There’s something that always looks special about a lighthouse. They add such a dramatic finishing touch to a landscape or seascape. I like the stories that surround them – why and how they were built and what life was like by the keepers who lived in them. If I get the chance, I’ll always walk out to one and, if possible, climb to the top.
Although I’ve seen lighthouses in many places, most of the ones pictured in this week’s Friday Flickr are to be found in Scotland. And if you want to know any more about them, I highly recommend Bella Bathurst’s The Lighthouse Stevensons. She weaves the story of the amazing engineering feats of the Stevenson family in a way that reads almost like fiction. I had to keep reminding myself that this was all true.
My favourite lighthouse of all has to be Muckle Flugga of course. It sits at the top of the British Isles and can be seen from Hermaness on the north coast of Unst, my favourite island in my favourite archipelago. A walk from the small car park out over the moor, dodging diving bonxies (Great Skuas), heading left to see (and hear and smell) the magnificent gannetry, then backtracking and going right to find a spot to sit among puffins and gaze out to sea knowing Muckle Flugga and the nearby rock of Out Stack are the last land until Antarctica, has to be on any ‘best walks’ list.
Click on the photo below to access the Flickr page.
A short walk led along the seafront to the Venetian Harbour, so called because it was built by the Venetians in the 1300s. It’s lined with restaurants and tavernas, an old fort, a lighthouse, a mosque that was being renovated and the maritime museum. Tantalising glimpses of the distant, appropriately named, White Mountains drew the eye just as much as the harbour did.
Many buildings were covered in graffiti which I put down to mindless vandalism. Later, someone translated it for me and I realised this wasn’t ‘I woz ‘ere’ or ‘Shaz luvs Wayne’ type graffiti, but rather political slogans. I saw it in a new light, and although I still thought it spoilt the buildings, was impressed by how politically engaged people seemed to be.
The following morning, I drank in the views from my balcony for the last time. I may have arrived feeling disappointed, but it was nothing to the disappointment I felt at leaving.
