by Anne Rickwood

Earlier this month I joined a group of Friends of Southwark Cathedral, gently guided by the Sub-Dean, Rev'd Canon Michael Rawson, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. ('Farne', also in 'Farne Islands' where Cuthbert died, has a meaning of 'retreat'.)

Sadly I opted to join two others to drive across the causeway, but the other 14 Friends walked the three miles across the uncovering sand, mostly barefoot though some in boots. They began with the prayer:

God of the rising sun, you who called Aidan, Cuthbert and the saints of Lindisfarne, guide our feet as we journey towards Holy Island.

Let the rhythm of the tides teach us trust.

Let the winds across the sands carry our prayers.

Let the cry of the seabirds remind us of your freedom.

As the causeway appears and disappears,

show us the paths you reveal in your time.

May we walk gently, receive gratefully and return changed.

The minibus group reached the end of the causeway in time to pick up the rest of the party once they had dried their feet.

Holy Island is totally controlled by the tides, and most of the people who work in the castle, shops and cafes travel from the mainland, so everything closes at a different time each day and the island becomes, for about six hours, a haven of peace. Our trip had been planned so that the tides allowed us to stay all day and have our evening meal before returning when the causeway re-opened.

On the next day we spent two hours in a boat viewing at very close quarters the wonderful wildlife on the Farne Islands:

Atlantic grey seals with pups, eider ducks, guillemots, shags.....and hundreds of puffins swimming. Although I had visited puffin areas frequently in the past I had never seen one – they really are tiny, although they always look huge in pictures.

Each evening our minibus, parked outside our hotel in Berwick, became the chapel for compline: on Friday for Boisil, prior of Melrose Abbey and teacher of Cuthbert (d.661) and on Saturday for Patrick (389-461).

On Sunday we returned to Holy Island, all together in the minibus this time, for Eucharist in the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. As the congregation included people from many far-flung places, the celebrant began by inviting us all to introduce ourselves to the people next to us.

The church has a Fishermen's Chapel, modern stained-glass windows depicting Aidan and Cuthbert and a sculpture in elm showing six monks taking Cuthbert's body on a long journey to protect it from the Viking raids.