A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Northumberland for our last camping trip of the season. We stayed at Waren Caravan and Camping Park near the beautiful village of Bamburgh. The park itself was pristine with lots of facilities including a shop, bar/restaurant, playground, splash pool and games room.
We knew we would be arriving late on the Friday night so the staff had arranged to leave a map on the reception door to show us where to pitch. Hurrying to get the tent up before we lost the light we were inside with the stove on and a glass of wine in hand in record quick time.
When we woke up on Saturday morning the sun was shining and after our waffles and golden syrup we headed out to explore the Northumberland coastline. After a short drive we arrived in Bamburgh where you can’t miss the imposing castle perched on top of a rocky hill.
The castle overlooks a stunning white sandy beach which is popular with tourists in the summer and from which you can see the famous Farne Islands. Well known in part because of the story of Grace Darling, a lighthouse-keepers daughter who helped her father rescued nine people ship wrecked in terrible weather, the Farne Islands consist of between 15 and 20 islands depending on the tide.
To explore the Farne Islands up close we headed to Seahouses and took a trip aboard Billy Shiel’s Glad Tidings.
After sampling some of Seahouses famous fish and chips we departed on the 2 1/2 hour trip which took us around the cliff faces to see the bird colonies and grey seals before landing on Inner Farne, one of the largest of the Farne Islands.
We spotted plenty of grey seals, shags and terns plus a few divers surveying the remains of ships wrecked on the rocks.
We spent a while watching swallows fly in and out of St Cuthbert’s Church on Inner Farne. They were feeding their young and John managed to get a great shot of them waiting to be fed. As we went quite late in the season there wasn’t much else to see on the island itself but in the summer months you can see thousands of nesting seabirds including my favourite, puffins.
After getting back on dry land we topped the trip off with some warm sugary doughnuts before heading up to Lindisfarne for the next part of our adventure.