If you’re planning to leave town for the Bank Holiday weekend, you might consider taking a spin down to Hook Head,
writes Brian Byrne.
There’s a free festival weekend at the world’s oldest intact working lighthouse on the Hook Peninsula in County Wexford. The original fires used to guide sailors through the dangerous seas were tended for centuries by monks from a nearby monastery.
There’s fun and games for all the family and the youngsters can enrol at the new Pirate School headed up by none other than Captain Hook.
There will be an opportunity to learn first hand about safety at sea from members of the Irish Coast Guard. Visitors will also have the chance to step back in time with the re-enactors from Claoimh who will demonstrate life and battles from the medieval past.
There will be lawn games and fun adventures with Pirate Pat and Captain Hook, or, for the ‘bigger adventurous kids’ there’s the Bungee Trampoline. A craft market featuring pieces from crafters based all across the southeast region will also be hosted over the weekend.
The festival will also focus on the heritage and past of Hook Lighthouse, shining a light on life as it was. A guided tour at the ancient lighthouse also shines a light on its history and heritage with first hand stories of life as a light-keeper shared via recordings of these tales from former lighthouse keepers and their wives.
The annual ‘Hike to the Hook’ event organised by Hook Tourism, also takes place this weekend. Walkers will take on a 20km walk along one of Ireland’s most scenic routes from Tintern Abbey to Hook Lighthouse.
For details on the Great Lighthouses of Ireland see
greatlighthouses.com.
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pictures here (I took these on a spooky and wild October day … should be much nicer on this weekend).
