Escape to the Lighthouse

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If your dream covid escape involves a boat trip out to a rocky isle, we could not quite manage that last week. Instead, our vacation to a lighthouse keeper's cottage required the navigation of a narrow single track lane of some one and three quarter  miles in length with plenty of bends and sheer drops but very few passing places. Who would have thought that a dry land commute could be quite so exciting? It also beats queuing at an airport check-in, any day.



 

Deprived of this year's sailing season, seeing the sea was itself a novelty. Perched on a cliff on St Abb's Head in the Scottish Borders, we were suitably remote and our days were spent walking along the cliffs in both directions, including to St Abb's Harbour and beyond.



 

As the cottage was not part of the light itself, there was no circular staircase to negotiate and fortuitously, despite a vivid premonition of sleeping under a stroboscope, our bedroom window was not affected by the flashing light. Exploring on arrival,  however, the sight of a foghorn was a little disconcerting until we established that it had been decommissioned over twenty years ago and was unlikely therefore to wake us with its honking.



 

The Head falls within a nature reserve cared for by the Scottish National Trust. There are cliffs, rough grassland, pasture, woodland and a freshwater loch as well as rocky bays and plenty of waves. Inevitably, all our rambles involved a steep climb to ascend back to the lighthouse.There's little point, however, choosing a bleak and lonely place to stay to avoid coronavirus if you then succumb to an out of condition heart. It is amazing how quickly the body or rather legs adapt and whilst I may have been breathless at the beginning of the week, the effect of the uphill clamber was definitely less pronounced by the end. I guess you could say that I was even coasting (serious pun intended).



Comments

Treaders said…
Oh that looks absolutely glorious - and great weather too by the looks of it. I had to laugh at the "out of shape" legs bit though - it's what I've been struggling with all year! But well done!
3 October 2020 at 20:09
Caree Risover said…
A week of two halves with the weather, meaning that just when we thought we’d grown accustomed to the uphill slog, a strong northerly wind was added to the mix for us to struggle against ( kept me away from the cliff edge too).
3 October 2020 at 22:35
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