By Hook or by Crook

We fancied a day trip, and Bill recommended Hook lighthouse on the south coast of Ireland.
Although the weather was a bit grim, I suppose it was proper lighthouse weather! You couldn't help but be drawn to the dramatic rocks...
As a family, we LOVE rock pools and we had loads to explore here.
After a bit of lunch, we went on a guided tour of the lighthouse. Although Liam didn't say before we went in, he was expecting the tour to be naff! But surprisingly, we all enjoyed learning about one of the worlds oldest working lighthouses!

It was a mix of the old and the new - we sympathised with the lighthousemen from 700 years ago who had to carry bags and bags of coal up to the top to keep the flame lit...and we though how clever they are now to have the machine that sends a light beam out every few minutes and if the fog reflects it back, the fog horn sounds.
...its SO loud as we heard later in our trip!
We made it to the top...
...but then had to rush down again when we spotted a seal near the rocks! It disappeared when we got close and popped up again when we backed off, but we were all thrilled to see it!
It was a great place to explore and we had great fun.
On the way back from Hook, we spotted our home of the future! It looks down on the the beautiful bay and is a magnificent house... that is all boarded up - what a shame. Liam says he's going to buy it for me as a weekend retreat! Does anyone want to come in with us?


A little Google search has turned up that its called Loftus Hall and its for sale by auction on 17th October 2008 for 1.8 million Euros! Its got a ghost, but there's 22 bedrooms so there's room for all of us!