Scotland - Day 2
Woke up a little groggy but excited despite having lost an entire day sitting in an airport. Tracey was morning-cheerful and ready to explore. We made our way down to breakfast and greeted our guests and started to devise a plan for the days excursion. We spread out a few brochures and decided to make our way down to Holy Island to visit the ruins of Lindisfarne Abbey where the Lindisfarne Gospels were created. The Gospels are one of the finest examples of illuminated manuscript in existence. Tracey and I were both excited because neither of us had any idea the Lindisfarne Gospels originated in the area.
We had planned to make a group outing of the day, but due to a slow start and rapidly escaping time, we decided to split the group for the morning and meet in the town of Berwick Upon Tweed around 2:30pm. Four of us piled into our VW Golf and zipped off to Lindisfarne which lay approximately 30 miles to the south in England. We arrived at the causeway to Holy Island around 12:30am and checked the tide tables. Holy Island is part of the Lindisfarne National Nature Preserve and lies just off the coast connected to the mainland via a roadway that submerges when the tide rises. We had to get off the island by 2:45pm if we didn't want to find ourselves stranded. The wetland area was stunningly beautiful and a fabulous area for birding.
We arrived at the abbey to find quite a few tourists in the tiny hamlet of Lindisfarne. It is beautiful and peaceful place. Although not much remains of the abbey, it was plain to see why the Monks settled on the island. The solitude would have been virtually total. I have always loved the artistry of the Lindisfarne Gospels and always believed because my textbooks said so that it was created by Norsemen due to the Celtic nature of the artwork. Turns out, somewhere along the way, my education was incorrect. The Gospels were created by Irish monks (This struck me as odd because the island of Lindisfarne is located on the opposite side of the UK from Ireland). Lindisfarne (Holy Island) is called the birthplace of Christianity in the UK.
*The Book of Kells is the other major illuminated manuscript from the era and was created at Iona Abbey on the Isle of Iona located north of Ireland in the Hebrides (Geographically speaking, this makes a little more sense). Iona is also considered the birthplace of Christianity in the UK.
We left Lindisfarne and drove north to Berwick to meet the rest of the group. After repeated phone calls, I suggested (what would likely be a futile attempt to find them) walking down the main drag. Lo and behold I spotted my sister and mother standing outside a shop and bolted across the street to intercept them. I walked up behind my mother to see her staring at the cell phone she was holding in her hand and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and said, "how do you work this thing?". I said, "give it to Sarah".
Berwick was not highly recommended by our B&B host, so I decided we were going to drive 20 miles west to the town of Kelso to visit Floors Castle. My brother wasn't real happy about packing up my nephew, but I wanted to go somewhere our entire group could spend a few hours without getting bored.
Floors Castle was magnificent and well worth the drive. Set in the rolling hills of the Scottish Borders, the castle is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland and is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe. Interestingly, owning a castle doesn't necessarily mean wealth, however, the Duke is apparently quite a good businessman and has parlayed the luck of his birth into something of a money machine. In addition to the vast vast lands he owns and all of the businesses within those lands, he also takes a keen interest in selling the "life" of an aristocrat to people willing to pay great sums of money to learn archery, fly fishing, horsemanship, and clay pigeon shooting among other pursuits. In fact, one of the stewards on hand at the castle explained to me that if someone wanted to fly fish on the portion of the River Tweed owned by the Duke, he would first have to get permission, then shell out 1000 pounds for the right to angle for the arranged day. In any case, I found all this interesting because the Duke is not resting on his laurels and simply living off his inherited wealth. He is doing quite well and therefore able to maintain a massive residence and the treasures it houses.
After our tour, my brother and I switched cars so he and his wife could take my nephew back to their B&B. Owen was having a rough time of things. The rest of the group rode with me and we headed into Kelso to get some dinner at a restaurant recommended to me by our host and the steward at Floors Castle. The restaurant is called the Queens Head and is reputed to be the second best restaurant in the borders second only to the Wheatsheaf. Prior to dinner we toured the ruins of Kelso Abbey which was located less than 100 yards from the restaurant.
We called it a night after a tremendous dinner and drove back to Swinton and the Wheatsheaf for a drink and good night's rest.
