St Cuthbert's Way - Day 6 - Beal to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and back to Beal - 15.8 Miles 25 km

Lindisfarne Inn, Beal, to Lindisfarne
St Cuthberts Way, Scottish/English borders Day 6
This is a relatively easy day of walking 7.5 miles across the causeway to Lindisfarne (Holy Island), then back over the sands. There are so many interesting places to visit on the island an overnight stay might be nice, with visits to the priory and castle. Be very careful to study the tide times before leaving for Lindisfarne. We checked them in advance on the Northumberland County website.
Due to the times of the tide, we had decided to cross the causeway along the side of the road, visiting Lindisfarne, remaining there during high tide, and returning like pilgrims used to over the sands following the markers. At least that was the plan.
On Lindisfarne there is a castle, and a priory to visit, as well as a couple of shops/cafes/and a pub. Some accommodation is available, I would imagine that this gets booked well in advance, some places requiring a 3-night stay.
We were up early at 6.15am, to leave at 7am, before the tide covered the causeway to the island. Unfortunately, breakfast was not served until 7.30am, so we had to skip it, and bought instant porridge from the Londis shop next door to eat in our room instead. We were very excited as it was the last day of the walk with our friends, a great finish to a magnificent walk.
Leaving at 7am, the sun was already quite high as sunrise was at 4.35am. We walked along the pavement at the side of the road. There is a large neon sign saying caution check crossing times and a tide table at the start of the causeway, but obviously they should be checked before setting out. It was lovely to be out on such a beautiful morning, going over a level crossing, then passing The Barn at Beal at 7.15am with a campsite, restaurant and coffee shop. Unfortunately, it was too early to go in. People staying there had fabulous views over the causeway to Lindisfarne.
On the left just before the road narrows across the causeway is a large car park, that is now shut-we wondered why! (7.30am). We reached the causeway at 7.40am, happy with our timings. Probably because it was early the causeway was quiet, with the sun glinting on the sea weed covered rocks on both sides. After 40 minutes we reached a refuge box, built just in case people are caught by the tide-which does happen more often than you would imagine. In an emergency, it is high enough to climb inside and phone for the coast guard, whilst awaiting rescue. We passed a large party hurrying the other way, we thought that they were a bit late in leaving the island and hoped they did not get caught in the incoming tide. We could see the causeway was still clear, but could see the sea rolling in across the sands. An hour after the refuge box, we reached the end of the causeway-happy to arrive before the tide. To the left is a sign saying danger former military area with unexploded military debris-take care.
There were delivery drivers quickly leaving the island, but overall, it had been a lovely quiet walk. The walk ends at Lindisfarne Priory (9am 5.5 miles 65m ascent), there are free public toilets nearby. We could not find an actual finish marker.
When checking the tide previously, we had realised that we would have to stay on the island for a couple of hours during high tide. This suited us, we visited the bird viewing hide just before the castle, the castle (national trust), old limestone kilns, the priory,
church, visitor centre, and Chare Ends café. Once the island was cut off, it was very quiet.
After about 2pm when the causeway re-opened, we could not believe the number of vehicles that poured over from the mainland. Just before the village, there is a large car-park which was quickly filling up. The causeway would have been extremely busy and dangerous to walk back along.
We had already decided to walk across the sands, following the row of marker posts, and hundreds of years of history. After waiting for the tide to recede at Chare Ends (3.15pm) we removed our boots, and started out across the sands. Halfway across there is another rescue box, which we took turns in climbing. We met a few people walking the other way. Even at low tide there were areas where we had to wade through the water, it was a good thing that we had shorts on. At 4.30pm we were back at the refuge box on causeway (14 miles, 165m ascent). We stopped to dry our feet and put our boots back on. We passed the closed car park, taking a path behind the hedge on the right-hand side of the road, (which we had not seen in the morning) passing Beal Barn, reaching our hotel at 5.30pm.
This definitely has to be the best day of the St Cuthbert’s Way walk, and maybe in the top 20 of all the walks we have completed. The walk back across the sands was stunning, with the light, views and historic interest.
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Lovely day here in Bury today also this video as given us some energy so we’re going to jump on the tram to town and do one of your pub crawls😊