DE-7860332 Peggy's Point Lighthouse, Nova Scotia, Canada

Peggys Point Lighthouse is an active lighthouse and an iconic Canadian image. Located within Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, it is one of the busiest tourist attractions in the province and is a prime attraction on the Lighthouse Trail scenic drive. The lighthouse marks the eastern entrance of St. Margarets Bay.

The classic red-and-white lighthouse is still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard, and is situated on an extensive granite outcrop at Peggys Point, immediately south of the village and its cove.

The first lighthouse at Peggys Cove was built in 1868 and was a wooden house with a beacon on the roof. At sundown the keeper lit a kerosene oil lamp magnified by a reflector (a silver-plated mirror) creating the red beacon light marking the eastern entrance to St. Margarets Bay. That lighthouse was replaced by the current structure, an octagonal lighthouse which was built in 1914. It is made of reinforced concrete but retains the eight-sided shape of earlier generations of wooden light towers. It stands almost 15 metres (49 ft) high. The lighthouse was automated in 1958. Since then, the red light was changed to white light, then to a green light in the late 1970s. Finally to conform to world standards the light was changed to red in 2007.

This postcard came from Yvonne in Germany (Postcrossing, January 2019).

NL-4136001 Pumping polder water off the land

The Molenviergang in the Tweemanspolder in Zevenhuizen consists of four mills that have been connected in succession and which, for almost two centuries, jointly maintained the polder level. In order to bridge the height difference between the polder level and the level of the river Rotte (about 4.5 mtr), four mills are needed, since the height of a mill is at a maximum of 1.2 - 1.5 mtr.  This unique four-mill corridor was in full operation until 1952. In that year, an electric pumping station took over the task. 

The windmills are still completely intact and in the event of any calamity, they can take up their old task again.

This postcard came from Patsy (Postcrossing, 3 July 2018).

NL-4109683 Wind turbines and Tulip fields of the Netherlands

This postcard from Esther (Postcrossing, 2 July 2018) is entitled "Tulpenvelden"which means tulip fields". 

Tulips as everyone knows, are associated with the Netherlands and they are a well-known Dutch icon on the same level as Gouda cheese, wooden clogs (who wears them these days?), Heneiken beer and windmills.

Windmills mean wind power and the Dutch has a tradition of garnering power from the wind.  These days garnering power from the wind comes in the form of wind turbines in large wind farms.  I like the idea of gathering and using the wind and so I like wind turbines naturally (although windmills are so much more romantic.)

Wind turbines in the Netherlands
Wind power in the Netherlands reached an installed capacity of 3,431 MW by year end 2015, 427 MW of which were based offshore. The 2,174 turbines sited in the Netherlands by the end of 2015 provided the country with 5.6% of its electricity demand during the year, a figure that is growing but somewhat below the average of 11.4% that wind power provides across the whole of the EU’s electricity consumption. 2015 was a record year for new installations in the Netherlands with 586 MW added of which 180 MW were offshore.  Since 2015 there has been a trend towards the deployment and planning for large wind farms, both onshore and offshore, with a view to the approximate tripling wind power capacity from 2015 levels by 2023.

DE-7152396 Kugelbake in Cuxhaven, Germany

The Kugelbake is a historic aid to navigation in the city of Cuxhaven, Germany, at the northernmost point of Lower Saxony, where the River Elbe flows into the North Sea. In the Low German dialect of the Middle Ages, the term 'bake' referred to all navigational aids – including lighthouses. About 30 metres (100 feet) high and built of wood, the Kugelbake is the principal landmark of Cuxhaven; since 1913, it has been depicted on the city's coat of arms.

The Kugelbake stands at a busy shipping lane and was once a vital nautical landmark. At this point, the estuary is about 18 km wide. Geographically speaking, the Elbe ends here and the North Sea begins. From a nautical point of view, the Kugelbake can be said to separate the Outer and Lower portions of the Elbe. It is also regarded as the symbolic separation between the Elbe and Weser estuaries. Its distinctive design, well known to skippers, is now a popular tourist destination. (Source: Wikipedia)

This postcard came from Ursula (Postcrossing, June 2018)

US-4870311 Muskegon South Pier Lighthouse, Michigan, USA

The Muskegon South Pierhead Light is a lighthouse located on the channel in the harbour of Muskegon, Michigan. It is a round cast iron tower located at the end of the southern pier. The entire lighthouse is painted red and stands 15 meters (48 feet) high.

A little bit of history: Built in 1851, Muskegon's first lighthouse was a brick structure. The existing Muskegon South Pierhead Light conical steel tower replaced the wooden rear range beacon light in 1903, utilizing the original, historic lantern room from the previous 1870 lighthouse structure. The lights were declared excess property by the U.S. Government in 2008. With the help of local volunteers, the Muskegon South Pierhead Light began limited public openings in 2013, and by 2015, regularly scheduled public tours were offered.

This postcard came from James (13 October 2017). 

Eastermost point of Japan and Cape Nosappu Lighthouse

Cape Nosappu (納沙布岬 Nosappu-misaki) is a point on the Nemuro Peninsula, Nemuro, Japan which is the easternmost point in Hokkaidō. It is also the easternmost point in Japan which is open to the public. It is located where the waters from the Pacific Ocean meet those from the Sea of Okhotsk. The Cape Nosappu Lighthouse  (納沙布岬灯台 nosappumisaki tōdai) located at this cape is the oldest in Hokkaidō, built in 1872.

Jerry Wang who visited this spot sent me this great postcard (27 July 2017)

NL-3812990 NL-4252752 'Paard van Marken" (Horse of Marken) Lighthouse

Marken is a village with a population of 1,810 in the municipality of Waterland in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Marken forms a peninsula in the Markermeer and was formerly an island in the Zuiderzee. The characteristic wooden houses of Marken are a tourist attraction.

In Marken, there is a lighthouse which is referred to as "Paard van Marken" which translates as "The horse of Marken". The current lighthouse was designed by J. Valk and built in 1839 and stands on the eastern tip of the peninsula. The tower has a light height of 15.5 meters and a light range of 16.7 km.

The tower began in 1700 as a square lighthouse. This was one of three lighthouses at Marken, De Ven and Durgerdam.  They were constructed which in 1699 to mark the route from the Wadden Sea to Amsterdam. The towers were originally equipped with oil lamps. .

In 1839 the square stone tower was replaced by a round iron copy on the old foundation. Later, a brick building with a house and storage space was built at the lighthouse, which gave the tower its current characteristic shape.

In 1970, the tower was declared a national monument.

The top postcard came from Hester (10 December 2018) and the lower postcard from Marianne (7 June 2017).

UA-1561908 Pedestrian Park Bridge on Trukhaniv Island, Ukraine

There are two pedestrian bridges linking Trukhaniv Island to Kiev.  This Pedestrian Park Bridge is one of them.

Trukhaniv Island (Ukrainian: Труханів острів) is an island located on the Dnieper River opposite the historic Podil neighbourhood of the city of Kiev.
This postcard came from Daria (2 June 2017)

MY-300703 A Chinese philosophical saying

This postcard from Malaysia shows windmills.  There are no windmills in Malaysia of course. The postcard from Lai Mun (9 March 2016) comes with this philosophical saying in Chinese:
..
有些事情未必会开始，无奈的是，有开始必然有结束。
..

which essentially means "There are things which should not necessarily be started because unfortunately any beginning must have an ending."

RU-4119781 La Vieille a lighthouse in the northwest coast of France

La Vieille ("The Old Lady" or "The Wrass") is a lighthouse in the département of Finistère at the commune of Plogoff, on the northwest coast of France. It lies on the rock known as Gorlebella (Breton for "farthest rock"), guiding mariners in the strait Raz de Sein, across from the companion lighthouse Tourelle de la Plate—also known as Petite Vieille ("Little Old Woman"). It is among the small class of lighthouses around the coasts of France carrying the moniker "hell", due to a remote position in rough seas.

This lighthouse was constructed in 1882-1887 and was automated in 1995.  The tower of La Vieille is 27 m (89 ft).  The range of its light is 18 nautical miles (33 kms).

This postcard came from Anya (5 December 2015) Postcrossing.

DE-4585577 Lighthouses of the North Sea (Leuchttürme North Sea)

This postcard from Sabine (5 Nov 2015) Postcrossing shows 17 lighthouses along the North Sea of Germany. 

See also the Lighthouses along Germany's Northeast Coast (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) at
http://flynnfrogg.blogspot.sg/2015/08/de-4396744-lighthouses-of-germany.html

DE-4589494 Kampen Lighthouse on the island of Sylt, Germany.

The Kampen lighthouse is located on Sylt, south of Kampen. Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia.

The Kampen lighthouse is a white conical stone tower with a broad black band. When Sylt belonged to the Danish realm in 1853, king Frederick VII ordered the construction of a lighthouse on Sylt's highest elevation, the red cliff. The tower was first lit in 1856.

Until 1953 the lighthouse used to be greyish-yellow, the colour of its whithered bricks. Then it was painted with its characteristic black and white. In 1929 the greatest modification was made to the Kampen lighthouse when the entire lantern house was altered and the light source was changed from petroleum to electricity.

There are no lighthouse keepers any more since 1977, like all active lights on Sylt, the Kampen lighthouse is remotely controlled by a time switch in Koblenz.

This postcard came from  Jörg (9 October 2015) Postcrossing.

PT-435525 Cascais, Greater Lisbon subregion, Portugal

Cascais is a coastal town and a municipality in Portugal, 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Lisbon. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of the Portuguese capital and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 206,479, in an area of 97.40 km². Cascais  was formerly a fishing village which gained fame as a resort for Portugal's royal family in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Nowadays, it is a popular vacation spot for both Portuguese and foreign tourists. It is located in the Estoril Coast in the Greater Lisbon subregion.

This postcard also shows the Santa Marta lighthouse.  This lighthouse had in the past been important for the defence of the area.  It is now Portugal’s first lighthouse museum.  Santa Marta Lighthouse began to operate in 1868. It was further transformed in 1908 and the tower was increased by 8 metres in height in 1936.

In 1981 the lighthouse was automated and there was no further need for the continuous presence of lighthouse keepers.

Personal Note:  In 2012 we stopped in Cascais to look around when we were heading to Lisbon from Porto.

This postcard came from Helena (2 October 2015) Postcrossing.

Lighthouses of Singapore

This first day cover was issued on 7 August 1982.  It shows three stamps depicting the following lighthouses:

(1) Sultan Shoal Lighthoouse
(2) Horsburgh Lighthouse
(3) Raffles Lighthouse

 

100 years of the management of lighthouses by the Commonwealth of Australia

Cape Byron Lighthouse

This set of 4 maxicards commemorates 100 years of the management of lighthouses by the Commonwealth of Australia. It was on 1 July 1915 that the Commonwealth accepted responsibility for all Australian landfall and coastal lights from the state governments. Today the Australian Maritime Safety Authority is responsible for 388 sites around the 59,735 kilometres of coastline.

The four lighthouses on the maxicards are:

(1) Cape Byron lighthouse (1901) is situated on the mainland’s most easterly point and is the most visited Australian lighthouse. Cape Byron is in the Australian state of New South Wales.



Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse



(2) Cape Leeuwin lighthouse (1896) is located on Australia’s most south-west point and is Western Austrlia’s tallest traditional lighthouse.

North Reef Lighthouse

(3) North Reef lighthouse (1878) was built on a reef in the Capricorn Group off the Queensland coast.  Over the years, sand has accumulated around the structure, forming a small island.



Tasman Island Lighthouse

(4) Australia’s most dramatic lighthouse location is Tasman Island, Tasmania. The cast-iron lighthouse (1906) was prefabricated in England and hauled piece-by-piece up the precipitous 250-metre-high cliffs before being assembled.

DE-4478379 Wind turbines in a wind farm

A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical power. The technical description for this type of machine is an aerofoil-powered generator.

There are a variety of wind turbines of vertical and horizontal axis types. Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, are becoming an increasingly important source of renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

Wind turbines can rotate about either a horizontal or a vertical axis, the former being both older and more common. They can also include blades (transparent or not)[20] or be bladeless.

Horizontal axis wind turbines

Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower, and must be pointed into the wind. Small turbines are pointed by a simple wind vane, while large turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a servo motor. Most have a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the blades into a quicker rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator. Since a tower produces turbulence behind it, the turbine is usually positioned upwind of its supporting tower.

Vertical-axis wind turbines

Vertical-axis wind turbines (or VAWTs) have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically. One advantage of this arrangement is that the turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind to be effective, which is an advantage on a site where the wind direction is highly variable. There are several sub-types.

This postcard shows a wind farm - but there is no indication on this card of where this farm is located. This postcard from Michael (4 September 2015) Postcrossing is an advertising card of the Danish company NEG Micon which is no longer operating under this name. The company has since merged with another Danish wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, in 2004, and it is now operating under that name.

DE-4396744 Lighthouses of Germany: Northeast Coast (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)

Germany has two coastlines, one facing northwest on the North Sea and the other facing northeast on the Baltic Sea. This postcard shows 4 lighthouses of the Baltic coast in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.  Of course there are more than 4 lighthouses along this coast.

(1) Darßer Ort - built in1848. It is still active and its lights has a focal plane of 33 m (108 ft).  This lighthouse emits six white flashes, in a 4+2 pattern, every 22 second.  Darßer Ort is a 35 m (115 ft) round brick tower, unpainted, with lantern and gallery. There is a 2-storey keeper's house, painted white and other light station buildings

(2) Warnemünde - built in 1898 (station established 1836). It is still active and its lights has a focal plane of 34 m (112 ft).  This lighthouse emits four white flashes every 24 s in a 3+1 pattern, the flashes occuring at 0, 3, 6, and 15 s in the cycle.  The structure is a  31 m (102 ft) round tapered brick tower with lantern and two galleries, one at the top and one in the centre of the tower. The tower is unpainted very light grey brick, but darker brick was used to create a dark band on the lower half of the tower.  The lantern dome is unpainted green copper.

(3) Dornbusch - built in 1888. It is still active and its lights has a focal plane of 95 m (312 ft).  The lighthouse emits a white light, 2.4 s on, 7.6 s off and  a red sector is shown to the south southwest along the coast of Hiddensee. Dornbusch is a 28 m (92 ft) round masonry tower with lantern and gallery, painted white.  The lantern roof is painted red.

(4) Arkona - built in 1902 (station established 1828). It is still active and its lights has a focal plane of 75 m.  The lighthouse emits three white flashes, separated by 4 s, every 17 s. The structure is a 35 m (115 ft) round brick tower with lantern and double gallery, rising from an octagonal granite base. The tower is unpainted; the lantern, watch room, and galleries are painted red.

This postcard came from Susy (29 July 2015) Postcrossing.

US-3505208 Alsea Bay Bridge near Waldport, Oregon

The Alsea Bay Bridge crosses Alsea Bay and is located near Waldport, Oregon.

This postcard from Judy (31 July 2015) Postcrossing shows the second Alsea Bay Bridge. The first bridge was opened in 1936. It was a 3,011 feet (918 m) long, reinforced-concrete combination deck and through arch bridge.

The hostile environment caused significant corrosion to the steel reinforcements. In the mid-1980s it was decided to replace the bridge rather than continuing costly rehabilitation efforts. The first bridge was demolished in 1991.

Construction of the second bridge (shown on the postcard) began in 1988 and it was opened in the fall of 1991 at a cost of $42.4 million. The bridge is 2,910 ft (890 m) in total length with a 450 ft (140 m) main span that provides 70 ft (21 m). of vertical clearance. The bridge has a latex concrete deck and the piers are significantly thicker than normal in an attempt to thwart corrosion.  The bridge now serves Oregon Coast Highway 101 traffic.

JP-696603 Tokyo Gate Bridge

Tokyo Gate Bridge (東京ゲートブリッジ) is a truss cantilever bridge across Tokyo Bay in Kōtō, Tokyo.  This bridge is part of a new four-lane highway ringing Tokyo.  Construction began in 2002 and it was opened on 12 February 2012.

A nickname for the bridge is  'Dinosaur Bridge' (恐竜橋) This is because of its unusual (rather gawky) shape.  It looked like two monsters facing off.

The rather unusual design of this bridge is a result of opposing requirements: to be high enough to allow large ships to pass underneath, but low enough not to interfere with air traffic to the nearby Haneda Airport. It is a double cantilever bridge and is 2,618 metres in length and 87.8 metres high.

This postcard came from Takako (30 June 2015) Postcrossing.

US-3454269 Pigeon Point Lighthouse in California, USA

Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the most picturesque lighthouses on the Pacific coast. The tower stands on a rocky promontory and has long been a landmark for ships approaching San Francisco Bay from the south.

Pigeon Point lighthouse was built in 1871. It is the tallest lighthouse (tied with Point Arena Light) on the West Coast of the United States. It is still an active Coast Guard aid to navigation. The white masonry tower is 115-foot (35 m) high.  Because of its location and ready access from the main highway, Pigeon Point entertains a large number of public visitors. The former lighthouse residence is now a youth hostel.

The lighthouse and the land around have been preserved as Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park, a California state park. The lighthouse is designated as a California Historical Landmark.

This postcard came from Melissa (1 July 2015) Postcrossing.