Medway - day 2 - Darnet Island and Hoo Salt Marsh

Kingsnorth power station from Darnet

Darnet Fort viewed from the east end of the island

Pinhole lessons

Wrecks on Hoo Salt Marsh

Hoo Fort viewed from the channels at high tide

Crossing the temporary gangplank to Darnet Fort

Inside Darnet Fort

Waiting for the baked apples to cook

Thankfully, no 4:30 wake-up call to paddle to Deadman's island — with the tide now out, exploring Darnet is the order of the day — after breakfast, a red sailed barge tacks patiently into the wind — the east side of Darnet extends an unexpectedly long way at low tide — we discover lots of bricks, pottery shards, Victorian bottles, and clay pipe stems — photos are taken by all — re-group at the fort for pinhole lessons — post-lunch, with the tide in, we cross the choppy shipping lane to Hoo Salt Marsh — examine the picturesque rusting and rotting boat hulls — an identical fort to Darnet, but without the flooding — float between a portal of two rusty barges to a sheltered inlet and shallow channels — peaceful, calm paddling in the sun — in contrast to the exertion of paddling back across the whitewater shipping lane — cross the perilous gangplank to Darnet Fort — impeccable Victorian construction of thick iron and brick archways — vodka and tonic time — veggie sausages, tomato and chilli sauce, couscous, fire-warmed flatbread and hummus for supper — impatiently, we develop our pinhole experiments with mixed results — the strong wind buffets the tent all night

Medway - day 1 - Nor Marsh and Darnet Island

Wheeling the canoe down for launching at Riverside Country Park

First stop on Nor Marsh

Dave attaches a solargraph can at Nor Marsh

Approaching Darnet Fort

Base camp on Darnet island

Not exactly the normal camp fare from Dave

A speedy 2hr 15min drive to Riverside Country Park, Kent — look out over Medway's big vista, big sky, and big industry — Dave arrives with a giant canoe strapped to his car's roof — T and I struggle with the single task of getting our backpacks into a drybag — after some brief instruction, we set sail from Horrid Hill — aggrieved to hear that I'm 'the engine', while Dave steers and T's the ballast — murky green water laps at the edge of Nor Marsh, our first stop — thick with gulls and sea purslane — taste the samphire: refreshing and intensely salty at the same time — paddle past the ruined jetty to stop number two — discovered treasure: an Adidas Jubliani world cup football — a solargraph can is attached to a rusting post — Dave mentions these islands might be lost to the sea within 50 years — the strong wind and big waves make paddling tough — slip in behind three sunk, concrete barges to a sheltered landing on Darnet — we explore the island, while Dave sets up camp — the 19th century fort dominates, ringed by a deep moat and brambles — a bee, overladen with pollen, heaves itself about the flowering sea lavender — vodka and tonic with a lemon slice! — an upturned milk crate provides a seat next to the driftwood fire — salad, homemade bread, creamy pasta, red wine: this is not how I remember camping — travel stories over baked apples — the lights of Gillingham and Kingsnorth Power Station glow — a restless night, despite the unbeatable comfort of a sea purslane mattress and the calming calls of oyster catchers

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 3 - Farne Islands

Boat trip booths at Seahouses

Sea columns of Staple Island

Longstone lighthouse

Brownsman island cottage

Disembarking on Staple Island

Puffin burrows on Staple Island, looking over to Brownsman island

Staple Island, northeast side

Bird life on the cliff edge

Entry to Inner Farne (The Wideopens in the background)

For the birds or the humans?

 

Thinning vapours, sunny morn — drive the stunning coastal route to Seahouses — join the queue at Billy Shiel's booth — the surprisingly basic Glad Tidings III departs, we board the slightly less basic Glad Tidings IV — we've never seen so many long lenses in one place — the first puffin dips beneath the water, patches of guillemots scatter — a powerful waft of ammonia as we approach Staple Island — a panorama of grey cubist rocks splattered white — guillemots, shags, kittywakes and other gulls sit on stone shelves making a collective din — bobbing heads of grey seals in Brada bay, Longstone — third in line to dock at Staple Island, beneath a canopy of puffins — bedlam: the human life is as frenetic as the bird life — no quarter is given in securing territory for the best shot — within touching distance, shags pant, preen their fluffy young, arrange the nest, call out — the eyes of sand eels (clamped in the beak of a puffin) glint like a row of sequins — sandy burrows among white flowering sea campion — cross the lumpy Staple Sound to Inner Farne — lushly vegetated rise to old buildings — a flurry of arctic terns swoop to feed their chicks either side of the boardwalk — decorative tail feathers fan as its red beak pecks at my head — sun departs, wind rises — cold, tired and jaded — a black backed gull swoops overhead with a chick hanging from its beak — good take away chips and tea from Neptune's on a wind blown bench overlooking Seahouses harbour

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 

Thorney Island

Crossing the bridge at Thornham Marina

The MOD gate to cross onto Thorney Island

Stanbury Point

Marsh channel

Stepping onto Pilsey Island

Pilsey Island

West coast path returning towards Emsworth

Reed beds in the late evening sun

Emsworth Deckhouses

Emsworth Marina

Park by the (pop-up cafe) scout hut — a path of bridges — The Great Deep creates the island — buzzer entry through the MOD gates — a cresting wave of hawthorns to Stanbury Point — MOD structures in the 'Forbidden Zone' — the constant rasping hum of landing microlights — creeping tide on Pilsey Island — memorial bench with a moving book of remembrance for a Gulf War veteran — serpentine grassy path to Wickor Point — reed beds aglow in the late light — not Potakabins nor loos, but Emsworth Deckhouses

Outdoor Photography: Island Journal Pt 14

In Outdoor Photography magazine, Issue 141, July 2011, T writes about St Mary's, Isles of Scilly.