Holy Island and Castle Eden Dene

Ellie with her Grandma on Holy Island

As the end of the summer holidays drew closer we made one last summer visit to my parents house.  We decided that we’d go up the Northumberland coast on Saturday and down to Castle Eden Dene on the Sunday.

In amongst that we decided to fit in a spot of geocaching as well and planned to plant our first cache around Bedlington.  However we didn’t do that in the end as I wasn’t 100% sure what we’d have to do.  So instead we thought we’d fit in a spot of geocaching around our days out.

On the Saturday we headed up to a place called Pot a Doodle Doo which was one of these places where you can design and paint your own pottery.  So Ellie painted a cup and a bowl.  To be honest the place wasn’t that great but Ellie enjoyed it and there were three yurts which looked interesting.  However I still think that claiming a night in  yurt is “camping” is pushing it a bit!

After the pottery place we headed to a nearby beach for lunch.  It was pretty windy on the Northumberland coast but the views of the sea once you looked over the sand dunes were great.  As was the fact the spot we chose was about 300 yards from tjhe East Coast mainline and so we saw a handful of trains bound for Edinburgh whizz past.  Once we’d eaten it was straight to Holy Island which was about a ten minute drive.

I hadn’t been to Holy Island since I was about Ellie’s age and it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go back to and I have to say I’m really pleased we did.

It’s strange driving across to the island as you know the road your on will be submerged in sea water in a few hours time!  Anyway we parked up and wandered around the island, went in the church, had a coffee in the coffee shop and looked in the small shops the island has.  We saw birds of prey in one of the gardens which the owner of was more than happy for people to hold for a small fee.  We didn’t pay, we just looked!

Even though it was really windy we braved it and walked across the exposed pathway towards the castle on Lindisfarne.  We mucked around, took some photos laughed at some sheep and headed back to the car.  It was a totally chilled few hours we spent and Ellie loved running and climbing up the hill in front of the castle, then back down the very steep bank!

Before getting in the car we had one last stop.  A man was on the street selling fresh fruit and vegetables grown on Holy Island.  We bought a massive squash and some courgette which later went into an excellent soup!

As you may have noticed we didn’t do any geocaching.  There are two geocaches on Lindisfarne but both were on the far siode of the island away from th populated bit and we never planned to walk across to find them.  So back to my parents we headed, very tired after our day in the fresh air!

Geocache Number 11

Name – Hartford Bank
Size – Small
Hidden – 20/08/2010
Found – 05/09/2010

On Sunday we got up and I planned for us to grab a quick ‘token’ cache.  In fact the one closest to my Mam and Dad’s house.  It is a cache called ‘Hartford Bank’ and is what is known as a ‘Grab and Go’ cache.  It was placed in a large layby just before you reach Hartford Bank itself on the way out of Bedlington.  It was remarkably easy to find and I even got Ange a little excited as she raced me and Ellie out of the car to try to find it first!

Geocache Number 12
Name – Plessey Promenade #2 – Pooh Sticks
Size – Micro
Hidden – 31/05/2010
Found – 05/09/2010

Hartford Bank is right next to Plessey Woods.  And if you have read my blog before you will know that just two weeks prior we had found 3 out of a series of 5 caches in Plessey Woods.  As we had a bit of time to kill and Ange wanted a coffee we headed into Plessey Woods.  We had caches #1 and #2 to do to complete the set but we did them in reverse order.  The reason being the car park is where #1 is and when we parked up there were people looking.  So after having a quick drink in the visitor centre (Ellie had a magnum) we went and found the cache hidden in some wooden steps down to the river side next to the bridge.  A suspicious pile of stones gave the hiding place away.  I have started to learn that when Geocaching neat piles of rocks or twigs tend to be where caches are hidden beneath!  If you’re not looking ofr them you’d never notice them but when you are desperate to find a plastic container in a wood you do take these things in!

Geocache Number 13
Name – Plessey Promenade #1 – Here It Starts
Size – Micro
Hidden – 31/05/2010
Found – 05/09/2010

We headed back to the car park and after reading the hint it was obvious the cache was hidden near the pay and display machine.  Sure enough after a couple of minutes looking my Mam discovered a small black box attached to the back of the parking sign by a magnet!  We signed the log, took a photograph and then headed off to Castle Eden Dene.

Castle Eden Dene is a massive wood next to Peterlee.  After 22 years of driving up and down the A19 I never knew Castle Eden Dene was there until I caught an episode of Secret Britain!  After seeing it on TV we decided to go and walk through it.  It is a great wood but it wasn’t the gentle Sunday afternoon stroll I had in mind.  As the wood surrounds a steep valley it is very very hilly!  It took us just over an hour to do a circuit and halfway around we saw the bridge built over a very high and steep gorge that Ellie was desperate to see after seeing it on TV!

“I’m going to stand on every bit of the bridge so I know I’ve stood on the bit thats been on TV”

That was Ellie! And this photo is us on that very bridge.  It was a good end to a very nice relaxed weekend.

Castle Eden Dene bridge