Yesterday we went to Lindisfarne, which is only accessible by causeway. The causeway is only clear for a few hours every day because of the tides, which the bus driver said come in at 80 mph and only roughly follow the posted tide tables. Needless to say this was fairly stressful but the island itself was enjoyable. It was initially settled by monks in the 7th century AD, who left after several Viking raids. Subsequently they venerated their leader Cuthbert, which led to a cult being dedicated to his memory after miracles were performed by him on the island and around the region. In the 11th century it was again settled after the Normans invaded Britain, so there were ruins of a church from 632 as well as another church from 1096.
We then traveled to Hadrian's Wall, built by the order of the Roman Emperor Hadrian to protect the Empire from the Picts, because he believed that Rome should not expand any further lest they became overextended. It has been mostly disassembled over the years as Scottish farmers found the supply of square stones to be rather convenient for their purposes.
Both of these sites recall the feeling of the Borders people that their historical suffering has been unappreciated by Scotland at large, let alone the rest of Britain. Today we are going to start reading Sunset Song in preparation for visiting the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Center on Wednesday, as well as visiting a battlefield and seeing the place where Robert the Bruce's heart is preserved.
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