A visit to the Farne's in winter.

This was a short Sunday outing which was originally planed as a blast on the river. A favourable forecast the previous evening forced us to change our plans, light winds and no swell, to good to miss a day on the sea.  With only a half day pass, a trip from Bamburgh  out to Longstone was a tall order but with a good forecast and a flat sea it was possible. After all the entire Island group has been circumnavigated in under two hours.

 We met at the end of the Wyndings road just as the sun was starting to appear over the turrets of Bamburgh Castle, a rapidly approaching weather front made for a spectacular sunrise.

With a short walk down onto the beach form the car park we were soon ready for the off. The light in the sky was now spectacular, it seemed to change every few minutes as you looked skywards, truly a wonderful time of the day to be on the water.

We launched into a calm sea, the sun low in the sky casting yellow hues across the surface of the water. We made steady progress out to Megstone via the Swedeman Buoy.

The first signs of life came into view as we approached Megstone. Turnstone's scurried around the rocks, chased higher up the Barnaces by the flooding tide. Shags lined the channel in the Island like sentry guards as we squeezed through the shallow, narrow gap.

The seals were curious, but rather than creating the usual mad stampede they slowly slipped into the sea and watched us silently glide past them.

Some of the younger pups just couldn't be bothered to move and lay there looking at us, possibly the first humans they have seen since entering this world a few weeks ago.  

We then progressed across Staple Sound making our way towards Longstone for a coffee stop. The sun was trying hard to make it's presence felt but struggled to break through the approaching weather. It was rapidly turning into a day of big skies and silhouetted figures .

Thankfully our coffee stop under the Longstone light was free from seal  pups so we kept  a low profile and took a short break on the sandy beach. 

Although the small beach was free from the furry little caretakers  the rest of the Island was out of bounds and still a wash with seal pups.  

We packed our flasks and  headed back to shore via the Pinnacles and Staple Island. The sea was so calm today that even the normally turbulent area around the Pinnacles was lying flat, that's got to be a rare occurrence for January.

Take a closer look at the two pictures below, in particular on the top of the cliffs. It might be a bit high for a seal launch or is it ?

Hopefully these pups will make there way back to a lower platform and find a safer passage to the sea.

The archipelago is so much quieter in winter. No birds or tour boats, just the haunting cry of the seals and the distant calls form skeins of geese passing overhead.

The prominence of Bamburgh castle behind the Inner Farne.

By now slack water had come and gone. The ebb was well underway and pushing us back up the Inner Sound towards our launch spot at Stag Rock.

A fantastic morning on the water for early January. No two trips out to the Farne Islands are the same. With the strong tidal flows and it's exposed aspect to North Sea swells it can be very unforgiving. Today it was like a mill pond. I would bet my boat that the next time it will be a very different scene !