That rare thing, a free day all to myself, so I decided to do a blitz of lighthouse and other lights on the north coast of this beautiful island of ours. An early start to maximise the day, meant I was on the road at 4am, and driving up to this little beauty in Portstewart just after 7am.
Its address is the Atlantic Circle and I found it fairly easy. There's really only one main road leading into Portstewart, with new-built apartments on the right hand side. At what feels like the centre of the town, one road branches upwards to the left and one road leads downwards to the right. Take the latter, you come to the sea and turn left.
Looks like its been freshly painted. It could have been an ice-cream kiosk in another life.
The technical stuff - it exhibits a flashing red light every 10 seconds (7 seconds on, three seconds off) and has a focal plane of 21m. The mast carries pilot signals and the light is exhibited at the base of the mast.
The lick of paint means that it looks a lot better than in Ewan McGregor's 2009 photo
My first visit to Portstewart. First and fleeting impressions were very favourable. A lot of new apartments overlooking the sea and of course they have a famous golf course here. And not many Union Jacks in evidence, which I know is really only an expression of identity but, to us in the south, always comes across as a bit intimidating.
This was originally built in the 1930s as the lookout for Coleraine pilots waiting for ships to enter Portstewart Bay where the pilots boarded.
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