Exploring Hook Peninsula and the Hook Lighthouse
Like many people, while I’ve been lucky enough to travel abroad quite a bit, I haven’t actually spent much time exploring my own country of Ireland, and I’ve actually been to surprisingly little of the island. With Covid making international travel complicated and not something I particularly want to partake in right now, we recently decided to take a few days holiday in the southeast of Ireland.
We based ourselves just outside Wexford town, but made time to visit many of the sights in the surrounding area. One of the most interesting trips was to the Hook peninsula to visit the famous Hook Lighthouse.
The Hook Lighthouse is the oldest working Lighthouse in the world. It sits on the tip of a peninsula bearing the same name that juts out of the bottom of Co. Wexford in Ireland beside the combined estuary of the rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir. The lighthouse itself is over 800 years old and looks like an old castle or fort painted white. It is situated at the very tip of the head, and the surrounding coast is made up of some spectacular rock formations.
Because of the Pandemic you had to book your limited slot to visit, so it wasn’t the ideal time in terms of light, however, we had some spectacular weather for the whole week. The white and black tower glistened against the blue sky, and the sea looked like something you would see in the Mediterranean, rather than off the coast of Ireland.
It is an incredible place to visit, and I can only imagine how much more dramatic it is in late Autumn or winter, although possibly a tad dangerous. I hope my humble attempt to photograph it does justice to the majesty of the place.
For those interested in the technical details, these were all shot on my trusty and somewhat ageing Nikon D700, with the Nikon 24-120mm lens. If you’re interested in prints get in touch. (I can only send prints to addresses in Ireland at the moment)