Wednesday on the Waves

It just poured down rain all last evening and all during the night, so what a surprise to see clearing skies when we got up this morning.  Good news for a day where we again explored the North Sea coast.  We got off to a bit of a late start for a variety of reasons, so our coach driver gave us a thrilling ride to Seahouses, a small coastal town about 15 miles from Alnwick. 

We made it on time to board The Glad Tidings VII, which we had completely to ourselves! We headed out to the Farne Islands, where we saw even more birds than Saturday, possibly due to calm seas.

About three miles out, we landed on Longstone Island, from which, in 1838,  Grace Darling and her father William, launched their coble to rescue victims of the steamer Forfarshire, which had run aground on the rocks of Big Harker Island.
We thoroughly explored Longstone, taking many pictures.  We were struck by the strength of the seas and the desolation of the island.  We had read the young adult historical fiction Grace by Jill Paton Walsh in preparation for the Longstone visit but I think the isolation and bare rock of Longstone was something that we had to physically experience in order to understand how remarkable Grace's part in the sea rescue actually was. (Note the light haze that surrounded everything while we were on the water)

After more bird viewing on the return trip, we arrived back in  Seahouses in time to eat our packed lunches before the coach arrived to drive us to Bamburgh, where we visited the Grace Darling Museum. 

We also visited St. Aidan's Church and graveyard, where Grace is buried.  Her grave is marked with a very ornate monument.  There is also a beautiful memorial stained glass window in the church itself. 

After the Grace Darling sites, students did a variety of things, ranging from dipping toes into the North Sea to photographing imposing Bamburgh Castle to enjoying a cup of tea and a scone at a Bamburgh tea shop.

 Merton and I got away tonight for a bit of exploration of one of our favorite Alnwick spots from our very first study program here in 1994. After Michelle was so kind as to photograph us on the Lion's Bridge (we wanted to prove that we were both really along on the trip), we walked to the northwest part of Alnwick to an area called "the summer seats".  From there it is possible to see all the way to the North Sea, which is the bit of light blue on the horizon in the upper left third of the picture. On the way home, we passed the Duke's Middle School, which both our daughters have attended (Melissa in 94-95 and Melanie in 97-98).  We also passed a very beautiful home garden that just begged to be photographed!

Classroom time tomorrow in preparation for our field trip to the Seven Stories Centre on Friday and to the Lake District next week.