Photos of Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland

Matt Atkin on Holy Island

Matt Atkin on Holy Island Matt Atkin on Holy Island Matt Atkin on Holy Island

Matt Atkin on Holy Island Matt Atkin on Holy Island Matt Atkin on Holy Island

 Matt Atkin on Holy Island Matt Atkin Holy Island

Matt Atkin’s usually to be found in Hong Kong and most of his photos are from the exotic Far East, or at least the Eastern Hemisphere. So it makes a refreshing change to be able to publish these photos of Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland, taken during a brief holiday in England last week. It’s a shame the light wasn’t really on his side, but that’s the home country for you…

Also known as Lindisfarne, Holy Island’s an astonishing place famous for all sorts of things, including being a centre for Christian evangelising starting from 635AD, the historic Viking raid of 793AD, and the illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels. More prosaically perhaps, it’s also known for its remoteness, the abbey ruins, a photogenic collection of sheds made out of old boats, and as an interesting destination for small boat sailors.

Among the boats, connoiseurs of these things will spot a couple of fairly standard North East coast cobles and a double-ended coble among the boats

For those who like to know these things, Matt’s moved on from his Leica to a Fujifilm FinePix X100. Click on the image below to see the detail it delivers.

Thanks for the photos bruv!

Fuji Finepix X100

Colin Archer RS14 roars through rough sea

If you’ve ever wondered what a superbly bouyant  Colin Archer looks like when sailing in the weather for which it was designed, now’s your chance to see one on YouTube. It’s bloody marvellous!

My thanks to Jim Van Den Bos for pointing it out.

Lovely old 32ft yacht for sale in northern Germany – but who built her and when?

1930 30ft yacht for sale

32ft yacht for sale 32ft yacht for sale

This lovely old gaff-rigged 32ft sailing yacht is for sale by a friend of reader and contributor Hans-Christian Rieck – but who built her and when?

The owner has no documents relating to her construction and would love to know more if anyone can help. Is she a Hillyard dating from 1930, as the owner suspects?

Read more here, but if you’re German language is a bit rough, stand ready to use Google Translate.