LeJog Day#3

Easter weekend means more freetime (and maybe also more chocolate?), today I was able to ride a total of 144.5 kilometers leaving Plymouth and the Smeaton’s Tower far away. Still I managed a quick stop there to provide you more details about the place and was even able to send another postcard 😉

Smeaton’s Tower is a must-see. Construction began in 1757, and the 24 candles which warned oncoming sea traffic of the dangerous Eddystone Reef – rocks so dangerous that sailing via the Channel Islands or even the French coast was seen as preferable to a possible collision – were lit for the first time in October 1759. No ordinary candles, these were monsters that weighed anything up to 2.3 kilos, and needed chiming clocks beside them to remind the lighthouse keeper of the need to replace them.

The sea had other ideas, and by the mid 1800s had started to erode the ground around the lighthouse – in fact, it would shake every time a big wave hit. The upper two thirds of the building were removed and relocated to their current location at Plymouth Hoe, where it currently not only offers amazing views of the surrounding area, but is available for hire as a venue for civil wedding ceremonies.