DANNY HOPKINS
DAY SEVEN Holy Island and Bamburgh
Our route today was chosen at the PC Classic Car and Restoration Show by MX-5 Owners’ Club stalwart Mal Jones… and it’s a peach. After a decent frolic in the hills around Chillingham we head for the coast and Holy Island. The tides are in our favour so we take the part-time underwater tarmac and cross the causeway to the part time island. Despite posted warnings, at least one car is stranded on the causeway each month. It costs over £4000 to rescue people by air and £2000 for a sea rescue – so we avoid it by reading the notices.
It’s very peaceful, especially when the T25 and Merc turn their engines off, and once we have paid our respects at the priory we head for the dunes and an impromptu classic car meet on the beach. James Bacchus turns up in the Sprite after an overnight battery charge and with more readers in tow we head back to the mainland for a short romp south to Bamburgh Castle. Seat of the Armstrong family, Bamburgh has both a car making connection (Armstrong Siddeley) and an aircraft making connection (Armstrong Whitworth) and within the grounds of the castle there is a museum to that effect. However, it is the sheer spectacle of the castle itself which knocks your socks off. Bamburgh Castle has stood guard over this beautiful coastline for over 1400 years. Set on a nine-acre rocky plateau, it is visible for miles around and is one of the largest inhabited castles in the country – the Armstrongs still live here.
So when we are invited into the inner courtyard next to the keep, it sends shivers down the spine. It also proves that this place is owned and run by people who love older cars – indeed Rob, the man with the keys to the castle, has a penchant for Land Rovers and is currently part way through a big restoration project. It is the perfect place to end our run round Britain and we head south with happy hearts and slightly sore bottoms. By the time we get home our classics will have blasted well over 1700 miles around Britain, and all are still standing. Proof that despite the age, our old cars are still good for a grand day out… even one this ambitious.