I went for quite a long walk yesterday starting in Dunbar in East Lothian, and following the coast down to Barns Ness Lighthouse. Dunbar has a rich an interesting history. The ruins of a castle stand at one end of the harbour, and a defense battery at the other. Apparently the process of triggering explosives with an electric charge was devised firstly to blow open the cliffs here to install the harbour during the Victorian era. At the quayside there is a large propeller, which commemorates local inventor Robert Wilson, who invented the propeller! Apparently Wilson is much overlooked, but it is fascinating to think of the way history has panned out as a result of his invention.
Dunbar's defense battery is a ruin, which has been re-purposed as an art space. The walls are useful for practicing framing:
As you can see, it was a grey overcast day! We were promised sun, but it never came to pass.
Barns Ness lighthouse is a charming 'Stevenson' lighthouse that is pretty typical for Scotland. These lighthouses were built by David Stevenson, whose cousin was the author Robert Louis Stevenson. Small world! Most of these lighthouses are still fully operational. Compared to the massive lighthouses of the Bell Rock or Skerryvore this is just a baby, but it still looks the part!
The yellow detailing around the windows, and the squat flat-roofed buildings with tall chimneys, are all signature Stevenson features. I had a fascination with lighthouses as a kid, for no obvious reason. Growing up about as inland as you can get in Scotland, seeing them was a rarity and usually only happened when we were going somewhere interesting.
This must be a nightmare to paint. Apparently the lighthouse was deactivated in 2005 and now available to rent as a holiday cottage. Having said that, it is a long lonely road there and back:
And looming out the mist on your journey there and back is a large cement factory:
Anyway, this is the highlights of some 23 km of walking we achieved yesterday. In part I'm glad the sun didn't come out as I would have burnt like a lobster, but as you can see everything has a soft grey/blue quality to it.
