Euro 2024 ~ Wild morning, wet afternoon and perfect evening ...

In heavy rain and extremely blowy conditions, I took a drive along to Rua Reidh Lighthouse. The route to the lighthouse was again single track with rather frightening steep inclines and challenging bends. Once or twice on the 12 mile journey, I seriously thought my little rental was going to get blown of the hills and into the sea ~ I suspect if that had actually happened, no trace of me or the car would ever have been found …!!!

Rua Reidh Lighthouse was completed in 1912 by David Alan Stevenson, cousin of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, and one of the famous “Lighthouse Stevensons”.

The original light was manned by three lighthouse keepers, and Stevenson designed a block of three apartments for the Principal Keeper, his two assistants, and their families, to live on site adjacent to the lighthouse tower.

The lighthouse keeper’s life was hard. Taking four hour shifts, the keepers constantly tended the light throughout the night; a tough physical job. The clockwork mechanism had to be wound by hand, keepers had to regularly ascend and descend the 87 steps in the lighthouse tower, and the lonely watch on hard winter nights had to be carried out regardless of the bitter weather screaming off the Atlantic. Life for the keepers’ families was arduous too. Until 1962 when the road to Gairloch was completed, all supplies had to be brought in by boat, landing at a tiny jetty only accessible at high tide in calm seas, or else by a long overland journey on foot or by pony. With no inside bathrooms or electricity, the keepers’ wives had a tough time, keeping the house warm with coal fires and cooking on paraffin stoves. Children had to pull their weight at home as well as walking to school in Melvaig, a daily round trip of 8 miles. Nowadays, the lighthouse is used as a Self-Catering and Bed & Breakfast location.

 

Having survived the road back from the lighthouse, I headed to Gairloch Beach and the Pier … 

Some views of Gairloch and Strath villages together with The Millcroft Hotel, my home for six nights …

During the early evening with the sun making an appearance, I went out for another wander along the shore.

Later my day finished with an invite to a community “Ceilidh House”. I have no photos, but I do have great memories of meeting enormously talented and interesting locals ~ I truly loved every minute of it ...