Saturday 12 June 2010

Irish lighthouses

As I've said before, I really like the British Isles community on the postcrossing forum. I sometimes participate in "travelling envelopes" there, I love the idea of those! This card was in the latest envelope I received, with the theme "Seaviews - Harbours, Beaches, Boats,Rocks,islands".



On the back of this card it says "The wild and rugged coastline of Ireland has many lighthouses, some in the most dramatic of locations. This card features clockwise from top left, the Fastnet, Inisheer, Fanad and Hook lighthouses."

The Fastnet is located on Fastnet Rock, a small clay-slate island with quartz veins and the most southerly point of Ireland, 6.5 km southwest of Cape Clear Island (Oileán Chléire) in County Cork, which is itself 13 km from the mainland. It lies in the Atlantic Ocean 11.3 km south of mainland County Cork, at latitude 51.37°N. It rises to about 30 m above low water mark.

Inisheer is the smallest and most eastern of the three Aran Islands in Galway Bay. The nameless Inisheer lighthouse stands far out on the headland facing County Clare.

Fanad is a peninsula that lies between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay on the north coast of County Donegal. This lighthouse is classified as a sea light as distinct from a harbour light although it does mark the entrance into Lough Swilly which forms a natural harbour of refuge.

The Hook Lighthouse (also known as Hook Head Lighthouse), situated at the tip of the Hook Peninsula in County Wexford, in Ireland, is one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, and the oldest operating lighthouse in the British Isles.

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