My Sunday Photo : Mooooooo!

Curious cows

The Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse

Yesterday we were very fortunate to be able to visit The Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse, fortunate because as this is a fully operational lighthouse, it is only open to the public one weekend a year, to raise funds for the restoration of the nearby Old Head Signal Tower and Lusitania Memorial Garden.

The black and white lighthouse

The road leading to the lighthouse is part of the Old Head of Kinsale Golf Links, a private golf club, and is usually not open to the public, for obvious reasons like dangerous cliffs and flying golfballs! This course is built almost on an island, jutting out over two miles into the Atlantic Ocean, with the lighthouse at the end.   With the swirling winds and sheer cliffs at each side, you would have to be a very experienced golfer to play here! Have a look at the link above to see the ‘interesting’ cliff top greens.

Golf club house

Golf, but not for beginners!

There has been a lighthouse at the Old Head since 1665.  The first was a cottage type building with an open coal fire in a brazier on the roof, which was replaced in 1804 by a lantern with twelve oil lamps and reflectors.  Eventually in 1853 the present lighthouse was built, and is fully automated, so there are no lighthouse keepers any more, but that is the case almost everywhere, and such is the price of progress.

Looking down

View from the top

Looking up

It was just off this coast in 1915 that a German U boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, with the loss of over 1100 passengers, and the wreckage still lies under the waves close by.

Commemoration stamp for the sinking of the RMS Lusitania

 

 

 

Cee’s Black and White Challenge : Open Topic

Kerry Mountains

This photo was taken on a recent hike in the Kerry mountains, near Kenmare, where the hills seem to go on forever, I think it would take a very fit person, and quite a bit of time, to cover all the mountains.

Westport House

The eagle is one of a pair on top of Westport House, in County Mayo.   He looks very impressive as he guards the house from all intruders from his perch on the roof.

Linked to Cee’s Black and White Challenge

Cee’s Black & White Challenge : Candid

Hiding among the many sculptures at Vigeland Park

Linked to Cee’s Black and White challenge

Landscapes in Black and White : Sunday Stills

Black and White photos can look so striking, and these are a few of mine taken around East and West Cork in Ireland.    The countryside is very lush with its ’40 shades of green’ but  in black and white it also looks good.

Ballycotton Lighthouse

Glengarriff in West Cork

Garrettstown Beach, Cork

See more entries for this challenge

Black and White

The church in the mist

Admiring the view

Linked to Weekend Black and White