Sutherland's very own lady of the lamp
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SARAH Kerr from Portskerra has seen the light – 503 times and counting, to be precise.
The 36-year-old “lady of the light” has spent the past seven years logging hundreds of lighthouses around the UK and has now produced the first authorative trail guide to British lighthouses.
She has ticked off most of the 294 in Scotland listed in her book, but the total also includes major harbour lights.
Her book details 612 throughout the UK, and Mrs Kerr has personally visited 503 so far.
While on her quest she met her husband Bob at the remote Cape Wrath lighthouse in north west Sutherland – and even their honeymoon was a light-bagging trip.
Mr Kerr, 41, accompanies her on most of the trips, which have sometimes involved chartering boats and even a helicopter.
But he is no stranger to adventure, having attempted to conquer Everest six years ago.
He abandoned his bid as he closed in on the summit after losing his vision in one eye due to high altitude retinopathy, common among mountaineers who climb more than 25,000 feet.
The radiological protection officer is to make another attempt at conquering the world’s highest mountain and join an elite group of climbers to have reached the highest summits on each continent.
Within a few months of his Everest climb he married his lighthouse-bagging wife and went on honeymoon in Northern Ireland, where he ticked off more beacons.
The most famous pharologist is the Princess Royal who, as patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board, is on a quest to visit as many of Scotland’s 206 major navigational lights as possible.
Isle of Wight-born Mrs Kerr’s obsession began after she took a month off from her communications job in London to visit lighthouses “because I love them”.
Mrs Kerr, a communications manager for Dementia Friendly Communities, a charity based in Helmsdale, told the NT: “I moved from London a year after I met Bob on my 2012 lighthouse tour. He was hillwalking at Cape Wrath and we talked for about ten minutes on the little ferry back across the Kyle. I later found his email from an article about him, and the rest is history.
“On that first trip, after months of planning, I set off with what I thought was a comprehensive list of lighthouses, but I found a number of others on my journey, particularly in Scotland.
“After my tour, I discovered even more I had missed which encouraged me to continue researching. This research expanded to incorporate island lighthouses as well as those in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
“I have done the hardest ones and the book covers 82 per cent of the main lights in the UK. It also includes those the Northern Lighthouse Board no longer own.
“While there are some printed publications and online lists available, most are either fairly geographically selective, include only the larger structures, or feature almost every lit aid to navigation.
“I felt that those wanting, as I did, to visit all of the British lighthouses, or those interested in a specific area, really needed a handy resource to help plan, and take with them, on their adventures.”
The British Lighthouse Trail is the only book of its kind to provide a comprehensive listing of all lighthouses in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Channel Islands, accompanied by practical advice on how to reach them.
