I'm just back from a weekend away with friends to Bamburgh. It is a few years since we were last year (before lockdown), and then it was summer and we were swimming in the sea. As the sea temperature is currently 11 degrees, we gave that a miss. Even in wetsuits it is a bit chilly.
The castle bathed in the evening sunshine.
And north towards Lindisfarne in the distance. I love the beaches in Northumberland, they are huge when the tide is out, and very empty.
All the various centuries of construction piled up on each other!
Lindisfarne in the distance again.
The Christmas display was uo already in the castle, themed around myths and legends. These are fairy christmas trees. Avoid dancing around them nine times or you'll be off to Faerie, never to be seen again.
The Laidley Worm! Which may or may not bear some resemblance to the Anglo Saxon 'Beast of Bebbanburg'.
A winter fountain populated with Skelpies.
The Laidley Worm, and the evil Green Witch.
The windmill at the end of the East Ward, beyond the Norman keep. The old entrance (St Oswalds gate) is here.
And back up the curtain wall towards the main part of the castle. The keep is in the right, and before that is the Neville Tower, named after Warwick the Kingmaker. You can rent it out, for a handsome fee.
I also called in at the Armstrong Museum in the grounds.
There was this rather nice little car in there.
And it has many wrecks of aircraft recovered from the sea nearby. This is a Spitfire cockpit. There were also bits of a Hurricane, a Dornier and an He 111.
A rather nice 4" naval gun, wedged in a bove a turboprop engine extracted from a Gannett.
4" gun breech.
Very annoyingly my phone battery ran out at this point, so I missed taking a picture of the excellent (model) Vickers Light Tank in purple brown/smoke grey Caunter camo.
Anyway, it was a pleasant weekend away as ever and a lovely part of the world.
Martin,
ReplyDeleteGrew up about 5 miles south of there.
Very bleak in winter and not much fun as a teenager, but if you want to "get away from it all" it's the place to do it!
Neil
Yes, it is very remote (for Britain anyway). I imagine it was hellish as a teenager. One of my work colleagues was from Seahouses.
DeleteThe only tolerable aspect was being about equidistant from Newcastle and Edinburgh; my memories are working most summers (seasonal) and deserted winters!
DeleteI grew up in Beadnell so may know your work colleague or his family:; he may well know mine or we might even be related!
Neil
Looks beautiful. Would love to go to that coast. Interesting myths and legends display.
ReplyDeleteNorthumberland is stunning, I've been there many times and it is well worth a visit. The country just empties north of York, and I like going up the A1, just like people have been doing for thousands of years.
DeleteOnce you get past Newcastle, you realise how sparsely populated it is; the A1 goes on forever before you hit the border! It's a bit like the A30 into Cornwall....☺
DeleteNeil
Yes, the contrast on the A1 from being a four lane motorway down near London, to a one lane cart track at the Scottish border is hilarious.
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