Finally! A morning that we didn’t have to be on the road at the break of day. And the bed the night before was especially comfy. We stayed at the Holiday Inn.   Breakfast was leisurely and very good.

We had a different van now and it ran much more easily and, most important, it had a spare tire!
We set off for Lindisfarne and arrived in the mid afternoon. The day was the first one that wasn’t bright with sunshine. It was cool and misty with a lovely bluster. That was good for me because I was still susceptible to sunshine and I got to wear my cable knit pullover sweater.

From the parking lot, the site of the castle on the promontory seemed very far away. There was a large sign giving the times each day when it was safe to drive onto the island and off of it. The tide comes in so quickly that a car cannot outrace it. There’s actually a safe house up on stilts halfway along the road where people who get caught by the tide can call for help. Their cars are ruined. It’s a hard lesson to learn.
The parking lot was in the village. It’s a special little village where people live year round. 

We all got out of the van and made our way to different spots on the island. Kathleen, Ann and Latoya went to see the ruins of the abbey that had been sacked by the vikings, and made the climb to the castle. Darlene and Richard got something to eat and then went to St. Aiden’s church.

We walked the path that led to the castle but only went halfway. And it was perfect! We sat on a bench and watched others make the climb up the path. There were birds and wildflowers and sheep and I found one blown dandelion! After that we went back to the village and had tea and scones. I went into the bakery and bought a few yummy things and then we visited the post office where I bought a postcard to send to my son in Philadelphia. The postage cost about 3 pounds!

Our final destination that day was St. Aiden’s church, in Lindisfarne. We all gathered there and offered up our prayers for renewed faith.
The abbey that was sacked by the Vikings had been a place of great faith and a sending out place. Monks went there to prepare to go out to the nations and spread the Gospel. That was at the very end of the Dark Ages. 

​The castle was built in the 1550s and was refurbished in the 1920s by a wealthy family who kept it as holiday retreat. Now it's a museum that you can walk to.

I think it was the second most spiritually infused place we visited. Holy Spirit was so strong there and He was so glad to show us what He wanted us to see.
​

Saturday evening, very late, (or was it Sunday morning very early?

I climbed into the bed I was given at 1:00 Am and was rousted at 4:00 Am. We were driven to Dublin Airport for an 7:00 Am departure.

We and our luggage came through the front door where we were supposed to check our bags. The airport was pretty empty. Richard announced that he couldn’t find Darlene’s and his passports.

So we methodically opened all their bags and suitcases and then we did it again, and then we did it a third time. All of us together couldn’t find the missing passports. All this time the time to depart of Edinburg  crept closer and closer. 

Eventually, he went to the help desk that was just around the corner from where we and our sad selves were clustered. At the help desk they told Richard that the American embassy would be open Monday morning and then he and Darlene could get temporary passports.

After our third time of looking, Richard sat on the floor with his back to a pillar and simply stared straight ahead. There was no more room in his head to think about what should be done next.

I sat down next to him and said, “OK, Richard, what do we know to be the truth?

And we ticked off the list of things that were undeniable.

1. The embassy would open on Monday morning and they could temporary passports then.
2. They would have to find a hotel near the embassy 
3. We could go on without them and have them catch up with us.

 It was decided that we would cancel our plane tickets to Edinburgh and stay close to Darlene and Richard instead of splitting our group in two. So he went off to cancel the airline tickets at the help desk around the corner. We sadly watched them as they disappeared.

All of a sudden, Richard was walking back toward us! He had found the passports! They were in the money belt he had on under this shirt.

Praise God! He headed back to the help desk and asked if we could still use the tickets he had just cancelled. And the wonderful lady behind the desk said, “Yes!” So we checked our luggage, got the boarding passes and headed to Security. By that time the airport had filled up rather dramatically.

We got on the line that was slowly creeping along and each of us  checked our phones and wristwatches way more often than was good for us. Finally, we reached the conveyor belts and filled our plastic bins. I handed my baby Martin over and they took it to a separate table to thoroughly search it. And I mean THOROUGHLY!

It took 20 minutes for them to open the case, take the the guitar out, completely swab, wand and peek through every bit of  everything…three times by three different inspectors!

We rushed toward the gate but we missed the plane. It was taxiing away from the gate. We would not be visiting the Hebrides.

Now, all this time Darlene had sat in her walker/chair and we had made mad dashes from one of the airport to the other.

When we found out we had missed the plane and would need to go back to the very beginning and purchase new tickets, a wonderful man came and took us most of the way behind the “magic curtain,” that is, in hallways not open to the general population, and getting us back to the beginning in much less time.
So, we got new tickets, went through security again. The guitar was handled much more quickly, and finally we were able to sit down and have a bit of breakfast.

We made our rescheduled flight and landed in Edinburgh after an hour of flight. We rented another car at the airport (and Tom made sure we had a spare tire!) and headed into the heart of the city.

Our hotel was a Holiday Inn next to a venue where there was a dog show just as we were sitting down while Richard got our room keys.
We saw, dachshunds and Irish wolf hounds and lots of border collies.

Now, some people might have thought these were terrible days. And maybe some did.
But when the group stuck together, prayed for the best possible outcome and saw the results of those prayers we knew we were victorious. Did we miss the trip to the Hebrides? Yes, we did. Were we sad? Yes we were. Were we filled with the ineffable joy of God's presence? I did! I think the others did too. Would I have exchanged the joy of God's presence for that trip to the Hebrides? Not on your life!