Category: Tour Diary

I was informed a few weeks ago by the wonderful and infamous Bob that a number of lighthouses exist on the edges of lochs in Scotland. Armed with this new information and his map software, we took advantage of the journey from Inverness to Fort William this weekend in preparation for the start of the Three Peaks Challange. We were joined on the trip by Darryl Campling who, I was pleased to find, was quite active in searching for the lighthouses. I do like welcoming new recruits!

Our first stop was Fort Augustus where there is a lighthouse on the edge of Loch Ness. This lighthouse, often referred to as a “pepper-pot”, is in fact said to be the smallest lighthouse in the UK. In its beautiful setting it marks the entrance to the Caledonian Canal. Further along the canal at Corpach is a similar structure and a third can be found at Gairlochy. It was great to visit a new type of lighthouse that I had never even considered might exist before and I imagine that there may be more waiting to be found in Scotland. I look forward to “bagging” them too!

The Three Peaks Challenge went well and I was astounded by how Bob and Darryl managed to keep motivated enough to complete all three in such a short space of time. I had a chance to explore some great places while they were on the mountains, including Glencoe in Scotland with Bob’s parent and Llanberis in Wales.

I was already aware that Bob had a day of surprises lined up for the Sunday and as I drove us away from Snowdonia National Park following his directions, it took me a little while to realise where we were headed. Once I had narrowed the destination down to Anglesey I got very excited about potentially visiting one of, in my opinion, the most beautiful lighthouses in the UK. During the month-long tour I had visited South Stack lighthouse on the west coast of Anglesey twice. The first time was in the evening after setting up camp at a site nearby. However, as I arrived a horrible sea mist had just set in and, contrary to what the crazy man running up and down the 412 steps down to the bridge to South Stack Island had said, the mist only got worse with no sign of it clearing. I revisited again the following morning, this time in the pouring rain. The lighthouse still managed to maintain its beauty in this atrocious weather, but I was too early to take the tour and the idea of hanging around in the horrible weather just didn’t appeal to me. So, returning when the weather was really pleasant and the lighthouse was open to visitors was fantastic. The tour was really interesting and I secretly found the man in the lamp room very funny with his booming Welsh voice. We also had a glimpse from the top of the lighthouse of porpoises playing around in the waves. The tour is a great experience, although the views from the top of the lighthouse and the island can’t quite beat the views of the island itself from the mainland – particularly on a nice day!

From South Stack we were also able to catch a long-distance view of The Skerries with its red and white striped lighthouse. One day we will have to visit the Skerries as well as Bardsey island and a few other island or rock lighthouses off the coast of Wales.

After leaving South Stack we headed for Holyhead, which is home to two more lighthouses. The black and white striped structure on the end of the breakwater at Holyhead – the longest in the UK – proved a bit of a challenge to find, but we got there eventually and it was well worth the effort. The breakwater is particularly popular with fishermen so we had to watch out for them and their rods as we drove along! Within the Breakwater Country Park there is a small area with information about how the breakwater was developed, which is really interesting and definitely worth checking out. The second lighthouse at Holyhead is contained within a restricted access area so we were only able to get some distance shots using a zoom lens. Better than nothing though and definitely better than my first visit (shortly after South Stack) when the mist had begun to creep in there as well.

It was a great weekend and really good to discover a new style of lighthouse and get closer to some of those I had visited previously. Big thanks (again) to Bob for organising everything and continuing to increase his own, and my, commitment to the lighthouse-bagging cause! 🙂

UKlighthousetour2012 went all modern on me over the past week. Not content with sitting in a car to reach lighthouses, it saw me board a plane to visit my little friends (lighthouses) in the north…and I saw rather a large amount of them at that! A number of revisits as well as some new acquaintances.

I travelled to Inverness to be escorted to the north coast of Scotland by my wonderful man (the exciting result of my Cape Wrath encounter if I haven’t mentioned that before!). We reached Bob’s house late on Thursday evening and I was greeted by some amazing lighthouses in action. The view from the back of the house includes nighttime sightings of Dunnet Head lighthouse and one of the Orkney lights. Needless to say I stood at the window for quite some time! It was also great to see how fast the view changed from one minute to the next while the moon was rising. Simply stunning.

The tour truly began, however, with a visit on Friday evening to Strathy Point, where the lighthouse is no longer in operation but is for sale. I managed to convince Bob that we didn’t really want to trespass and so I took some pictures from just outside the gate instead.

Saturday was a very exciting day and, although it didn’t incorporate lighthouses, we visited Smoo Cave in Durness where Colin, the tour guide and a friend of Bob’s, gave a tour in four languages all at the same time! He is a fantastic character, a real “caveman” and has some amazing stories to tell. It may not be the most frequently visited place for many of you, but it is well worth a visit if you are ever nearby. Bob then drove me to the location of our first meeting following our return from the trip to Cape Wrath. Very lovely to be back there and realise how much life has changed since I was last there. We also visit Cocoa Mountain and had chocolates and chocolate chip cookies – too easy to overdose on chocolate there!

Sunday kicked-started what was to become a couple of true lighthouse-seeking/collecting/bagging (apparently I need to work on the definitions of these terms) days. Bob had very kindly informed me that a small lighthouse existed at the edge of Loch Eriboll that had escaped my attention during the tour. It was probably lucky that it had as it was a bit of a challenge to get to and I was glad of Bob’s instinct for recognising boggy areas and the types of ground you should and shouldn’t walk on. On previous evenings we had seen the lighthouse from about three different perspectives around the loch, including seeing it in action the previous evening – very exciting! The structure (pictured) is not your typical lighthouse and would probably be classed as more of a beacon, but the Northern Lighthouse Board own a number of these and I wanted the chance to see one in real life and actually get a decent picture of this one too – there appear to be no close-up images online and I like to think that we now have the only ones in existence! From here we travelled on, stopping off for lunch at The Craggan Hotel where I had my first sampling of scallops (I’ll be having those again!), to Holborn Head. I had visited this lighthouse (which, according to Wikipedia is actually named “Holburn Head lighthouse” rather than “Holborn” – fascinating, I know!) on my tour, but only been able to see it from a distance, not realising that you can pretty much walk wherever you like in Scotland – and everywhere else as well if you listen to Bob! It was great to be able to see the lighthouse (pictured below) close-up this time and I also had the opportunity to see Holborn Head itself where there is some stunning coastline with some rather scary and large gaping chasms leading down to the sea. Absolutely fantastic! Our final stop of the day was Dunnet Head with the most northerly lighthouse on mainland UK. This is one of my favourite Scottish lighthouses, partly due to its height – it’s fairly short in comparison to many of the others. On Sunday evening we took a short stroll from the house to see the beautiful coastline to the west of Portskerra, which looked incredible as the sun was going down – and, no doubt, looks just as good at all other times too!

Monday was the stuff a lighthouse-seekers dreams are made of – setting aside the fact that it was also the day I was leaving Scotland. Our first stop was Duncansby Head and the most north easterly lighthouse on mainland UK (we managed to reach the furthest points on the South East, North and North East coasts of mainland UK within the space of 6 days – pretty impressive I think). Once again I was forced to trespass, but we were surprised to find that the lighthouse appeared not to have a Northern Lighthouse Board plaque on it as other Scottish lighthouses do – it was actually Bob who noticed this, which I think means that he loves lighthouse now too! Luckily we weren’t caught trespassing as I’m not sure how we would have talked our way out of that one when the gate we climbed over was locked and there was a very obvious sign saying it was private! We then headed south to Wick, stopping for a brief visit to Noss Head lighthouse and a small lighthouse and a beacon in Wick harbour. We also passed Clythness lighthouse – the one I was unaware of, but spotted on the tour – as well as catching a glimpse of Tarbat Ness lighthouse from a distance (Bob is going to go there and get me some decent photos of the lighthouse as it was misty when I visited in May) and, as we neared Inverness airport, we had time to check out the lighthouse at Chanonry Point near Fortrose from Fort George. It was a truly wonderful day – until I had to get on the plane, of course.

In total, I believe our lighthouse tally for the six-day period stood at 18 lighthouses and beacons and 4 more seen from afar. That’s definitely what I would call some very successful lighthouse-seeking/collecting/bagging! A big thank you to Bob for making it possible and for being so willing to join and continue the tour! 🙂

Faced with the challenge of organising a day of activities in the south east of England for my most favourite acquaintance from the lighthouse tour (see previous post for full details), I decided that as we had met at the most north westerly point of the UK mainland, we should visit the most south easterly point. It also just so happened that there were some lighthouses lingering around in the area that still needed to be visited.

My initial plan was to head for the White Cliffs of Dover and walk across to South Foreland lighthouse (pictured). This plan worked rather well and we reached the lighthouse with plenty of time to sample what the tearoom had to offer and sign up for the tour. It’s a lovely little lighthouse and, as the guide told us, although it is actually very short – 73 steps to the top, so we were told – the height of the cliffs it sits on means that it ranks among the tallest in England based on the height of the light from sea level. It was a great tour, which seemed to me to be very good value for money. They try to make it as interactive as they possibly can and, at one point, I was volunteered (by Bob) to wind this very heavy lever which makes sure the lamp continues to rotate. We were fortunate enough to reach the top between the bouts of sea mist that kept appearing. A second lighthouse sits a little way off near the cliff edge, but this one is not accessible, unfortunately.

Getting into the true lighthouse tour spirit, Bob then suggested we continue to head northwards to check out a few more lighthouses that I hadn’t seen. So, our next stop was the surprisingly pleasant Ramsgate. The lighthouse here is on the end of a pier and is in remarkably good condition with some subtle little touches including small fish sculptures. It was a quiet, but lovely little place.

Our next stop was the lighthouse at North Foreland, which is now used for holiday lets. I, once again, demonstrated my amazing ability to spot a lighthouse (I’m always on the lookout). Although we weren’t allowed into the grounds you can still get close enough for some decent photo opportunities. The lighthouse is very “Trinity House” (they have a look about them – it’s the white and green paint more than anything), but was still very pretty. It’s in a rather well-to-do area so the Mercedes Bob had (very cheekily) managed to upgrade to at the car hire place fit in perfectly!

It was quite the opposite situation in Margate, unfortunately. We drove along a road heading towards the seafront and there were groups of kids sitting on steps outside the houses (the kind of thing they seem to do a lot in films set in The Bronx in New York!). The lighthouse, which is on the end of the pier, was also a little disappointing, but we’d seen some beauties elsewhere and must not get too picky!

All in all it was a really great day and a good opportunity for Bob to get a real insight into the true lighthouse hunting experience. Of course, I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a Merc then, but Little Car got the task done (albeit slower) nonetheless. Good times continue with more from Scotland this weekend! 🙂

A true lighthouse-seeker (a self-penned term for want of a better one) can never truly let sleeping lighthouses lie (excuse the over-use of idioms here, but it’s for dramatic effect) and so, last weekend, I returned to what I do best. But first, I must start from the very beginning.

Now, once upon a time there was a young (yes, you heard, young, most definitely young) lighthouse-seeker whose ambition it was to travel the coastal routes of mainland UK in order to fulfil a need that she had: to see as many lighthouses as she possibly could in one month. And so she did! As well as the lighthouses, she also encountered some truly stunning (and sometimes quite hideous) scenery as well as a variety of colourful, friendly and/or strange individuals. Now there was one particular lighthouse that this young “seeker” was unsure of visiting due to the amount of time required to reach it (she did only have a month after all) and so she did what any sensible, young “seeker” would do and called upon those who knew her best (and had a WordPress account) to decided whether or not she should attempt to visit the lighthouse at the most north-westerly point of mainland UK, Cape Wrath (see the relevant blog post). The answer was a resounding ‘Do it!’ and so, on Sunday 27th May, off she popped to catch the boat and the minibus that would take her to the lighthouse (see here for more details of the trip).

One thing we must bear in mind at this point, before we get too involved with the story, is that this young lighthouse-seeker had told friends at the beginning of the year that she was to have nothing to do with men or relationships in 2012 [thanks for reminding me of this the other night, Laura!]. Perhaps you see where this is going?!

At this point I am going to stop referring to myself in the third person (that lighthouse-seeker was me? Surely not!). As I mentioned in my blog post that day, the minibus stopped on the way back from the lighthouse and I had absolutely no idea what was going on as I was sitting at the back. Fortunately we had a spare seat going as the man who had stopped the minibus wanted a lift back to the boat. So in he got and we set off again. Now, and I’m sure my female readers will agree, it is sometimes necessary for a single lady to quite innocently check out “the situation” purely for research purposes and so I did (from behind, of course, I was sat at the back after all) and decided that there was a potential need for further assessment. The perfect opportunity arose as we were waiting for the boat and he approached and began speaking to a couple I was standing next to (they were a little odd, but let’s not lose focus), so I semi-joined in the conversation. I’m not great at group conversations, they tend not to be of much benefit to anyone and I often don’t talk a lot during them for this very reason. However, what did develop from this collective exchange was some form of determination within me to, at some point before the end of the trip, speak to this man without the odd couple (or anyone else for that matter) involved. This wasn’t just because I thought he was cute (of course not) it was also because I was fascinated by his decision to spend a weekend at Cape Wrath (no one in London does anything that’s anywhere near as exciting and spontaneous as that) as a fellow lone traveller. This much-needed conversation happened shortly after we got off of the boat and lasted for approximately 10 minutes, during which time I was able to find out only two pieces of information about him that would be helpful for the sequence of events that followed: where he lived and that he was involved in mountain rescue (who really needs to know names?!).

It wasn’t long at all before it began to play on my mind that I didn’t know more about him and hadn’t taken the opportunity to inform him about this very blog so we could stay in touch. If I had been travelling the other way around the country I would have been heading in the same direction as he had when we separated that day, but the west coast beckoned.

More than 20 days later when I wrote this post I still hadn’t managed to stop thinking about the encounter. As we all know, when there’s something on your mind it needs to be addressed and so I knew I had to do something about it. Now, a lot of people complain about the Internet and the “evils” of it and I won’t deny that there are bad things that happen online, but if it hadn’t have been for good old Google (and him being a self-proclaimed “media tart” mainly as a result of climbing mountains – yes, that’s right, he got even more fascinating!) I wouldn’t be writing this post now! I told a few friends that I had done a bit of a Google search and found Bob which prompted a few “stalker” comments. Now, Wikipedia (the hub of all online knowledge, as we know) defines the word “stalker” as ‘a term commonly used to refer to unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person.’ Aside from me not being at all obsessive, one word I would particularly like to highlight here is “unwanted”. I’m not going to go into detail about what was said via email after I first made contact with Bob as that’s just for us, but it turned out that it wasn’t, in fact, unwanted attention and he had felt exactly the same way as I had after our encounter.

So this is how I found myself, just over two weeks after sending an email to someone I barely knew, spending a weekend with a truly amazing man. Obviously aware of my lighthouse-seeker status, he had lined up a brilliant weekend of lighthouses and coastal perfection on the Isle of Arran in Scotland with a day trip to the Holy Isle. The trip also involved roadside camping, which afforded some beautiful views (I would have liked to have done this on my month-long venture, but for a lone female traveller it’s always “safety first”). Our trip began at Ardrossan where I had stopped off during the tour to see the lighthouse near the ferry terminal. Very excitingly, though, this time I actually managed to climb the steps up to it (I don’t know how, but the possibility of doing so on my previous visit had escaped my attention – apparently it was ‘tucked away behind railings’). The lighthouse is, as I mentioned in my earlier post, a bit battered, but still standing, which is the most important thing. From there we took the ferry to Arran, a really beautiful island where we went on to visit the King’s Cave (Robert the Bruce allegedly spoke to a spider here) and some fascinating stone circles (I do enjoy a circle of stones and these are really impressive)! We also got some great views of Ailsa Craig (or “the big lump” as I so fondly refer to it), Pladda with its lighthouse, some stunning sea stacks (I like those as well) and had many “stop the car and take a few pictures” opportunities.

Now the Holy Isle (and I focus specifically on this part of the trip as it boasts two lighthouses and this is a lighthouse-themed blog after all – if you want to know more about the rest of the trip just let me know and I will chat away to you for hours) is simply lovely with a hermit’s cave, huge rock crevices and some very intricate buddhist paintings as you follow the path along the west of the island. Getting to the first lighthouse involved a hint of trespassing on land owned by nuns. After walking across a fair amount of massive rocks we reached it and were very quickly approached by a couple of men who told us that we shouldn’t be there (we told them that we “didn’t see” the sign). I found these guys strange for a number of reasons, which I won’t go into, but the more talkative of the two said at one point, after finding out about my love of lighthouses, something along the lines of ‘I’m bored of this one now, I see it every day. The other one is more interesting though, isn’t it? It’s square’. For those of you who know me you will be aware of my opinion of this guy after he had made such an atrocious statement. I recognised that he didn’t deserve my time, but as he let us walk back from the lighthouse the sensible way I thought I’d better play nice. Apparently these guys are there for four years (yes, four whole years!!!) as caretakers in the nun’s buildings (there is so much about them and their lives that I just cannot comprehend). Now, once we’d said our goodbyes to them and a poor little goat that was hanging around with some people near the nun’s gate, we made our way to the second lighthouse (the square one). The views from the second lighthouse are magnificent and, being so square, the lighthouse is really impressive. This is one of my favourite lighthouse visits so far. I did get annoyed that some kayakers were scaring off the birds, but they soon disappeared and there was no one else around.

I was sad to be leaving Arran as it meant going home, but we had time to fit in a quick visit to the two lighthouses at Port Glasgow on the way back. It was quieter than my first visit there so we could approach the thinner lighthouse without getting mixed up with local businesses and other people. We also got my first “drive and snap” (although I wasn’t driving, of course) lighthouse experience, which involved a bit of guess-work as to which of the green buoys or pillars was actually the lighthouse we were looking for (fun times!). On an entirely different note, but I feel it’s important for you to know, if you find yourself in Largs at any time you must go to Nardini’s and try the Dime bar ice cream. It is basically heaven in foodstuff form!

Most importantly though, if you ever have the opportunity to go to Arran and the Holy Isle then you simply must do it. It is fantastic and, it turns out, a perfect location for a very memorable and extremely enjoyable “first date”, as it has come to be known. As for my meeting Bob, what can I say except that sometimes fate takes over (and I wasn’t a believer before). However, it doesn’t always do all of the work for you, and you should meet it halfway sometimes (even if it does mean you become labelled a stalker) because you never know, that “unwanted” attention might just become wanted for you too. 🙂

My final day arrived (too quickly in my opinion) and I wanted to make the most of it while trying not to completely wear myself out.

Due to the long drives between Southampton and Dungeness and then home, I was only able to visit the two lighthouses in this rather out of the way village. The old lighthouse here (pictured) is a fantastic black structure, which was discontinued when the very modern-looking black and white striped lighthouse (which I saw in action) was built. The whole place is a little strange and I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. Firstly, it smelt old (that musty smell that you get in old buildings and museums) in the area, which was really weird. Secondly, it has a very strange setup of a light railway, power station, nature reserve, a pub and the two lighthouses, none of which are really promoted on the main road. Unsurprisingly it was quite quiet.

So, I am now back home with mixed feelings. Once I slowed down after leaving Wales the tiredness caught up with me, but (of course) I would very much have liked to carry on.

I was able to visit 147 lighthouses out of a possible 200(ish). The majority of those I have yet to see are in south Wales and along the coast of south west England. I would like to save these for another bout of good weather. It really does make all the difference.

I’ve had an amazing 30 days, even better than I expected and it’s really proven to me just how beautiful the UK is. I have so many memories that will stay with me for many years to come and saw a number of new places that I will be sure to revisit.

Thank you so much to everyone who made the trip possible and supported me along the way. My best holiday ever! Thanks for reading! 🙂

Yesterday may have been a bit of a wash-out, but I wasn’t going to let that stop proceedings completely. Today my sister, Katy, kindly offered to join me in visiting a couple of lighthouses along the south coast.

Our first was at Southsea Castle where the black and white striped beacon sticks out of the castle wall. Although it’s quite prominent, both Katy and I said that we’d never noticed it before on previous trips to Southsea (my love of lighthouses hasn’t been lifelong), but it’s very clearly there!

We then went on to Beachy Head and the amazing red and white striped beacon (pictured) at the foot of the chalk cliffs. It was windy, but the sky was clear and it looks stunning (if a little dwarfed by the cliffs).

A short walk along the cliff brings you to Belle Tout lighthouse, which sits on the cliff edge. Completely different in style to the Beachy Head lighthouse, it’s now a private residence for some (lucky) people. In my opinion it doesn’t quite compare to Beachy Head, but it’s still a pretty little thing. The characteristic stripes of the Beachy Head lighthouse are now under threat as Trinity House have said that it costs too much to maintain. Their plan is just to allow it to go back to it’s natural grey colour, which I think would be a great shame.

So, it’s my final day tomorrow and I’m hoping to spend a bit of time on the south east coast to view a couple more lighthouses before my tour officially comes to an end. 🙂

An early blog today purely for the simple reason that there isn’t much to tell.

Last night I spent a lovely evening in the Camper’s Cabin at Greenore Campsite. They offered me a glass of wine and, because they weren’t creepy old men, I accepted. There was lots of laughter and chatting, but I made sure I went to bed before it got completely dark as I wanted to be able to find my tent!

During the night I was awoken at around 1.30am by some pretty strong winds and heavy rain. It had been expected, but I continued with the camping business anyway. I was awake then for about an hour and a half before I managed to get back to sleep. I then awoke again at about 6.20am to even stronger winds. I was very proud of the tent as it held its own against nature’s forces, although it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable experience.

Based on the weather situation, which was set to continue throughout the day in South Wales, I decided that it would be neither pleasant nor entirely safe to go wandering about on the coast. As a result I chose to leave Wales and head to the south coast of England where the gales weren’t expected to be quite so strong. The benefit of being on the south or south east coast is that I am also only a couple of hours away from home.

So, my plan is to continue my trip from Southampton tomorrow, starting from Southsea and heading anti-clockwise and see how far I get.

We shall see how that goes. Of course I can’t leave this post without a picture though, so here’s Morcambe lighthouse from day 24. 🙂

What atrocious weather! That’s all I can say. My trip involved a lot of driving today, but I was glad to be in the car and out of the rain to be honest.

It woke me up a couple of times early this morning, but the tent is doing well and holding its own. I had a quick chat with Betty, the owner of the campsite I stayed at last night, while she hung out of the window. She made sure I was warned that it was going to be windy in central and southern Wales and that they’ve just reintroduced parking wardens in Aberystwyth. A bit of insider information, bless her!

So, my first stop was obviously my second attempt at South Stack and I am pleased to report it was a success this time, if a little wet. Due to the dodgy weather and cloudy, dark skies I was able to see the light in action, which was wonderful! It’s one of the most stunning lighthouses I’ve seen on my trip and I defy anyone to not find it a fantastic site. It’s a little out of the way, but worth a visit (and I didn’t even go on the island itself – I was about an hour too early for that). It was very very wet though and the camera got a bit wet and the lens steamed up, which I’ve dealt with now, but completely worth the hassle. Loved it!

I then drove to Newborough Forest (apparently it’s not far from where William and Kate live) to see the lighthouse at Llanddwyn Island. When the tide is out the island becomes more of a peninsula, but it was definitely high tide so no access to that one. It had been built up a bit as Michael, who I met at the campsite near Ardnamurchan, had proposed to his girlfriend there. Lovely story, but I’m guessing the weather was a little better that day!

I was pleased then to settle into the confines of the car for a long drive to Aberystwyth. I planned to go via Porthmadog (which I did) and visit Portmeirion (which I didn’t). I must have missed a turning and could have gone around in a circle, but didn’t really fancy it as there was a fair build-up of traffic. So, I gave that a miss.

Aberystwyth was fairly uneventful. The green and white striped beacon (pictured) on the end of the pier wasn’t hugely inspiring, but I got to purchase a hot chocolate from The Hut on the seafront (the lady who worked there told me where the nearest public facilities were so I felt it would be rude not to go back and buy a drink) and encounter the strange traffic in central Aberystwyth (it was very busy on one road and then it just dispersed and vanished – very odd).

I arrived at Greenore Campsite for the night, which is located a few miles east of Cardigan. The owners, Sue and David, were really welcoming and gave me a tour of the place and Sue brought over a cup of tea and a few slices of cake as a welcome. Apparently she does it for everyone, which is a lovely touch. You don’t find that sort of service at many campsites (but that’s a different blog post in itself – for another time). 🙂

What a simply lovely day!

I reached Wales at around 9.30 this morning, which was very exciting. There were a couple of lighthouses scheduled for today that I was looking forward to. The first of which was Point of Ayr lighthouse (pictured) at Talacre. I’d read a few things about this lighthouse, the first of which was that a man got stuck in the sand on the approach to the lighthouse the other day. It also has a very strange, and a little bit creepy, iron man on the balcony. I must admit that the sand was a bit “marshy” in places, but I was sensible and kept moving so it didn’t have the chance to suck me in. The lighthouse is in really bad condition. I think the owners have been trying to sell it for a long time. However, it must just have to be one of my favourites purely because it’s got so much character.

I was very fortunate at my next stop, Great Ormes Head. You have to pay a toll to drive along the coastal road, Marine Drive, but it’s completely worth it. There are some fantastic views as you drive along. They have a visitor’s centre, cafe and, of course, the lighthouse, which is now used as a B&B. I turned off towards the lighthouse and, fortunately, the owner was hanging around and let me in. In general it’s not open to the public, but the guy let me have a look around and we chatted for a while about lighthouses. Wonderful!

I was also very much looking forward to my next stop, Trwyn Du, which is just north of Beaumaris. On the way there I drove through Beaumaris and stopped for some crumpets in Beau’s Tea Shop, which has featured on Hairy Bikers. Very good crumpets and a cute little place. Again there was a toll on the road to Trwyn Du and, again, it was worth the price. The lighthouse is black and white striped and sits happily between the mainland and Puffin Island. It also, I noticed, has a bell which was ringing while I was there as a boat sailed past. Really lovely place and another lighthouse with its own character.

Every day must have its down point and mine today was Point Lynas. The lighthouse (which you would never guess was a lighthouse from a distance) is on private land so I wasn’t able to see it close up. There are some stunning views nearby though with a small bay that was fairly quiet. It’s very out of the way, so I guess not many people know about it.

To follow this up, I was unsuccessful in Amlwch. My book told me that there was a small light on the end of the pier, but I wasn’t able to see one from the other side of the harbour. Apparently they also have a memorial gravestone in a nearby church for the lighthouse. I think this is a bit weird, but I visited the grounds of the church anyway. I couldn’t see anything outside so it must be inside, but I’m not here to see churches now, am I?!

I then made my way towards Holyhead. After stopping briefly at the campsite to set up my tent, I drove on to South Stack. I was looking forward to it and just about managed to see it from a distance when a really heavy sea mist appeared and didn’t look like it was going to shift, so I shall go back to that one in the morning.

I then made the short trip to Holyhead to see the lighthouses on the breakwaters. The mist was starting to creep in there as well, so I had a quick look and headed back to camp.

So, tomorrow I’ll head for South Stack first thing and then on to Llanddwyn before a leisurely (and long) drive through Snowdonia National Park (via Porthmadog and Portmeirion, of course)! Good times! 🙂

What can I say about today except it’s been weird and not entirely pleasing.

For some reason I left the B&B in an uneasy mood this morning without knowing why. Now I’m not trying to say I’m psychic or anything, but I may be able to predict when something bad is going to happen. I was on my way to the first stop at Hale, near Liverpool Airport, this morning on the M57 and suddenly the car starting shaking like crazy as I drove. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder and got out to check the tyres and saw that one of my rear tyres had completely burst. I then contacted my breakdown company and a guy (who struggled to find me as I originally gave the wrong junction number) came out and changed it. I had also managed to lose my hubcap somewhere along the way. It’s all fixed now though and we were able to carry on with our journey, just a little later than planned.

Hale is a little village that, in my opinion, is a bit too close to the airport. There aren’t planes flying dangerously low overhead or anything, but I can’t imagine the people of Hale were particularly happy about the airport’s creation. The lighthouse there (pictured) is at the end of a lane (Lighthouse Lane, in fact). It’s fairly standard lighthouse fare in my opinion.

My second stop was the Waterways Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port where the old lighthouse is still very much standing. It doesn’t look particularly “lighthousey”, but I bought a milkshake from the cafe there, which was nice. I saw it as a recovery treat following the trauma of the tyre incident.

The next six lighthouses I went in search of were all fairly close together in the Birkenhead/Wallasey area. The small and intriguing structure (I think it’s actually a replica) at Woodside ferry terminal in Birkenhead was rather nice and they had a few other items on display there so I grabbed a few shots of them too.

New Brighton is a lighthouse that can be approached at low tide and I had previously considered visiting in the past whilst I was in Liverpool for work (I decided against it then as more sleep was the preferable option). It had just started to rain when I arrived there so it wasn’t an amazing experience. The lighthouse, as I keep reporting from these parts, is looking rather weathered now.

I then bypassed two of the lighthouses (one in Wallasey and the other in Leasowe) partly by accident. The former lighthouse in Hoylake is now a private residence and the lamp has been removed from the top, so it’s essentially just a tall, round tower now. I managed to park outside and get a sneaky picture nonetheless.

It had really started to rain and I had concerns about arriving at the campsite in time when I got to West Kirby. From here, at low tide, you can walk out to Hilbre Island (which some crazy people were doing). I, however, stayed on the safe confines of the promenade.

I think, on my way back to the M53, I caught a glimpse of the old lighthouse at Leasowe. It was a big old tower in the beach area anyway, but I had decided by this point to head back inland for the evening. This also meant missing the lighthouse in Wallasey, but some sacrifices just need to be made. These smaller lighthouses along the edges of rivers etc. aren’t the most fascinating, so I am happy to skip them every now and then if it means making it to some of the bigger ones.

After losing some time due to the tyre incident this morning I wasn’t sure that I’d still be on track to head for Wales tomorrow, but I am pleased to report that my first stop in the morning will indeed by my first Welsh lighthouse! Yippee! 🙂