Our Trip To Lundy Part 1.

Had to wait till this morning to post as last night the internet was so slow. That's what happens when there are 3 pcs on the internet at the same time and somebody! is downloading stuff. I taught all day at school going from class to class as the permanent staff had 'performance management' review meetings. Another bit of bureaucratic time wasting. Still it's another day's pay for me. Next week is the half-term holiday - hooray!

Two and a half years ago we went on a family day trip to the island of Lundy, an island just off the coast, ( which can be seen in the banner photo), that is now owned and maintained by the National Trust as a nature reserve with some camping facilities and holiday cottages. http://www.lundyisland.co.uk/ Before we went I read an interesting book about life on the island when it was still privately owned. My Life on Lundy by Felix Gade.

Unless you have your own boat the only way to Lundy is on the Oldenburg which usually sails from Bideford, or you can fly in by helicopter .

This was the boarding queue very early in the morning at Bideford. Because you have to go over sand bars at the mouth of the river, sailings are dependent on tide times. We were lucky to have a full day on Lundy, sometimes you only get 4 hours.

Romas (behind the hat) , Pete and Vytas ( before the beard and the long hair). We thought we had found a good spot at the bow of the boat until a crew member pointed out that there might be some spray coming over the bows. Fortunately we moved further back because we had an exciting trip out with waves crashing over the bows and the stern corkscrewing dramatically. Great fun! On the way back we sat in the same place and had a boring trip with the sea being as flat as a millpond.

Looking back up the River Torrige at Bideford, the old bridge in the distance and the very high new bridge that always made me nervous driving over it in the landrover. That sunny morning there were people out sailing, fishing and water skiing.

At the mouth of the river is the village of Appledore originally favoured by artists because of the good light.

We were just on the sand bars, (on the return journey we waited nearly an hour here for the tide to turn), looking at Crow Point with Saunton Sands going off to the left, the River Taw goes through Barnstaple and flows down into the sea at this point.

Our first view of Lundy. ....... part 2 coming soon.