Bit disappointed that I couldn't seem to get these photos as sharp as when I went in February. It was fairly late evening and dusk approaching so that may have been the cause of it. Actually, when I arrived at the coast via a small side road on the Cooley peninsula, it took me a while to locate the light with the naked eye.
It also took me a while to realise that the black dots on the lights were in fact birds gathering for the final twilight farewell before heading off for the night and not some fancy new decoration. Apparently it used to drive the nearby residents mad that the fog signal would go off when there was a complete absence of fog until they discovered that it was cormorants that were triggering the fog signal!
The lighhouse was designed by the blind Belfast engineer Alexander Mitchell and was first exhibited in 1855. Due to the shifting nature of the sands in Dundalk Bay, the lighthouse has in fact moved around a bit on the shallows it is supposed to warn against, going from the north side to the middle and basically doing its own crazy dance around the bay
Below is a navigation beacon which seems to be pretty close to the light but is probably quite a distance away as you can't really get a perspective from the shore.
Hi, Don't remembe what road it was? Love lighthouses and would like paddle out to this one.
ReplyDeleteHi, Love lighthouse's and would love to add this one to my collection. Can you remember the road you took?
ReplyDeleteWas up there Sunday but it eluded me.
Take care.
Hi Ricky, depends if you mean paddle as in wading or kayaking! I had heard the keepers used to walk over at low tide, have a quick couple of pints and walk back again but I wouldn't dream of advising that to anyone! My photos were taken from Gyles Quay but I'm not sure if the distance might be shorter somewhere around Annagassan
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