Today we went to sea!

Drove to Seahouses and walked around . Then boarded our boat with 70 others to go to the Farne Islands. Went close to several islands, including Brownsman and Longstone, looking close up at colonies of grey seals and nesting guillemots, puffins, gulls, razorbills and many others, then learnt of the dramatic rescue by the lighthouse keeper and his daughter of passengers of the ship Forfarshire in Sept. 1838.

Then we landed on Inner Farne. This is a National Trust island bird sanctuary. We had been warned we would be "dive bombed" by nesting birds, as with magpies in Aus. This place was amazing. Arctic terns nest next to the board walks leading from the boat. They rattle their beaks menacingly then dive bomb every passer by. I could feel their needle sharp bills hitting my hat. We saw so many birds, nests, eggs, really close up - ducks, puffins, terns, shags, black headed gulls, herring and lesser black-backed gulls, razorbacks. The whole experience was magical, at the best time of year - could have come back time and time again.

Inner Farne is also where St. Cuthbert spent his later years, in about 690, and when he died, the followers lit bonfires to let those on the mainland know he had died.

Back to the mainland then we went to explore the 11th century church and castle ruin at Edlingham.