Firstly, apologies, I managed to miss a lighthouse in my post yesterday. Turnberry lighthouse was a minor failure as I was only able to see it from a distance in the end (I don’t like golf clubs, they tend to come between me and lighthouses a little too often). In an attempt to see it I did a small amount of rock climbing across a beach only to realise that I’d need to do some fairly dangerous additional rock climbing to get anywhere near it. It’s always good to get a bit of exercise though! In the end I just settled for seeing it from a distance from the main road. The most exciting part about that though, was seeing a hare dashing across the road (I got a picture of it in action)!

Anyway, on to today. I stopped at Killantringan lighthouse first thing this morning. It was here that I realised how frequently I managed to only half read signs. There was a nice sign saying ‘Killantringan lighthouse’ near the entrance and I thought ‘oh, that’s lovely’. It was only as I was leaving that I read the second part, which said ‘the grounds are private property’. This was after I’d driven in and parked up, of course. Oh well, no one said anything and I didn’t hurt anyone!

I then drove to the northern point of the final “sticky out bit” of Scottish land to Corsewall Point. Fortunately I did read the signs this time and they told me that visitors were welcome (see, I read to good stuff) and so I visited! The lighthouse itself wasn’t actually open, but I had a bit of a wander around and took some pictures, of course. My last three Scottish lighthouses were all fairly standard style for Scotland.

My final lighthouse in Scotland came in the form of Mull of Galloway. Now this lighthouse was open and I received a certificate for climbing the 115 steps to the top (Ardnamurchan has 152, not that I’m comparing or anything)! Some great views from the top and even though I was told to mind my head as I stepped out onto the balcony I still managed to hit it (I always do that). It’s been rather windy today so I didn’t stay out there long. Anyway, with my certificate and free lighthouse bookmarks in tow, I bid a sad farewell to Scotland. It had been the part of the trip I’d most been looking forward to and it had definitely lived up to my expectations. Although I moaned about the roads and it was a long, long way to drive along the west coast, you can clearly see the change in scenery as soon as you’re back in England. I was welcomed back by the M9, so I suppose I shouldn’t have expected much. I met and saw a lot of people who were enjoying the coast just as much as I was and it’s great that Scotland has managed to maintain its own beauty and character. I absolutely loved it, even some of the single-track roads (just some, mind)!

So now I’m in Cumbria, Silloth to be more precise. It’s windy and the “lighthouse” here (pictured) differs slightly from those I saw earlier in the day. There is another similar structure here, which I will attempt to see on my way back to the campsite this evening.

The next few days are likely to bring a lot of more neglected lighthouses, something I found was the case in north west England during my research. I shall keep you posted! 🙂