Lindisfarne is an island at high tide, part of the mainland at low tide. Magnus Magnusson describes it like this - "when Aidan chose this site for hallowed work, it was the ambiguous insularity which must have helped inspire its election - this being of the mainland but not on it, this being of the world but not worldly, this being a retreat but not a hideaway"
Sir Walter Scott wrote a little more poetic:
For, with the flow and ebb its stile
Varies from continent to isle;
Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice every day,
The pilgrims to the shrine find way:
Twice every day, the waves efface
Of staves and sandaled feet the trace
Staying on the island felt like stayinh in a sanctuary, and it was not difficult to follow Father Damian's words, "let the island speak to you"
I took the first photo through the bus window the day we arrived at Lindisfarne. Second photo shows tide coming in covering the pilgrim path.
