Into the blue

The eastern breakwater stretches 2500 feet out into Fishguard harbour. At the end is this concrete and iron cylinder with a navigation beacon on top and a mysterious blue door, always tightly sealed. It intrigues me but it remains impenetrable and never gives up its secret.

Today a small child and his father were settled in front of it, eating and chatting. They gave a vulnerable human scale to this massive rock-girt structure which was designed to withstand the pounding of the waves and the battering of the wind.

Walking out on the breakwater produces a strange sensation of discontinuity, as if you have parted company with the land and yet remain attached by an umbilical cord. It is a nowhere place, neither of the sea nor of the earth. The sky presses down upon you and what is distant seems close.

Beyond, on the right, miles across the bay lies Dinas Head, crowned with cloud, while closer, over to the left, is the northern breakwater on the other side of the harbour. It is private property and I've never been along it but I have my sights set on an Open Day in two week's time: watch this space!