On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 16:47:43 +0100, tony sayer wrote:

floor plan and map, that 80 acres includes a lot of trees. More
than
enough to supply me with wood for the rest of my life. However,
what
is doable now (age 61) gets less so as the years pass. Would I
want to
be doing it at 70? 80?

Almost certainly not but it would keep you fit and active. Half the
problem with "old age" is not keeping active.

Looking at the map and Google Earth, the track does indeed look
like a
track, with limited, if any, vehicular access, even for a 4x4 or
tractor. Quad bike and trailer, perhaps?

Think you might struggle with a a quad. Compare the width of the
tracks used by vehicles down near where the lighthouse track leaves
them. Quads have about a 4' track cars about 6' both leave two
parallel tyre marks. There only appears to be a single track about
the width of a single car tyre mark.

Imagine moving house. Imagine moving all your possessions, the
last
mile on foot.

As I've said access is the major stumbling block. Dealing with the
lack of mains electricity and space heating are not insurmountable
but require significant effort compared to simply pressing an "on"
switch.

Interesting to note that the bathroom is described as a wash
house, and
access is only available from outside the building.

Nice in the winter, with snow drifts up the the doors. B-)

Someone mentioned a washing machine. I told wifey I would buy her
a
washboard. She could do the washing and form a skiffle band.

And what was the response, surprised you are still able to post. B-)

Linking up with the CHP/RTG/Wind/Tidal/Hydro and BFO battery bank and
say a 5 kW inverter one might be able to use an ordinary washing
machine. Just be careful not to put the 3 kW rapid boil kettle on at
the same time as the washing machine is heating water. It'll deplete
the battery but if you are chucking 1 kW from all sources into it
24/7 you have 24 kWHr/day to play with. That's more than we use a day
(excluding electric space heating).

Did you notice the lime store? Presumably for treating 'waste
materials'.

Seems a bit excessive, brick septic tank(s) with the outflow piped to
the sea. But you wouldn't be allowed to do that now, it would have to
be an aerobic digester which requires power to pump the air and turn
the stirrer...

Does the lighthouse have power at all?

Solar powered with a BFO battery bank. Like almost all remote
lighthouses are these days.

Else 779 metres straight line from the nearest other housing wonder how
many leccy poles that'd be?..

The poles on our 11 kV feed are about 100 m apart.

Why didn't they put the lighthouse just up onto the top of the cliff
surely that would have "shined" out further and been easier to access?..

Presumably so that it marks the rocks that it is built on that stick
out from an otherwise fairly uniform curved bit of coast.

--
Cheers
Dave.