St Mary's Lighthouse

St Mary's Lighthouse stands on St Mary's Island just north of Whitley Bay featured in Spring watch BBC 2 this week. Today the tide was low so a friend and I were able to walk across the causeway onto the island and saw 10 seals basking in the sun on rocks beyond the lighthouse. We enjoyed a very welcome coffee in the Visitors Centre. As we walked round the outside of the lighthouse the wind was so strong it was hard to stand up. Neither of us have experienced such a force of wind before. Walking back across the causeway we linked arms to stabilise each other. The strange thing was it was warm despite the wind and the blue sky was almost cloudless.