Yesterday was Day Trip to Holy Island day , complete with grehound slipping all over the back seat at we took the coastal route which is supposed to be enjoyed at a leisurely pace . Thanks however to a slightly tardy start and a CatCall en route , and said greyhound needing comfort breaks halfway there , the second part of the journey was somewhat faster than the first an d involved much sighing on her part as she gritted her teeth and tried to cling to her beanie seat , and much tutting on my part ( nerves and irritation at the thought of missing the tides ) . Last time for crossing the causeway to the island was flagged on the tide tables as 12 noon . At 12 noon we were still ( allegedly) half an hour's drive away , albeit hurtling round country lanes , with D telling me there was no issue and we would make it . I had visions of the car floating away on the tide and me and him clinging to Alice ( pained expression no doubt ) in the escape- box-on-a-stick .
However , as is often the case in such matters , he was quite right and we made it indeed with half an hour to spare ( pah! Tide tables ! ) and we had to wait to see the water lapping across the road behind us ( I like to frighten myself after the event ....... ) meaning we were truly trapped on an island for five whole hours . Or indeed , four whole hours given the tide tables were wrong .
And the sun shone for us and we found some crinoids on the beach
crinoids st cuthberts beads - Google Image Search and Alice met some little girls from Falkirk in Scotland who were very taken with her , and we met an American man who was staying for two nights and was very taken with our search for the crinoids ( fascinated by our sitting hunched over the sand sifting through patiently till we find a tiny fossilized shell ) and we walked by the lobster pots and the sheep and lambs and coffee shops and ate a picnic entirely composed of carbohydrates as someone forgot to pack the protein . Leaving at the last minute we drove through the water splashing across the causeway ( argh ! ) heading for a final walk on the rocks at Bamburgh where we found a painting of a deer on the rocks and then Seahouses for fish and chips .
A plan which has been fermenting for some time bubbled along a little further . We have a week in July when Nat is away in France and rather than fly somwhere for a week ourselves which was the plan , we consider hiring a camper van and taking off with Alice for some kind of adventure . Having owned such a camper van in the past , when Nat was a tiny baby , I know many of the pitfalls . It is however long enough ago that I have forgotten most of them , and remember instead the delights of the freedom to go where you chose , to pack up on a whim , to have everything with you and within reach at all times . The picnics in the van , the little meals cooked on the stove , sliding the doors across and having a barbecue just at the back door , the hot sunshine always there ( what ? Am I deluded ? Most of my old photos show driving rain and me holding a baby in the front seat whilst reading a newspaper .....the baby is always smiling but she was that kind of baby ) ... I could go on ....the plan is evolving as I said .
Needless to say Alice slept in again this morning ....
