England/Scotland 2024 Pilgrimage – Day 10: Bamburgh Church Bell Ringers

Tuesday night, September 10, 2024

Addendum:

As I was finishing up the blog, I realized the faint “music” I had been hearing wasn’t from another room. It was the church bells!

We had forgotten that the Change Ringers were practicing ringing the bells at St. Aiden’s tonight! Darn! I really wanted to watch and listen!

Before we left for dinner, the bells had stopped ringing. I figured they had been practicing for half an hour. Maybe they stopped to take a break … have a cuppa tea and a biscuit (cookie) … hopefully? Please?

Church Bells Ringing

We walked three-ish blocks to the pub and I was silently sharing with God my disappointment in missing the bells. If they were just on a break, God, could they please start back up before we go into the pub? As Gregg put his foot on the pub’s step, the bells began again! We rushed over to the church. I couldn’t find a way in, but I did get some video. After that round of ringing, it seemed to stop. So we went back to the pub.

Pub Pie

For a late supper, we shared a chicken and buttered leek pie. Similar to a chicken pot pie, without the vegetables. Since it came with green peas and mashed potatoes, we took the top pastry off and added the vegetables to the creamed chicken. It was tasty!

Bell Ringers

As we were leaving, a lady looked and me and said, “Hi! It is good to see you again!” I looked at her with a confused face, thinking she had me mixed up with someone else. She said, “weren’t you in church today?” OH! She is the church warden! Yes!

Come to find out, the group of people she was sitting with were the change ringers! They always go to the pub after bell practice. There were around eight people. We enjoyed talking with them a bit before heading back to the B&B.

Sadly, we learned that the second, smaller door to the church, was unlocked. We would have been welcome to go in. I pushed on that door, but evidently not hard enough.

Night Sky

Our friend, Kim, in Ireland told me that there was a chance we all could see the Northern Lights tonight. The best time to see them was after 10pm. We were ready to get to bed. Yet, it was 9:30, so we walked a block up the hill from our hotel to the edge of the town and where it was dark. The cold night sky was dark and full of stars. But no sign of the Aurora Borealis. I did get a nice picture of the Big Dipper!