CLICK FOR DETAILS To help you find a good vacation  ... WORLDROVER MAGAZINE features travel writers from the UK, Canada and  the USA who guide you to good travel experiences,  offering tips and information  for the traveler on hotel, inns, lodging, bed, breakfast, foreign recipes, food and dining, the accent is on interesting travel by car, plane boat, or even bike. Serendipity and adventure. Whatever the country we hope we can help you plan your travel before you make reservations with your travel agent, or make a reservation on line. Just as the obvious tip is to shop around the travel agents, we suggest you use the links we provide to track down  local info about festivals, fetes, and carnival.  A good event can add a lot of fun to your break.  In our mag, you will find articles on events, vacations  and destinations, the odd bargain and updated travel news.   We hope you enjoy this 17th edition.     If you can offer suggestions for  improvement or suggest a link to a holiday directory we would love to hear from you. Allan Rogers.

Gael Arthur visits 

HOLY ISLAND ©

The route is slow, helping separate you mentally 
and spiritually from the rest of the world.

Holy Island is one of those places that takes a bit of planning to visit, but the extra thought that goes into the visit makes it all the more worthwhile. 

Located on the Northumberland coast about twelve miles south of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the nearest train station, without a car, you not only need a bus schedule, but also a tide table, as the island is cut off from the rest of England during high tide.  

The paved causeway leading to the island is constantly under repair, as the North Sea washes over it daily, leaving seaweed and other bits of detritus along the way.  

The route is slow, helping separate you mentally and spiritually from the rest of the world.  

Many pilgrims are looking to do just that, as they make their way to what is fondly called the cradle of English Christianity.


For the faithful, the religious significance of Holy Island stems from the arrival of St. Aidan from the island of Iona (off the western coast of Scotland) to found a monastery here more than 1365 years ago.  

The Church of the Holy Virgin is thought to be located on the original site of St. Aidan's worship in 635 CE. 

Cuthbert, a young monk from Melrose, entered the monastery after a vision, apparently on the night of St. Aidan's death.  He made his way to Holy Island and became the prior in 651.  These two seventh century monks are now most closely associated with the early founding of the church in Northumberland and, indeed, England.

For walkers interested in a historical experience, check out http://www.stcuthbertsway.fsnet.co.uk/, which outlines the practical way to take a 4 day walking adventure through history.  

It's a 100 kilometer (62 miles) trip from Melrose, where St. Cuthbert started his journey to Holy Island.  The web site has the trip neatly separated into manageable journeys, with a great opportunity to experience the landscape in minute detail.  For this, late spring would allow for longer evenings to appreciate the countryside in all its verdant beauty


The ruins on Holy Island are not from the time of St. Aidan or St. Cuthbert, as invading Danes destroyed the priory in the latter part of the ninth century.  

The current ruins stem from 12th century Benedictine monks who came from Durham to rebuild the Priory, now known as the Lindisfarne Priory.  

The nearby Lindisfarne Heritage Centre does an excellent job of bringing the history of the island to life.  Although the famed Lindisfarne Gospels reside in the British Museum, an electronic version is on view at the center.

While the main tourist attractions may be of a religious nature, there are many other things to see in and around Holy Island.  

The area is, first and foremost, of the sea.  Everything is geared toward life at sea, with the imposing Lindisfarne Castle overlooking land and sea alike.  

Fishing is still an important part of the economy; with typical frugality of resources, old herring boats have been flipped over and converted to storage sheds, a practical use of the resources at hand.

Holy Island has developed a bustling tourist trade in the summer.  The prime secular attraction seems to be mead production an excellent way of funneling tourists through a small area, and offering something a little different.  Their web site tells me that they have over 200,000 visitors a year, to sample what they call fortified wine made from grapes, honey and herbs.  

I'll pass on this one, and stick with the aqua vita up north of  Perth.  Whisky has significantly more appeal, bringing me closer to my Scottish heritage than Holy Island mead or kippers from Craster.

For those with more time and visiting the area during less inclement weather than my recent visit, the Farne Islands that dot the coastline are well worth a boat trip.  One of the main reasons for the trip around these islands is to see the amazing wildlife without interfering with them. 

 For this trip, regardless of the time of year, make sure to bring a warm scarf, a hat and possibly even gloves - the wind is renowned along this part of the coast. 

And, for those sightseers who recognize their own olfactory challenges (i.e. they hate being around the smell of seas birds and mammals in their natural environment),
 a quick trip up to 
North Berwick 
(in Scotland) will offer a terrific alternative at the Scottish Seabird Centre (http://www.seabird.org/).  Here, you can enjoy not only live video of bird, seals and other marine life on the nearby islands, but you can learn a tremendous amount about this wildlife in a wonderful hands-on style of learning center.  Not to mention stopping and enjoying a cup of tea in the restaurant, overlooking Bass Rock. 

For those of us always looking to accomplish more than one thing on a single outing, the event that appeals to me most in the upcoming calendar is the Jazz and Blues Festival July 5 and 6.  

Planning is just now underway, but I'll be checking back to the Main Holy Island information web site - http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/ - this site offers practical information about things like accommodation, opening times and prices for attractions, and plenty of nearby castles and golf courses.

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Fact File:
 

Lindisfarne Heritage Centre 
http://www.lindisfarne-heritage-centre.org

Lindisfarne Links
http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/
http://www.ticopics.freeserve.co.uk/nland/lind.htm

                                                                                           Report by Gael Arthur