Weekend Trip to England

Rather spontaneously, we decided to take the train to the northernmost town in England, Berwick-upon-Tweed.  This was on the list of places I wanted to go due to proximity to the Holy Island of Lindesfarne, where a monastery was founded in the 7th century by none other than St. Aidan.  Though we had no clue what we were doing, we shortly found ourselves on a train headed south to Berwick.  Berwick-upon-Tweed is a beautiful walled city with great history.  It has a very interesting past, having changed hands between the English and the Scots 13 times!  It is also quite picturesque, with three beautiful bridges, all built in very different eras, and spanning the river Tweed.

After inquiring at the tourist information center about busses going to Holy Island, we found out that there were none going out that day, but there would be one the next day (Saturday).  We then decided to try to get a room and spend the day and night in Berwick.  We found a room at a nice little B&B and spent the rest of the day walking around the shops and Elizabethan defenses, and eating things like mince and mash, and fish and chips.

The next morning, we put on the same clothes and ate a wonderful English breakfast (English sausage, egg, beans, toast, grilled mushrooms, and Ayeshire bacon...kinda like ham).  We spend the morning in the town and then caught a bus around midday to the island.  Here is Aidan in front of the monastic ruins:

The island was beautiful, albeit foggy.  We did get to see some English Morris dancers perform in the town square to a consort of accordions and fiddle.

Finally we visited the castle on the island.  It was built 500 years ago with many of the stones pilfered from the monastery.

It was a wonderful and unforgettable trip, but we are all happy to be 'home' at the palace in Dalkeith! Tomorrow should be a low-key day for us, just going to church and staying in Dalkeith preparing for the next week of classes.