Saturday, 10 October 2009
We Love Lundy Island!
[Edit: 10/10/09]This my 1,000th post apparently, so perhaps it's appropriate that it is very, very long. You've been warned! :)[/EDIT]
Early in the morning on Thursday, 1st October, Jon and I hurried out of the house and into the waiting taxi with two rucksacks, a couple of smaller bags and a tent. The taxi took us to the nearest bus station, and from there we caught a bus to Ilfracombe. There were a number of others catching the bus at that time, mostly schoolchildren and people on their way to work, but as we looked around we were fairly sure that no one was going where we were. And we were right.
We hurried to the harbour, a little unsure of the way to go, and found that we were early and the shore office was still closed. The Ilfracombe Aquarium, however, was open and makes a fabulous mocha. :) There were already a handful of others waiting, and more swiftly arrived. We gave our luggage to a helpful man to take to the boat and waited in line to check-in. A few minutes later, and we were watching our luggage being lowered into the hold!
The MS Oldenburg is the official passenger boat for those wishing to visit Lundy Island. Onboard is a bar, buffet, toilets and shop, but we were more interested in the views from the deck during our journey of just under two hours. We did buy two bars of chocolate and a guide to the island which included a couple of interesting walks, and Jon had something to eat, but for most of the journey we snapped away at the fading mainland coast and the approaching cliffs of Lundy. We also had a lovely chat with Edwin about digital cameras, so guess what's now on our Christmas wishlist!
As the boat docked in the jetty on Landing Bay, people crowded the upper deck and gazed in awe at the beauty of the island. This is Lundy! For some of those on the boat, this sight was something they had seen again and again, yet still their hearts leapt. For many, like me, this was the first time we'd been here, and we were instantly smitten. Jon had previously visited once before, many years ago, on a school trip, and he, too, felt the peace and wonder of the place as he waited his turn to take that first step on the island.
It was a long and steep walk up to the village. Had we been anywhere else we might have felt exhausted, but the excitement of so much to explore quickly overcame our fatigue. We enquired when our luggage would arrive as we were keen to set up the tent, and decided to investigate the Old Light until it was ready.
The Old Light was the first lighthouse to be built on the island. It is believed that in the nineteenth century about one-sixth of ships heading for the United Kingdom made their way past Lundy, and there have been many ships wrecked along its coast. The location of this lighthouse was chosen and the foundations were laid in 1787, but it was not until 1819 that the lighthouse and keeper's quarters were actually built, at a cost of £36,000. It was built on one of the highest points of Lundy, and is 567 feet above sea level, making it the highest in the UK. This proved to be somewhat of a problem, however, as the light was often hidden in low cloud, even at times when it was clear out at sea. Two other lighhouses were built in 1896 at the north and south ends of the island, and the Old Light ceased to be used.
Now, at the top where the light used to shine its warning to seafarers, there are a couple of deckchairs in which we enjoyed the view. We could even see that our luggage had been delivered to the campsite from up there! We decided to head back, with a short detour to the cemetary next to the Old Light, to see the foundations of St Elen's chapel and also the graves of William Hudson Heaven and Martin Coles Harman, two previous owners of Lundy Island.
Putting up our tent was fairly straightforward (I mostly sat back and watched), but it was also thirsty work. We decided to each grab a drink in the Marisco Tavern and discuss our plans for the rest of the day. We were a little worried about what to do for dinner, as we were unsure of the menu we saw in the tavern that afternoon - we needn't have worried, though, as the evening menu was more extensive than the lunch menu and there was plenty for us to enjoy!
We decided to try one of the walks in the book, but in reverse. This proved more difficult than we realised, however! We headed down the 'High Street' that winds its way down the centre of the island and admired the views out to sea on either side. We also were intrigued by the various ruins dotted around. When we reached the Admiralty Lookout on Tibbetts Hill, we had to have a walk around it because it is a fascinating building and is on the other high point of the island, giving it a great 360° vista. We both thought it must be a marvelous place to stay to "get away from it all" but felt unsure about staying there ourselves, as the walk back from the tavern at night might be a little scary!
From there we continued a little further up the main path in the hope of making it as far as Brazen Ward, where our guidebook told us the remains of a coastal battery used in the Civil War could be found. However, our rumbling stomachs and a quick look at the time told us that it would be best to head back before we reached this sight, and we decided to try a path along the east coast. This was exciting! As the sun began to fade away in the west, we were at times walking along the edge of a cliff that hurried down into the hungry waves below. We could hear the sound of some animal hiding in the rhododendron thickets about us, which we believe to be the Sika deer that live on the island. In fact, once we returned to the main path at te end of our walk, we did catch a gimpse of a few of these creatures that decided to come out from their hiding places to graze.
Before returning to the main path we did get to visit V.C. Quarry and the war memorial there, and then we climbed up a bit higher to see the timekeeper's hut with its memorial to Felix Gade, who lived and worked on Lundy from 1926 to 1971. In St. Helena's church there is a plaque with a beautiful quote from Felix Gade which reads:
"...the peace of the island is very important and that's something you can only find on places like this with no crowds and no hustle and bustle and no motor cars in particular. Then I think the next advantage is the freedom of the place. Although it's an area of only one square mile, you never feel any sense of imprisonment at all. You can go just wherever you wish, you can do whatever you want to do. You haven't got to risk any authority if you can do this or do that, or go to this or that place..."
Which, really, sums up the beauty of the atmosphere on the island to me. :) We could not believe when we were told later how many people were on the island, as we saw hardly anyone at all whilst out walking each day, and still very few in the tavern in the evenings. This isolation and freedom certainly contibuted to the peaceful atmosphere that pervades the whole island.
We continued climbing back up to the main path and reached the ruins of the Quarterwall Cottages. By now it was sunset, and we got some great photos among the ruins, as well as some of the Old Light silhouetted against the red sky.
A short walk later, we were back at the Marisco Tavern, and very hungry! The menu was very varied, both in food available and price, which was a lovely surprise! We decided to "go tapas" and order a variety of the tasty starters, including smoked venison and battered whitebait. We also tried a bottle of the Marisco Tavern Chilean Chardonnay, which was delicious! Jon also tried some of the local ales, which I am assured were also very good, even though they weren't quite to my taste. :)
We slept fairly well that night, considering we were camping with no airbed (I rarely go camping without the airbed, but we agreed it would be difficult to take with us to Lundy) on a small island ten miles off the coast of the mainland. I did wake a few times, but I also woke several times last night in my own bed, so that's not too bad for me. I think we arose fairly early and decided to sample the tavern's wares once more - Jon had a poached egg and I had a sausage sandwich, which both made lovely breakfasts! We also had a look around the shop and bought some postcards to send to family (with Puffin stamps!).
It was on Saturday that we went for our longest walk. We roughly followed the other walk in the guide we had, which started at the south end of the island and went along the west coast right up to the north end! We started with a visit to St Helena's church, which is a beautiful building and very peaceful inside. The stained glass windows were amazing!
After a few minutes taking in the displays about the island's natural history, also in the church, we continued on to the castle. From here, we could see down to the Landing Bay and the lighthouse at the south of the island, but it was quite a way down! We didn't go quite that far, but we did make our way to Benson's Cave, on the edge of the cliff. This cave is forty feet long and was manmade; the entrance was apparently hidden by a hut with a fireplace that hid the doorway. The infamous Thomas Benson hid smuggled and/or stolen goods in this cave. We really enjoyed exploring it, even though it was so dark! Luckily, Jon had brought a torch with him!
It was here, while enjoying our picnic lunch, that we discovered our first "letterbox" - special boxes hidden around the island in which is a pen, a stamp and a notebook for the finder to leave a brief message. This was lovely to read and we added our thoughts on Benson's Cave with glee! We later found other such letterboxes in the Old Light and St Helena's church, but will have to go looking for the rest next time we visit!
After lunch, we moved on to take in more of the scenery along the south of the island. The guidebook regaled us with mentions of shipwrecks as the wind whipped my hair to and fro. We were looking out for the Devil's Limekiln which is described in the book as "a huge natural pit in the rock three hundred feet deep and with near vertical sides" when I nearly walked into it! Jon, this time as usual the wiser of us two, had just suggested that the dip ahead of us was probably it, but I wasn't so sure until I reached the edge. And I must say, there's nothing "near vertical" about the sides - they went straight down from where I stood!
The nearby Great Shutter, a huge pyramid of a rock, stands in the water just off the island here. Legend has it that this used to be the stopper in Devil's Limekiln, but the Devil threw it out. The Great Shutter was also used by Charles Kingsley as the scene for the wreck of a Spanish galleon in his book "Westward Ho!" and was the site of a real wreck in 1906, when the HMS Montagu ran into the island in fog.
We now made our way up the west coast, and passed by the Old Light once more. To the north, we walked past the airfield, which was used regularly in the 1930s and can still be used by light aircraft. We missed the path to the battery on the west side, built in 1863 as a fog and signal station. The battery is worth visiting, we were told, and has great views, so that's another must for our next visit! Instead, we continued up to the Quarter Wall, along the earthquake fault and through Punchbowl Valley. We paused to gaze out to see at Jenny's Cove and were intrigued by the rock formation there, known as the Cheeses. This cove is apparently a popular nesting site for auks, such as the puffin for which the island is named, but October is the wrong time of year for that, so I regret to say we didn't see any.
A little further along, we saw the Devil's Slide - which looked very scary indeed! And a little further still, we could see the lighthouse at the north of the island! I hurried on to reach it, and soon realised that it wasn't as near as it seemed. There are several steep steps down to this lighthouse, and as I climbed down them, I could not help but think about the climb back up! I had hoped to perhaps see seals in the sea below us from here, but the waves were somewhat choppy, so I think the seals must have been taking shelter.
We climbed the stairs again and decided to walk along the north end and see Kittiwake Gully, Puffin Gully and Seal's Rock. Along the way, we passed the remains of John O'Groat's house. Jon wanted to see the ruins of a Bronze Age settlement that he had heard was somewhere on the north end of the island, so we explored for a while and were just about to head back when we literally stumbled into what looked like the overgrown ruins of such a settlement! It was very exciting!
And then we walked back along the main path, eager to reach the Marisco just as it started serving dinner. This time I had fish and chips while Jon had scampi, and we played a game of Lundy Cluedo with a board designed to include various properties on the island. Just as we finished eating, we noticed the sun beginning to fade and decided to enjoy the sunset from the top of the Old Light. This was incredibly beautiful and relaxing as we sat in the deckchairs, but going back down in the dark was somewhat dangerous!
We had one more drink in the tavern and a game of ordinary cluedo this time, and then returned to our tent for a more tempestuous night. I doubt either of us slept a wink as we worried about whether the tent was tied down strongly enough. I certainly had visions of it flying away with us chasing it in our pyjamas! This did not happen, however, and our tent was still standing the next morning, when the weather had died down somewhat. The wind was still blustery but the rain had stopped and we even saw a little bit of sun! However, we were informed there was a squall out at sea and so the MS Oldenburg would not be coming to pick us up. That meant we had to go home by helicopter! :D
We went for one more walk and spent a bit more time in St. Helena's church before our turn to ride the helicopter came. I must say, it was amazing to see the island from above like that, and I found the seven minute journey to Hartland point was much more enjoyable than the journey on the MS Oldenburg! And then we touched down on the mainland, incredibly tired but very happy to have spent a few days on Lundy. We took some photos of the island from Hartland Point before joining the coach which took us back to Barnstaple and everyone else back to Ilfracombe, where their cars were.
And then we went straight to bed! When we woke up (late) on Sunday, we were in full agreement that it had been a wonderful holiday and we really must visit again sometime soon - however, if I have anything to do with it, we won't be camping!
It is quite expensive, I feel, to stay on Lundy, but it is definitely worth it. There is far too much there to see in the brief few hours you get as a day visitor. And the peace and serenity is unlike anything you'll find elsewhere on earth, I believe. We did have to pay extra for the use of the helicopter, but I felt even this was worth it (I love helicopters!), and seeing as it costs £1,200 per hour to hire the helicopter (which was used in the filming of the first season of Challenge Anneka, we were told!), I can understand why they charge as they do.
In conclusion, I would recommend a stay on Lundy to everyone! It was a fabulous experience that I am very keen to repeat! And if you want to know more about the island, you can read about it on this site, in my Lundy Island history articles. I hope you enjoy them!
