castle

In bright sunlight we drive to secluded Ross — glorious walk through the farm pasture to rippling dunes — on the way, a truly disdainful look from a farmhand on a quad bike — wide open, endless sandy beach beneath fluffy clouds — Bamburgh Castle, as ever, looms in the distance — walk through the cool, shallow water, avoiding washed up jellyfish — Bamburgh offers few options for a quick lunch — enter, then rapidly depart the Copper Kettle tearooms — settle on takeaway from the deli — the sun disappears — we stroll around Bamburgh Castle, from the cricket green through the dunes littered with chrysalises, marvelling at its size — walk along the magnificent beach wondering why more people don't choose Northumberland over Cornwall — um and ah about snorkelling at Harkess Rocks — eventually we suit up and join the eider ducks in Table Bay, one of the many plunge pools along the rocks — bladder wrack streams from the stones, jellyfish tumble in the seaweed — a shivering escape from the wetsuit — warm up in the car — a couple in the car next to us stare out to the Farne Isles, sharing a bottle of wine in plastic cups while getting down to Bruce Hornsby and the Range — we sit for a while ourselves, watching rain fall over the Farnes

Northumberland - day 4 - Lindisfarne

Wild flowers on Lindisfarne east coast

Sandham, Lindisfarne

Rippled ledges at Back Skerrs, Lindisfarne

Lazy start, decide to maroon ourselves on the island today — as we leave, six crowded house martins smile from their nest below next door's porch — tasty scone, jam and cream at Pilgrims Cafe — walk along the grassy coastal track scattered with flowers — orchids and burnet moths all over Emmanuel Head — dark green fritillaries waft over the dunes — buckled ledges at Back Skerrs create brilliant rock pools filled with hermit crabs and sea snails — a colourful limpet rotates itself 120˚ — a toy machine gun, squeaky toy and other relics hang from the ceiling of a dry-stone shelter — get lost in the sweltering dunes trying to find the road — pass two unlucky hitchhikers who can't get a lift — more evening photography

Northumberland - day 2 - Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne Priory

The classic position for photographing Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Castle, Bamburgh Castle and the Farne Isles provide the view from the window seat — wander into the village — a Scottish girl at the NT shop gives her boss short shrift, while remaining impeccably polite — the gruff Post Office owner observes us closely in case we shoplift a map — Pilgrims Cafe offers a great cup of coffee and a selection of birds to try and nibble your cake — 12 noon opening at Lindisfarne Castle — the genius of Lutyen conveyed in door handles and fireplaces — the brilliant, slightly mad, wind indicator created by MacDonald Gill— outside: impressive lime kilns, and a by-the-numbers Gertrude Jekyll walled garden — ravaged by centuries of wind and water, Lindisfarne Priory would not look out of place at Petra — a large group of laughing Filipinos congregate on St Cuthbert's Island — we cross to the tidal island with a boy and his dog — in the evening light, T and I wait for the sun to emerge from behind a cloud to take the classic Joe Cornish shot of the castle — walking home, the apparition of a barn owl

St Cuthbert's Island, Lindisfarne

The standing cross on St Cuthbert's Island

The tidal island of St Cuthbert's seen at high tide from Lindisfarne

Northumberland - day 1 - arriving on Lindisfarne

First sight of Lindisfarne Castle

M3, M25, M1, A1: nine hours on the spine of England to Holy Island, Lindisfarne — countryside soundtrack in the Little Chef toilets — poppies and wildflowers grow on roadwork banks like the long border at Great Dixter — eight lanes, hovering kestrels, continuous farmland — the tarmac causeway parts the orange sand to Lindisfarne — an exodus of ramblers — arrive at the perfectly placed 3 Herring Houses — instant tiredness migraine — T hastily steps out with the camera to capture the warm, late light — a photographer's paradise — fall asleep in the bath listening to the creepy moans of the seals on Long Ridge