The light of the Bell Rock is burning bright again off the Angus coast.
Around three weeks after a fault plunged the famous lighthouse into darkness, engineers have completed a temporary fix.
And they managed to get the job done just before Storm Barra swept in.
But they will be back on Inchcape Rock when the weather improves to make a permanent repair to the generator issue which caused the blackout.
The Bell Rock sits 11 miles off the coast of Arbroath.
It is the world’s oldest sea-washed lighthouse still operating.
But last month a technical problem put the 211-year-old beacon out of action.
Weather window
The Northern Lighthouse Board said the repair operation required a helicopter to land on the concrete pad at the base of the lighthouse.
But it needed a combination of low-tide, daylight and benign weather conditions.
The lighthouse remained blacked out during the ferocity of Storm Arwen as it battered Angus and the east coast.
Ships were warned of the fault through an official Notice to Mariners issued through the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
However, the weather window required for the repair arrived at the beginning of this week.
A Northern Lighthouse Board spokesperson said: “A team of NLB technicians landed by helicopter at the Bell Rock lighthouse on Monday during a brief break in the recent severe weather.
“Because of tide and daylight constraints the visit was necessarily short.
“Therefore a temporary repair was made to rectify a problem with the diesel generator starting system.
“We will need to do a further visit when daylight, tides and good weather allow, to put in place a permanent arrangement.
“The light has been returned to service and is operating normally.
“They were off the Bell safely yesterday morning before Storm Barra hit!”
Wonder of the industrial world
Robert Stevenson’s structure is considered one of the wonders of the industrial world.
It is 115 feet tall and the light is visible from 35 miles.
And it took three years to complete the complex feat of engineering before it first shone in 1810.
The Bell Rock was manned by lighthouse keepers until being fully automated in the 1980s.
Its construction and remarkable history was the subject of a recent Channel 5 documentary.
