Lindisfarne

I'm procrastinating doing my corrections, so it's time for photos!

I went to Holy Island this past weekend on a day trip for postgrads. It's a semi-detached island off the coast of Northumbria, where St. Cuthbert hid from Vikings, and the English defended themselves from the Scots, and is presently home to extremely cute cottages, a surprisingly small castle on a very big hill, and also a meadery. Also, some great views.

Unfortunately, the afternoon did not begin auspiciously, weather-wise:

The shoreline...

...leading up to the castle

 I struggled mightily trying to relearn how to make the camera do things.

Raindrops on grass. ART WAS ATTEMPTED.

 I completely bollixed up the interior shots, but it was surprisingly unimpressive--the castle had been renovated into a summer home at the end of the nineteenth century, leading to it becoming a rather cosy place, all told. The only shot that came out at all was the kitchen:

Cosy!

The hill is largely responsible for the castle looking as imposing as it does.

I attempt nature photography.

A slightly nicer shot of the exterior? Bit too dark, had weird problems with colour. OVERCAST LIGHTING! *shakes fist*

But then, miraculously, while I had lunch in a pub, the skies cleared, and the rest of the afternoon became glorious, just in time to check out the priory and graveyard. Huzzah for picturesque ruins!

The island in the background is the castle. It looks far more impressive from that distance.

Graveyard shot.

More high contrast shenanigans. It was so bright all of a sudden!

Further attempted nature photography. Totally a high concept commentary on life and death, with that little bird and the headstone. I totally did that on purpose.Totally.

The path leading away from the priory, towards the beach.

The beach! I really like this shot, actually. That kid's red jacket was fortuitous.

Since the island is only cut off during high tide, when the tide is low you can walk out and everything is covered in seaweed and mussels. I felt bad about walking on them. Also, there's a tiny crab hiding in this photo, under a rock. It refused to be photogenic.

A view of the priory and church from the beach.

There are giant obelisks on the English coast to serve as guides for ships, presumably, but they mostly just look cool and alien from the island.

Someone attempting to fish.

More obelisks!

And again.

Clearly, I only sort of remembered how to do photography by the end. But all in all, it was a very enjoyable day out.