Walking From England to Scotland...and Back Again!

 

Union Chain Bridge or just 'Chain Bridge' to locals (well, me at least), is a special suspension bridge that links Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Berwickshire, Scotland...hence being able to walk from England to Scotland and back again in a very short amount of time!

Chain Bridge is somewhere I have visited many times throughout the years, growing up only 5-6 miles away in Berwick Town. Baker has also visited previously, however, not since Mr H came into our lives, so on the 10th of June, we decided to take a quick drive out while up in Berwick for the day. 

Since Baker and I's previous visit, the bridge has undergone a major refurbishment in 2022, and there are a few new additions in the form of statues and information boards bringing the story of the 205-year-old bridge to life. It's an idyllic area, steeped in history, with nature walks and other attractions nearby. Have a read of some of the signs included in these photos to learn more, and if you're ever in the area, pop by! Make sure to drop a small donation into the collection box, too. 

The Friends of the Union Chain Bridge website is also a wealth of information, images and more.

The World's oldest vehicular suspension bridge! So cool!

A Failed Treasure Hunt at Holy Island

 
After being filed away in the cupboard for a few years, we decided in March to grab one of our Treasure Trails packs and stop by Holy Island on the way up to visit my parents. I've done a few of these over the years and documented them here before the giant delete of 2018, though this was to be the first Mr H and I had done together. 
So it was a bit of a letdown when we got there and the very first clue is no longer there! We carried on the route and decided we'd just deduce the missing one at the end...until there were another 2 through the route no longer available. We still kept going but no longer tried very hard and rather just enjoyed our walk with Baker and cut short the trail so that we could be back to the car and over the causeway in plenty of time of the tides (As a local I'm not like the tourists with their risking and underestimating the sea!).
As you'll see from the photos the trail didn't have us head toward Lindisfarne Castle at all which was handy because it seems like where most of the other visitors had gone. 
We got to see sheep, roe deer, a chaffinch, jackdaws, sparrows, a wren, herring gull, curlew, eider ducks and probably more that I didn't photograph, which was amazing! In the photos, you will see Lindisfarne Priory, St Mary's Church and graveyard, St Cuthberts Island (from afar this time...last time we visited together we almost got stuck as the tide obviously comes in there before the causeway and we had to wade over in water past our knees!) and the accompanying beach alongside the Old Lifeboat House.
Hopefully, we'll pop over to Holy Island again later in the year and try to finish the disjointed Treasure Trail perhaps with the help of my parents.

Until next time...