On starting this coast walk a lifetime ago, I decided not to include islands, or anywhere that calls itself an island – but Lindisfarne has got to be an exception.

In the best of all possible worlds we would have walked across the sands to the island but it was not to be this time. If we were proper pilgrims with just the bare necessities on our backs, the logistics would have been simpler. But on this trip we have a car with two wheelie bags full of stuff for three weeks of walking and if we were to leave the car on the mainland, there’s the question of how to get back. The only bus service on Lindisfarne runs twice a week and taxis need to come from Berwick-on-Tweed, an expensive 30 miles away. Of course we could have walked the Pilgrims Way and then returned immediately via the road across the causeway – but that didn’t really appeal. Anyway, I have now decided that come what may, we will be back to finish the job next year.

We aim for an early morning crossing and the causeway is strangely deserted – did we get the timing right?

We roll past a refuge hut………..

And on to the island where we head for a nearby coffee shop. Buses full of tourists have now started arriving but fortunately they are day trippers and will all disappear before the next high tide.

The birds in the courtyard of the cafe are obviously used to humans – or have they been handed down stories of St. Francis of Assisi, who, so the story goes, often held flocks of birds spellbound with his preaching?

Whatever the reason it is a delightful feeling to have two spindly sparrow legs balancing precariously on the palm of your hand and a little beak pecking delicately at your cake crumbs.

Later in the day when the crowds have disappeared and a quiet hush descends on the island, we take a walk around the ruins of the priory and the church.

Two important figures in the history of Lindisfarne stand out – St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert – and both are credited with being the driving forces behind the establishment and spread of Celtic Christianity in Britain, thus supplanting the paganism of the Anglo-Saxons. In AD 635, Aidan, an Irish monk, was summoned by King Oswald of Northumbria to leave his home on Iona (an island monastery off the coast of Scotland) and establish a monastery on Lindisfarne. Roughly thirty years later a monk named Cuthbert joined the monastery at Lindisfarne. He eventually became Lindisfarne’s greatest monk-bishop, and the most important saint in northern England in the Middle Ages. Underneath the ruins of the 12th century priory are what remains of the original monastery.

And then came the Vikings……………

Inside the church is a wooden sculpture depicting a group of monks carrying St.Cuthbert’s coffin to safety from the Viking raiders.

And a beautiful piece of textile art ……………………….

Exiting St. Mary’s Church we wander down to the harbour and make our way over wet sand and stones to St.Cuthbert’s Island, which can only be reached at low tide. This was where Cuthbert would escape when life got too busy in the monastery (imagine) and where he tried his hand at living as a hermit for a while. He must have been a very sensitive soul since even this was still too close to his fellow monks, so he eventually sailed off to Inner Farne, an islet roughly 20 miles away. Here he built a cell and stayed until his death. It is said that he was also very fond of birds (the eider duck in particular) and fought hard to protect them – perhaps this makes him one of the earliest wildlife conservationists. His body was eventually brought back to Lindisfarne and after 11 years he was sanctified. Quite a dude – I think I like him.

The early evening air is soft and silky and there is silence apart from birdsong. Watching the rose tinged clouds drift gently across the sky, I find myself thinking that this is indeed an enchanted evening.

As twilight gives way to darkness we make our way back to the pub to eat local oysters and lobsters. A perfect day.

Distance: 1 mile