Holy Island Hikes

We all know Holy Island is famous for its big skies and big scenery. But sometimes looking in the small can be equally or more rewarding. In a recent walk with Holy Island Hikes we looked closely in the grass at the pond edge and saw lots of tiny frogs who had just left the water. We looked closely in the dune slacks and saw the orchids coming through. Looking closely at the bare ground in the dunes we saw lots of burnet moth caterpillars dispersing looking for a marram grass leaf to climb up and pupate.

Sign of the times! My London ladies, who were with me for the day walking right round the island, commented that it would be hard to choose one photo to put on Instagram that night as there had been so many "wow" moments during the day. Stunning scenery guaranteed on walks with Holy Island Hikes!

My focus is on Holy Island because I live and work their. But there are many other fantastic places in Northumberland that I like to visit. Today I had to leave my car in the garage at Berwick so I took the opportunity to walk along the coast path north of Berwick. Its a clifftop walk with lots of nesting seabirds, guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and fulmars. There's also a smugglers tunnel through the cliff. I just had to go through! It's a great walk - well worth doing

It happens all the time!

My walkers who were with me for three days running saw all the first signs of spring. The first flowers in the dunes - violas, the smart male eider ducks squabbling over the female, tadpoles swimming away from the mass, And one remnant of winter - a short eared owl not yet left for Scandinavia.

When I lead walks on the pilgrims way I tell my walkers that, before the road was built, the pilgrims way was a thoroughfare for horses and carts and later cars. I remember, as a child, being driven over it. Very exiting with the thought that the tide could come in and engulf you.

I've led my first pilgrims way walk of the 2019 season today. There was one surprise which made me smile. There's a very muddy patch on the pilgrims way where you can sink knee deep. It's at least a metre wide so a bit too much to leap. I always guide my walkers around it. I have seen people turn back at this point or try to leap it invariably sinking in the mud. Today we saw the tops of a pair of boots sticking out of the mud! What happened to the walker? It just goes to show - to walk the pilgrims way easily and safely and learn so much about the island en route use Holy Island Hikes.

There's some footage near the beginning of this clip showing the post car driving over the pilgrims way to Holy Island. I can remember driving over as a child. Now I lead visitors over on foot for Holy Island Hikes.

This was the start of our priory at Holy Island. We often guide people over the pilgrims way. They may be doing St. Oswalds way or St. Cuthberts way or just this section. Its a fantastic walk on many levels, wildlife, celtic christian history, spirituality and wilderness.

Last week I had my last booked walk of the season. It was a delightful pilgrims way walk with flocks of brent geese all the way along - quite normal for this time of year. Of course I can and will go out in the winter and may get some last minute bookings. I've written a review of the 2018 season on the holy island hikes website. Press the "learn more" button to read it. Bookings are coming in for 2019 starting in January - weather dependent of course!

My very popular pilgrims way walk!

I'm pleased to say that at long last you can once again access our website, holyislandhikes.co.uk by pressing the learn more button. Its got a new modern look. There's not as much information as the old site but I'll gradually be increasing it.

Many places in Northumberland, including Holy Island, are superb for viewing wildlife. And its not only on the land, you can see them at sea too. Yesterday I went out from Seahouses on a pelagic trip with Billy Sheils boat trips. We saw white beaked dolphin close up and diver Ben, who does research on them, popped into the sea. They didn't want to interact this time so we moved on and stopped in the middle of a pod of feeding minke whales. Great close up views of whales surfacing all the time and as we were low on a rib we could see them underwater going under the boat. This is apparently unusual behaviour for minke's who normally keep away from boats. Ben was ecstatic swimming with them and raising his hand to show us where they were going to surface. He may abandon his first love and go with the minke's now.

The Learn More button is not linking to my website at the moment. This is because I converted my website from the old version to the new version and it is not accessible at all! I am trying to get a redirect and if this is not successful I will go back to the old version. Hopefully www.holyislandhikes.co.uk will be public again soon.

I love showing my walkers the hidden gems of Holy Island. But Northumberland has other hidden gems too. I always try to visit the Farne Islands landing on Inner Farne at this time of year when the birds are nesting. From Arctic Terns divebombing your head to the comical Puffins getting their beakfull of fish stolen by gulls its an incredible sight not to be missed. Going today had another hidden bonus for me. The northerly wind and rough seas meant the boat and island was only half full instead of heaving.

The first early marsh orchids are appearing in the sand dunes in favoured spots! We can now expect 2 months of stunning displays as the purple marsh orchids give way to the brilliant pink pyramidal orchids then the lilac spotted orchids then the white helleborines. Our indigenous orchid, the lindisfarne helleborine is the least spectacular and takes some finding. It flowers in mid July and I'll be out hunting for it then. It's a grand time of year for a sand dune and shore walk with Holy Island Hikes. The rare whin grassland flowers are also appearing on the heugh and will just get better. You can see these with our harbour walk.

As the weather has warmed up this week I've had a number of firsts. I had the same group out walking for 3 days running and on day 1 we saw my first cowslip of the year on a sheltered, south facing bank in the sand dunes. By day 3 there were clusters in less favoured spots. My first viola was on day one and they started popping up everywhere. I heard my first sandwich tern of the year screeching overhead at the coves so its all good news.

The silly season has started early this year with two visitors getting stuck by the tide two days age. As usual it was high tide in the afternoon and these people left the village after the safe crossing time had closed. When they got out to the bridge the water was over the road and they decided they could drive through it. They couldn't and had to flee into the refuge box. Emergency services were called but couldn't go into the rough sea so the visitors had to stay in the refuge for five cold hours! This used to happen in the days before mobile phones. Perhaps if it was first choice now it would act as a powerful deterrent.