The Lighthouse Adventure
Is there anyone who goes to sea that doesn’t have an appreciation for the form and function of a lighthouse?
Well, I have something of an obsession with them, much to the amusement of my boating friends.
But I can’t help noticing that if I suggest we detour for a look, they don’t put up much of a fight!
So why do they exert such a pull on me?
Apart from their obvious functionality, the lighthouses of Scotland were built at a time of political and social upheaval.
- Scotland and England united.
- Nations became Empire.
- Sail gave way to steam.
- Commerce eclipsed the claymore.
Lighthouses were built not only at the confluence of seas and land, they were also built at the confluence of time and history.
They were hard-headed infrastructure, built because increasing commerce demanded safer seas.
The fact they’re beautiful is almost incidental. Yet two hundred years on, it’s difficult not to see something almost cathedral-like about them.
Built by people who expected their work to outlive them, lighting the darkness for strangers they’d never meet.
An Expedition by RIB:
Scotland’s Great Atlantic Offshore Lighthouses
For me, the holy grails are the great Atlantic, offshore, sea washed lighthouses of Skerryvore, Dubh Artach and Hyskeir, their names evocative of both the Gaelic and Norse influences on these islands and seas.
Reaching them feels less like sightseeing and more like a pilgrimage.
With a rarely benign offshore forecast, we set off from near Oban to make the 57 mile trip to Dubh Artach.
We soon left the familiar shores of Mull behind and headed out into open sea towards a tiny speck on the horizon about 20 NM away.
It was an uneventful run at 26-30 knots, punctuated only by the occasional fishing boat and sail on the horizon.
We were pleased to be able to pick up the light by radar at around 10 NM, not bad on a RIB A-frame although it was intermittent as we rode the large rolling swell.
