Tuesday dawned far brighter than the very misty day before, and as it was a boat day, which means day trippers, it felt like a good day to head to the northern end of the Island. On days when there are day trippers the southern half of the Island can be quite busy with anything up an additional 150+ people, and the pub is impossible, so a longer distance walk is always a sensible plan.
From our accommodation everything starts with the Village as you can see from the top photo - there is the Tavern on the left, with square cottage and the church, plus the Black Shed - used for storage of various items belonging to the island, the pub’s cellar is in there, and it’s also a popular leisure time hangout for the staff too. The only public use of it is the toilets to one side. I popped into the shop - I’d made a sandwich but wanted a drink and some crisps to take with me, and then headed out along the main track.
The island is divided into sections via stone walls - descriptively referred to as Quarter Wall, Halfway Wall and Threequarter Wall - above you can see Halfway wall with Tibbetts visible on the Horizon. Tibbetts is a former lookout, and is the most northerly accommodation available on the Island, over a mile from the Village. It is also the only place you can stay which has no mains electricity - with everything running on bottled gas, AND the only place where you can get your shopping delivered - the staff take it up on the Land Rover!
Past Tibbetts and on to Threequarter Wall, and that rise ahead is the end of the island! The terrain changes at this stage with the path becoming far more rocky, and lots of up-and-downy sections too, a view back the way you’ve come makes things feel quite remote too - see Old Light looking absolutely tiny on the horizon…
I decided to see where the party of round the island swimmers had got to - they were doing well as they had already rounded the Northern tip and were heading up the Eastern side - I managed to get a few pictures with the big camera too but haven’t looked at those yet.
There were seven of them, albeit not really spottable in that shot, I appreciate!
Time then for my first view of the North Light. Lundy does indeed have three lighthouses - the Old Light was built first as the name suggests, at the top of the island, until it became apparent that the top of the island can spend a lot of time swathed in low cloud - so not an ideal location for a lighthouse! At that stage the North and South Lights were added, much lower down. As a result North Light is reached by a set of steep stone steps…
…there is the first section - from there you turn right, cross the metal bridge and then are met with this…
See - a long way down! I don’t always bother going all the way way down, but I had it to myself and fancied eating lunch down there on this occasion, so I picked my way down, finding a handily positioned rock on one of the “landing” sections where I stopped to eat before doing the final stretch of steps for an explore…
It’s a classic Trinity House style Lighthouse, but still interesting to wander round - it’s been automated since 1985 and now runs on solar power. Larger than its opposite number at the southern end of the Island, which is far more compact.
Time then to head back up again - and I elected to return via the West side path - far more undulating and uneven but with stunning views along the coastline…
There were also good views of the Aircraft carrier H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth which could be seen on the western horizon- too far away for anything other than the haziest photos!
Partway back along I met one of the little groups of resident Soay sheep - these far more relaxed with my presence than some, and I stood watching them for awhile before they cleared the path and I moved on.
On this side of the Island the walls are crossed by way of stiles rather than gates (other than at Quarter wall which currently has a collapsed section which has been replaced with a fence and gate) - the stiles are rather wonderful - and as you can see VERY substantial!
Then the final stretch on past the Old Light - just a short distance back to the village from there, although on this occasion I took the detour via the Castle…
…so I could complete the lighthouse set with a view down to the SouthLight and the jetty. You can really see the difference in size between north and south there too!
A lovely walk on a glorious day - just over 6.5m walked with 15,500 steps, and 535 ft of elevation, and barely another soul seen for much of it!
Robyn
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