Year Of The Light

Day 342

After a morning full of hangovers, the whole gang set sail on 'The Girl Katherine II (we didn't ask what happened to the first one), 7 miles out into the North Sea, to get a peak of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The weather was perfect,bright and sunny with not too much wind, and just enough chop to make it fun!

The lighthouse was engineered by Robert Stevenson, and was completed in 1811. Each precut block was rowed out to sea, (no outboards or even steam driven crafts in those days) most of them weighed over a tonne. Stevenson's lighthouse was so precisely engineered, that the construction did not require any cement or mortar, all the blocks linked together to form a 3D jigsaw. At the beginning of the building process, the workmen could only work for short periods of time around high tide.

It's incredible that something built purely for purpose, could be so attractive at the same time (if slightly phallic!). And that it still manages to fulfill it's purpose today. Long may it continue I say!