The loose plan was to cycle up the coast to Souter Lighthouse, somewhere I don’t ever recall visiting before. It’s now managed by the National Trust and, as a bonus, entry was free as it’s a National Heritage Day (although I did make a donation anyway). The route up is part of National Cycle Route 1 which runs 1,264 miles from Dover to Tain. From the hotel the route is on the pavement, sometimes segregated from pedestrians, sometimes not, then on a gravel path through a park. The next stretch of the coastal path looked beyond the bike’s capabilities (if I’d had the larger hybrid I’d have tackled it) so I stuck on the official route for the only on-road section, a couple of back streets then, obeying the sign, I rejoined the A183 carriageway for all of about 30 yards! I hadn’t realised the next bit of shared use pavement was that close, and it made no sense that it didn’t extend to the turning.
Mike the Bike parked outside the lighthouse and foghorn.
The lighthouse itself has an interesting history. It was the first purpose built lighthouse in Britain to be powered by electricity but, slightly bizarrely, it was later converted to an oil burning lamp. The reasoning was simple, there was no mains electricity (indeed the keeper’s cottages didn’t get mains power until 1952) so there were coal boilers powering generators, these were expensive to run and needed specialist staff to operate them. As well as the lighthouse there is a large fog horn, the machinery is still there for this (and is used occasionally), with an electric and a diesel compressor and an emergency diesel generator. Unfortunately when they used the fog horn last weekend the control box got rather hot and it took a long time to get up enough pressure, an electrician has been arranged, so it wasn’t sounding today. Hopefully it’s just a loose connection but there’s also a leak somewhere which needs sorting.
Having had a coffee I had a good look round and went most of the way up the tower - I skipped the last bit up to the lamp room as it was very steep and my fear of heights was kicking in. Even at the level I reached there was a curiosity I’d never seen before. Lighthouses in general have “lost light” as they only shine out over the sea, at Souter this was directed by a series of lenses and prisms to provide an added safety feature of a white and red light shining Southwards; if ships could see the red light they were straying too close to rocks down the coast.
The real version of the modern “Edison” LED bulbs.
I returned back past the hotel to take in the two lighthouse I’ve known all my life, The White Lighthouse and Roker Lighthouse.
It was getting quite dull by this time.
There is a tunnel through the centre of the pier to the latter, used by the keepers in bad weather, which I’ve actually been through as it’s open to the public for guided tours when the pier is open (sadly at the moment storm damage means it’s closed with no indication when it will reopen). On that occasion I did get all the way up to the lamp room where they had the biggest LED bulb I’ve ever seen!
Amongst the other well remembered landmarks along the coast are St Bede’s Cross, a memorial to the monk who was born near St Peter’s Monastery and spent time both there and at the sister house at Jarrow; another childhood favourite was the mine outside the lifeguard station, which has a slot for donations.
As it was getting to about lunchtime I rode back down to the hotel and loaded the bike back into the car before going next door to The Stack, a shipping container built entertainments, food and drink venue. It’s not really my sort of place but it does have a major plus point, there’s a branch of Downeys Fish and Chips there. I sat out the front to enjoy mine, not the best I’ve ever had (they were very slightly better at their place in Seaham) but streets ahead of what we get at home.
I’m slightly hampered today having picked up a toe injury yesterday - I lost part of the nail bed on my left little toe and it’s very sore; cycling was fine, walking not so much, so I’ve had a lazy afternoon. One of the things I’m here for is to get a backscene photo for my planned tram diorama, so part of the task today was to scout out a suitable spot. I have found one, which doesn’t show too much modern stuff and should work from a panned photo so I dodged the afternoon rain and did a couple of test shots, of course the sun then came out just after I got back to my room!
Trial panorama - I’ll go back for several more and some editing will be needed but it works in principal.
Finally another nice touch from this hotel, it’s dog friendly to the extent of having a stack of dog bowls and a water dispenser available.
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