Sunderland and Lindisfarne – Day 4 of 2025 England Pilgrimage

Monday 9/22/2025

Well, once again, no blog email was sent. Maybe it is a sign I should forget about blogging. No? Hum… If nothing else, it is a sign to figure out a different website hosting arrangement before this one renews for over $350/year. Yes, I know, it is most likely user error so… I’ll try something new, again. End of rant.

We slept in this morning. Gregg had done some sleuthing last night and realized that there was a church very neaby which had formerly been home to an Abbey. Biscof opened it around 674 AD AND, it that was the site where the Venerable Bede (a very thorough and well respected Church historian) began his life as a monk at age 7. SEVEN?!

So, after we left the hotel, we did first things first. Yes, that would be a Tesco stop for a few necessities (think, a European nice Wal-Mart.) Would those necessities include biscuits? AKA cookies? Yes, yes it would. More oatmeal, ginger, and shortbread biscuits were purchased a long with Kiefer for my breakfast tomorrow and a few other bits and bobs.

Next, St. Peter’s Church. They had short walls in the church yard denoting where the original Abbey buildings likely stood. Click here for an inside virtual tour.

There was a group of school children outside getting a tour. Inside the church was full of school children, too. They were doing worksheets, dressing up like monks, and learning about what happens inside a church and how various things are used. I could have stayed there all day. (It made me want to write a book using photos and info I saw there!) I loved feeling the life the children brought to the inside of this old church.

Well, tide is rising, so we had to limit our visit and head north to Lindisfarne. We arrived about an hour before the causeway was closed for high tide. Streams of cars were leaving the island. If you miss the window to cross, you’re stuck here for 6ish hours until the next low tide.

Last year, we were here during the low tide and the island was crawling with people, dogs, and dog-prams. We checked into our very nice guesthouse (Belvue Guesthouse – it has 3 suites plus one the owners occupy.) Then we strolled around town. All the cafes and stores had just closed so we walked to the beach area overlooking St. Cuthbert’s little retreat island. We walked over there during low tide last year.

We found a bench out of the wind and just enjoyed looking at the water and sitting in the sun. There are gray seals in the area and we would see their heads bob up in the distance and then go back under the water. I don’t think I got a picture, as they were a bit far out.

From that west side beach, we climbed up to the top of a hill where there had been a lighthouse. It is now a tourist look-out tower. We could look down into the Abbey ruins (they charge to go walk around and it was closed since the tourists were gone for the day) and we could also see into a working archeological dig area. There was also a beautiful view of Lindisfarne Castle in the distance along with colorful fishing boats in the harbour, which we walked past on our way back to our room.

The wind is chilly so we were bundled up. I had my ears covered and gloves on. Tea Time was calling to us from our room! Gregg sweetly made me a cup of tea. I didn’t realize it until I had started to steep a cup. So, that gave me TWO cups of tea. I’m not complaining!

At 5:00, we went to Evening Prayers at The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Holy Island which is next door to the Abbey ruins. There were about twelve of us. The lay leader followed the Book of Common Prayer for Monday evenings. It was an encouraging and calming service.

The couple next to me, David and Juliet, are from York. They told us about a 9pm service they thought we’d enjoy. We walked over to the meeting place so that we would know where to go tonight. Then we all walked to The Crown and Anchor Inn where we all had dinner reservations. They are staying in that Inn, so they were seated in a different area. Surprisingly, our server is also one of the proprietors of our guesthouse!

We shared an unusual and tasty cheese appetizer, Smoked Burrata in a small buckwheat cake bowl (how fun!) laid over beetroot and topped with Yuzu. Yuzu looks like pearl beads. They pop when you bite them and release a sour juice. They call them Citrus Caviar. I found an easy recipe for lemon pearls. Here is another recipe using a mold.

For our main meal, we each had Fish and Chips with mushy peas. The batter was a bit unusual from what I expected, but we enjoyed it. We shared Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.

Hoping to see the sunset, we went back over the the beach where we had sat earlier today, overlooking St. Cuthbert’s Island. Clouds have rolled in and we didn’t get to see much. The fun part, though, was the eerie sounds in the air. It was a mixture between howling wolves, howling wind, and mourning doves. But at night prayers, it was confirmed that the sound is “singing” Gray Seals. We didn’t spot any but it was fun to hear (unless you believe in ghosts, then it might be spooky.)

We’re back in the room for a bit. I’m writing the blog and Gregg is reading. We’ll leave in a few minutes to go to night prayers at Starbank Cottage, Marygate with the Community of Aidan and Hilda. Juliet said it only lasts around 15 minutes.

There are many opportunities to pray throughout the day at various churches and with various groups. They publish the times and all the communities support each other.

We’ll be up and out by 7:45 tomorrow morning, beginning our pilgrimage during low tide.