The Keeper's Light

Greta stands at the foot of the Sandhead Lighthouse and waits for the morning group to gather. The lighthouse, which was built in 1857, is located on a thin spit of rock that reaches into the cold North Sea. For more than a century it warned ships away from the rocks. Today it is a museum, and Greta is the volunteer who knows every step of it.

“It’s a long climb,” she says, “but the view is worth it.”

The group follows her through a low door. Inside, the air is cool and smells of old paint and salt. A narrow staircase, which curls around the inner wall like a shell, leads to the top. There are exactly one hundred and forty steps. Greta has counted them many times.

On the way up, she stops at small windows where visitors can rest. Through one window you can see the harbour, where fishing boats still come and go. Through another you can see the long beach that draws families in summer. The lighthouse is both a historic building and a place of natural beauty, and that’s why so many people make the arrival here part of their holiday.

At the top sits the great lamp. It’s no longer lit by hand, as it was in the keeper’s day, but it still turns through the night. Greta places her hand on the cool glass.

“The keepers lived up here, alone, for weeks,” she says. “They kept the light burning so that others could find their way home.”

A child asks if Greta would ever want that job. She laughs and looks out at the grey water.

“On a quiet morning like this one,” she says, “I think I already have it.”