Someone to watch over me

Jon and I have been discussing why old lighthouses are so appealing. ( I’m not sure if this is the same for everyone, but when I see the symbol for a lighthouse on the map, I have to trek out there and take a look.)

 

Perhaps it’s the location, as their very purpose demands their setting be wild and rugged and we are all called to areas of such spectacular beauty.

Perhaps it’s the construction of the building itself - a simple, elegant design in solid stone, built to withstand the roughest of weathers.

And that is another reason. They have stood there for such a long time - steady, sturdy, preventing disasters and protecting lives. We are aware of how much good they’ve done and it’s almost as if we are paying our respects to that and to the people who have manned them. Their function has changed but their history is ever present.

Lots of stone walls built around all the dwellings

I love looking around the settlements near the lighthouses, imagining the lives of the small community of people who made these areas home. Now, there are lighthouse keepers with very different job descriptions, as well as volunteer tour guides and lodge owners renting out boutique accommodation and cafe owners giving visitors a comfortable place to relax with a hot drink after walking around the cliff tops.

It’s the cliff tops and the rocks and the waves pounding against them that mesmerise me too.  I love the continual movement of the ocean.  Jon thinks that we might be called to the sea because of our inherited genetic memory, but I like to think it’s more of an ancestral longing and recognition of our sea faring past. We both agree that it’s also the contrast between land and sea, between solid and liquid, between earthy colours and so many brilliant shades of blue. 

Huge wind farm along this stretch of coast - Power of the turbines seems to match the power of the landscape and weather. Love the juxtaposition of the old and the new.

Whatever the reason, I am loving this chance to travel along such beautiful stretches of coast, stop when I feel like it and share the experience, as well as my thoughts, with my wonderful husband.