Last year Caroline on I had a fantastic weekend in Northumberland, the highlight being a visit to the Farne Islands during the bird breeding season. The boat trip visits a seal colony before landing on the islands, where we saw literally tens of thousands of nesting birds, some of which had made their nests actually on the paths so you had to step over them. Over 70,000 puffins nest on the islands. When we visited most of the birds were still sitting on eggs, but a photographer who regularly visited said that in July when the puffins hatched it was even more amazing.

So this year we are planning to return over the weekend of 5-6th July, and thought this would be an ideal venue for another LUHC Alumni weekend. As well as the islands, there is some of the best coastline in England, and the Cheviot hills to go hiking in. So if you fancy coming along please get back to me ASAP so I can book camping space. We also need to book spaces on the all day bird watching boat trip well in advance, so I need to know if you want to come on this on the Saturday.

More information on the boat trips can be found on the web:
http://www.farne-islands.com/boat-trips/

If there is sufficient interest then I will find out further details and organise this weekend as an Alumni trip, but I need to know soon if we need to book a large number of spaces on the same boat trip.

Footleg

UPDATE - 9th June 2003

"Could it be that the idea of a boat trip was too much for hiking land lubbers? In my youth I might have thought that a trip on the gentle swell of the North Sea and some bird watching was too sedentary for my adventurous mountaineering spirit, but these days I tackle these delights with enthusiasm. They make an exciting change from the garden!

Following a somewhat underwhelming response to my trip proposal, I have tracked down some hikers from my generation who are up for some action in the extreme NE of our fair country, and the trip is going ahead with 4 of us at present. To accommodate our preferences we have changed the date to the last weekend in June, and confirmed our boat booking. So if the weekend sounds appealing, please come along and join us. You will need to make your own arrangements to secure a place on the boat trip on Saturday 28th for the all day birdwatch trip.

If anyone wants us to arrange group camping then please get in touch, as I am going to try and book something shortly.

Hope to see some of you there.

Footleg "