A beautiful dog friendly walk around Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland. This walk allows to discover the island and Lindisfarne Castle.
Une très belle randonnée accessible aux chiens autour de l’île de Holy Island of Lindisfarne dans le Northumberland. Cette randonnée permet de découvrir l’île et le château de Lindisfarne.
Information to do the walk around Holy Island:
- Distance: 7 km
- Duration: 2h
- Ascent: 10m
- Level: Easy
- Car Park: Car park on the north side of Holy Island village (TD15 2SG). Grid ref. NU 127 421. Fees apply
- Dog Friendly: Yes but must be on lead when crossing fields with sheep. Dog are not allowed inside Lindisfarne Castle.
- Safe crossing hours can be seen on the Island website.

I am continuing my series of blog posts about our summer holiday in Northumberland with this walk around Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
Je continue ma série d’articles sur nos vacances d’été dans le Northumberland avec cette randonnée autour de l’île d’Holy Island de Lindisfarne.
Find all our blog posts about Northumberland here.

I had heard and read so many things about this island that it was at the top of my list of places I wanted to visit during our stay on the Northumberland coast.
J’avais entendu et lu beaucoup de choses sur cette île et je l’avais donc mise dans le haut de ma liste de choses à visiter pendant nos vacances sur la côte de Northumberland.

After looking carefully at the safe crossing times and the weather forecast, we decided that we will go on the Thursday. We were lucky because the weather was great and it was popular but still too much tourists.
Après avoir regarder les horaires pour traverser et la météo, nous avons décidé d’y aller le jeudi. Nous avons été chanceux car le temps a été parfait et il n’y avait pas trop de touristes.

The crossing on the Lindisfarne causeway is quite impressive and gorgeous. There are several small car parks along the causeway but we decided to drive up to the village to park at the big car park, which was nearly full.
La traversée de la chaussée de Lindisfarne est assez impressionnante et belle. Il y a plusieurs petit parking le long de la chaussée mais nous avons décidé de conduire jusqu’au grand parking à l’entrée du village, qui était pratiquement complet.

After gearing up, we went exploring the village by roaming around the little streets before heading towards Lindisfarne Priory. From there we walk toward the war memorial and Osborne’s Fort. The views of the Northumberland coast from there is incredible. Well worth the detour.
Après nous être préparés, nous sommes partis explorer le village en déambulant dans les petites rues avant de nous diriger vers le prieuré de Lindisfarne. Depuis là, nous avons marché vers le mémorial de guerre et le Fort d’Osborne. Les vues sur la côte de Northumberland sont absolument magnifique. Cela vaut vraiment le détour.

We then decided to walk down towards the little harbour to find the touristy path going to Lindisfarne Castle. The rocky edge of the castle was beautiful at this time of the year with all the flowers blooming. It was definitely were we saw most of the tourists.
Nous avons ensuite décidé de descendre en direction du petit port pour rejoindre le sentier touristique qui va au château de Lindisfarne. La falaise rocailleuse descendant du château était magnifique à cette époque de l’année avec toutes les fleurs en floraison. C’est définitivement vers le château que nous avons vu le plus de touristes.

After passing by the side of the castle (that we didn’t visit as it is not dog friendly) we continued towards the Castle Point Lime Killns and the shore. As we still had plenty of time before the end of the safe crossing, we decided to do the walk around the island. So we followed the coastal path towards the Lough tarn and bird hide before going inland to join the causeway on the other side of the island.
Après avoir contourné le château (nous ne l’avons pas visité car ils n’acceptent pas les chiens) nous avons continué en direction des anciens fourneaux et du bord de l’eau. Vu que nous avions encore pas mal de temps avant qu’il ne soit plus possible de traverser, nous avons décidé de faire la randonnée qui tourne autour de l’île. Nous avons donc suivi le sentier côtier en direction de la mare de Lough et de l’observatoire aux oiseaux avant de partir vers l’intérieur des terres pour rejoindre la chaussée de l’autre côté de l’île.

This walk wasn’t very touristy as most of the tourists only walk from the village to the castle and back, which was very good because we could explore at our pace and really enjoy the beauty of the island. We all enjoyed exploring Holy Island and would definitely recommend it to everyone.
Cette randonnée n’est pas très touristiques car la majorité des gens marchent du village jusqu’au château et repartent en suivant le même sentier. Ce qui est très bien car nous avons pu explorer l’île tranquillement et vraiment profiter de sa beauté. Nous avons beaucoup aimé visiter Holy Island et nous vous recommandons d’y aller.
Have you visited Holy Island of Lindisfarne?
Avez vous déjà visité l’île de Holy Island of Lindisfarne?










The trouble with Holy Island is that it does get packed with tourists – between the tides. We were lucky to have stayed on the island for a night after our walk on St Cuthbert’s Way. It was very different once the tide had come in and the day visitors had disappeared across the causeway. There weren’t so many of us left and we were able to explore a peaceful island.
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Yes I imagine it can be very busy during summer school holidays. It must have been nice to stay overnight.
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If you ever get a chance to see Cul-de Sac, a 1960’s film by Polanski. It was based on Lindisfarne and the place has never been the same for me since then.
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Interesting I will try to see if I can find this film. thanks for the recommendation ☺️.
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You may find it difficult to view for free.
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Yes, my wife and I did, more or less, exactly the same walk, but in the opposite direction. You can see my take on it here: https://alittlebitoutoffocus.com/2023/04/05/holy-island-of-lindisfarne-walk-northumberland-england/ 😀👍👍
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I remember read your blog post when I was preparing our holiday 🙂.
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It’s good to know it proved useful! 👍😊 I hope you enjoyed your holiday. Northumberland is a beautiful county.
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It’s such a special place. Did you walk across the pilgrims path?
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I think we took a bit of the pilgrims path but not the entirety of it.
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I have been once, but maybe at an earlier time of year because we certainly didn’t see all those wildflowers. The picture with the red poppies is gorgeous.
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Thank you.
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Lovely post and one place that will be on lots of lists of places to visit, including my own. Would love to go here.
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Thank you. Oh yes you should definitely go.
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That looks wonderful and like Anabel I love the priory photo with all the poppies. 🙂
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Thank you. You should go if you never been.
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It’s on my list. 🙂
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I appreciate those red blooms dancing among the historic sites. A very lovely walk about!
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Thank you. The flowers bring a special atmosphere to this historic building.
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Lovely views of the Northumberland coast. Your pictures are gorgeous.
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Thank you.
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Yes, the poppies shot for me too. There’s something about the island, isn’t there, Melodie? It’s a special place.
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It is indeed. We were lucky to have the poppies in full bloom.
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C’est superbe; ça donne envie d’y aller !
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Merci pour ton passage sur mon blog ☺️.
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C’est super joli avec toutes ces couleurs !
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Merci
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Lovely pictures! It was on my list the last time I was in Northumberland but I didn’t have time to visit in the end.
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Oh that is a shame because it is a gorgeous place. Hopefully next time you go to Northumberland you will have time to visit
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I think it would be great to visit Lindisfarne in late June, when days are very long. Even better, to stay overnight, if at all possible.
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Yes if you can arrive late and stat overnight that will be better as you will have less tourists.
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I love visiting Lindisfarne! It’s one of my most favourite places 🙂
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Thank you for visiting my blog.
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