Living on the north coast of Scotland means I very rarely find myself travelling down to the West Country and so an Association of Lighthouse Keepers trip to Cornwall seemed a perfect opportunity to visit some of those not yet seen smaller lighthouses en route.

The first one was always going to be a tricky one. I’d heard that access to Lighthouse Beach at Kingswear was restricted, but I wanted to check to see if there was any change in the situation. I’d done a little bit of Googling and discovered that access to the beach had been closed to the public by the person building a house on the adjacent land. Their argument was that the beach was their private land and access has been restricted now for over 20 years, which has also been partly due to land slips in the area. There is a long document detailing the history of access to the beach and land ownership here. A local news story last September said it had been agreed by the local Council that public access to the land should be permitted, so I was keen to see if this had happened since.

Kingswear is a very picturesque place to visit with lots of your typical West Country narrow streets and lovely little (and sometimes very big) houses lined along them. There are some great views of Dartmouth Harbour near the public car park and then you get some nice panoramic views over to Dartmouth with the coastal train line running into Kingswear as its final stop on the line from Dartmouth. The timing was rather good as a steam train appeared in the distance and pulled into the station as we were heading back to the car.

After traipsing the winding streets among expensive-looking houses and walled gardens (which I loved), I finally got the answer I was looking for. I think the picture below is the best way to describe it.

I was, of course, a bit disappointed, but actually surprised that it wasn’t possible to get any closer. My lighthouse friend John had previously been there and managed to get a distant picture through the trees, but there was no chance of that with the position of the fence – and definitely no way of getting around it.

All was not lost though as Joe the Drone was on hand and swung into action after dusting off his blades.

I knew our next stop of the day was likely to offer some distant views of the Kingswear Lighthouse anyway so I settled for that.

Ferry one of the day went between Kingswear and Dartmouth where we parked up and walked a fairly short coastal route along to Dartmouth Castle. As expected it did give some views of the light on the beach at Kingswear.

Dartmouth Castle had been a bit of a puzzling one when I’d been working on my book. There was very limited information available to suggest that there once had been a lighthouse within the grounds of the castle and that the building still stands today. Luckily a knowledgable chap working at the castle was able to explain where it was. There is no access to the tower now and it’s current use is a store room, but it is attached to the back of the little cafe there. Although there was very limited time to explore, it was still good to wander around the castle buildings for a while and see which angle looked the best for getting views of the old lighthouse tower.

The next was, I’ll be honest, not the most exciting, but luckily didn’t involve much effort. My research had told me that the light at Mount Wise Pier in Devonport was the property of the MOD, but that it was still possible to get close to it. To see it properly meant heading down the spiral staircase to get a view from below.

I’d say the only interesting thing about this one is the remains of an old building and arches near the entrance to the pier.

There’s a really nice memorial nearby to Devonport-born Robert Scott who led the British Antarctic Expedition to find the South Pole which led to Scott and the entire crew perishing on the return journey. It’s far more visually appealing that the light, I must say.

Reaching the final lighthouse of the day involved ferry number two, crossing the Hamoaze from Devon into Cornwall. After that there was one tiny narrow road after another to navigate to get to the Mount Edgcumbe area. One of these roads though provided points with stunning views looking down over Sango Island with Torpoint and Devonport beyond and the stretches of water separating all three.

The lighthouse at Hooe Lake Point, just to the east of Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, isn’t very well known and it is a little odd. It sits at the bottom end of a Scout campsite and required a quick hop over the gate.

This is probably one of the best vantage points for seeing the Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse too, which always seems so far away from Plymouth when you spot it from the Hoe. It’s not exactly close to this point, but closer.

It had been a busy day of bagging little and lesser known lights, but still a good one and one day hopefully I will make it to that tricky little Kingswear light 🙂