Visiting Lundy Island- part 1

If you've been following my budget blogs then you'll know that in June we took a little trip to Lundy Island as part of our joint birthdays and anniversary celebration.  As it's on our bucket list of places to visit in the area, mainly for the puffins, it seemed like a very good place to celebrate.

The shortest amount of time you can book to stay there are four days (three nights) so that's what we went for, though I have to admit we both ended up wishing we had booked much longer. We went for the camping option as it was the cheapest option available and would allow us to give our new tent a test (so far so good on that front).  We also drove up the night before as the ferry was leaving at 7.30am and the idea of driving across Devon that early in the morning wasn't a pleasant one.

The ferry trip to Lundy takes about two hours and on the way out, along with the rocking, there was quite a bit of fog which made us a little worried we wouldn't actually get to see Lundy as we sailed in.   However, the fog lifted as we reached the end and we got a great view (the older man standing right in the way regardless of everyone else notwithstanding) with blue skies and Common Dolphins leaping beside the ferry.  I didn't really take any photos as I just wanted to enjoy the view.

Understandably, it takes a little while for them to unload the bags from the ferry and take them up to where everyone is staying, so you need to wait a bit before you can settle in.  We had had to cram our hand luggage more than we would have liked so the idea of walking the whole of the island that day was not a compelling one.  I'm also really not a morning person and the hour we had to wake up at to catch the ferry meant that I was very fuzzy for most of the day, and not in the mood for a long trek.  

So instead, we decided to take it slow, enjoying the heat of the sun, get some lunch from the Marisco Tavern (bake potato and a beer), and wander around the south part of the island.  First, we headed down past the church and had a look around the outside of the castle (built in 1244 for Henry III).  We decided not to actually go to the South Lighthouse but instead followed a small trail that curved along the south of the island and up the west side towards the Old Light lighthouse.  

This lighthouse was built in 1819 but turned out to be far too high with the light regularly being hidden by the fog that seems to regular cover the top of the island, but not at sea level.  It was replaced by the South and North Lighthouses in 1897.

We then cut across the field, heading back into the village to check out the shop, have an ice cream, and a little nap in the sun.  By this point, our bags had been delivered to the campsite and we were able to set up the tent with all our sleeping gear.

We had decided that the first night would be the night that we ate at the Marisco Tavern as it was actually my birthday, which was a lovely way to end the first day.

Day two was the day we had decided to properly explore the island.  After enjoying a little lie-in we headed off north along the main central (though mainly eastern) path.  As the sea birds were mostly nesting on the cliffs on the west side of the island we decided to use this path to quickly get us to the North Lighthouse, taking a little nosey at the Old Hospital remains on the way, before slowly meandering back along the west path.

There were quite a few steep steps down to the northern lighthouse, which unfortunately you can't look around, and we did think twice about heading down.  However, we ended up being very glad that we did as we not only got to see puffins bobbing around in the water but also saw a couple standing on the cliff beside us at pretty easy viewing - with binoculars.  We sat there for quite a while watching them and the guillemots, razorbills and seals there, with the area all to ourselves as many people seemed to be put off by the stairs.  

After dragging ourselves back up the stairs we headed down the west coast, stopping now and then to have a look at the cliffs to watch the seabirds nesting, mostly herring and lesser black-backed gulls, and look at the land just above the cliffs in the hope of seeing more puffins.

We lucked out just south of the Halfway Wall where we saw a lot of puffins all along the top of the cliffs where landslides had produced lots of burrows for them to nest in.  It was amazing to just sit there watching them flying in and out, popping down into their burrows and interacting with each other.  We actually spent so much time sitting there it was well after lunchtime before we set off again back towards the village, with an idea of returning there again before we headed home.  The plan to visit the Battery on the way back was put to one side as I was way too hungry.  So instead we headed back to our tent to eat and enjoy an afternoon nap, but not before getting a glimpse of a Peregrin Falcon on one of the cliff tops.

Once the temperature cooled back down we headed back up the field to have a look at the tiny cemetery on the island and then walk up the Old Light to get a really good view of the island as the sun lowered.  By the end of the day our birding list included Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Shags, Oystercatchers, Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Peregrin Falcon, Stonechat, and Skylarks.  Not bad really and the view from the lighthouse was a great way to end a beautiful day.

We had two more days left on the island and on the second evening we planned what we wanted to do over the last two based on what we had already seen.  When we checked for we left for the island the weather had looked good for these two days, so we had high expectations.