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Lighthouse #61

Lighthouse at the end of the Holyhead harbour breakwater, Anglesey, North Wales

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The story behind this image

The lighthouse at the end of the Holyhead breakwater on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, is somewhere I've always wanted to get to, but up to now I've never been able to find a way.

I've passed the enormous, mile long breakwater many times as I've driven through Holyhead on my way to the South Stacks lighthouse, and having seen cars parked along its length I've had a hankering to get onto it as well, just to see what the views are like.

So finally Liz and I did an exploratory drive around the back of Holyhead, trying to find an access point.

Well, after having discovered the delightful Holyhead Breakwater Country Park almost by accident, we eventually found a way onto the breakwater itself.

It was a surreal experience driving on the breakwater, with the Irish Sea on both sides of you.

Passing by the cars of the sea anglers, who use the breakwater for a day's fishing (although I've never seen anyone catch anything when sea fishing!), we drove right to the end of the breakwater to have a look at the lighthouse perched at the tip.

Wow! I was in a kind of photographic induced high at the sight of all that crumbling concrete and decaying wooden beams, and Liz had a good laugh at me lying on the ground trying to make the most of these features as lead in lines pointing to the lighthouse itself.

Well I think the results justify a little undignified behaviour, and I was delighted with having finally found my way onto the breakwater, and really delighted with the views we found there.

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Image data


Filename - lighthouse 61.jpg

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm

Exposure - 1/25sec @ f16, ISO100

Location - Holyhead harbour, Anglesey

This image - 640x800px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Small aperture used for enhanced depth of field.