Northumberland Day 1 - Colourful boats at an overcast Lindisfarne

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After arriving in the late afternoon gloom the day before, leaving behind a country that seemed to be bathed in sunshine along most of its length, I awoke to another misty, leaden day and headed off to Berwick-upon-Tweed for want of somewhere to go.

Had a mooch around the town, half of which looked closed and up onto the surrounding wall which encompasses the settlement for views over the coast and River Tweed. But it the views were all pretty dismal, although there was a very real sense of history about the place which I think the murkiness gave atmosphere to.

After getting a coffee I took a drive south to Lindisfarne to have a look around the harbour. I spent a bit of time getting some shots of the colourful old boats the lined the shore, as there wasn't much else I could do. I got a bit carried away, as I had a good idea that this would probably be the one and only time I would get the camera out that day.

These upturned boats are believed to be once part of the largest herring fleet on the east coast of England,
but by the 1900's few remained, and were no longer seaworthy, they were converted into sheds.

A lot of them have fallen into a state of disrepair, but look all the more
interesting for it.

A detail shot of the material covering, they are covered in tar to help weather seal them.

The covering to this one doesn't look especially weatherproof, thanks to the harsh weather Holy Island has to
put up with.

The small harbour on the island is home to some very well worn vessels.

Some of the boats look like they been repainted many times!

This old lady looked less than seaworthy, but she caught my eye nonetheless.

A simple image of vibrant paint work on another old launch.

A shot of the metal breast hook on this old bucket.

The layers of paint created a nice abstract image.

A view of the castle and rowing boat, in the island's harbour at low tide.

Had some lunch then wound my way through some back lanes to Craster, getting lost here and there but not really minding as I wasn't missing out on much photography wise.

Ambled around the tiny harbour for as long as I could, which wasn't very long at all and decided there was no point walking to the castle, which was somewhere in the shrouding haze, so I took off again.

Stopped in Seahouses, and again had a look round the harbour in the damp chilly air of the early evening, until I couldn't see any point in wandering around for the sake of it, and with weary resignation, decided to head back to the cottage. Sunset was completely out of the question, as I drove through the country lanes in the fading light, the fog rolled in from the sea until visibility was cut to mere metres rather than miles.