North Finistère's Breton Coast has the highest concentration of lighthouses (Phares) in the world! We decided to see a few...
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| L'île Vierge |
We started with the Phare de Men Ruz, on the
Pink Granite Coast, with friends.
We tried to follow the coast when we relocated from the Côte d'Armor to Brest, but the weather didn't cooperate! We stopped for a
mystically foggy view of a dolmen, then went directly to our new place.
Eventually, the chanting (rain, rain, go away, come again another day) worked!
We started our
Route des Phares with the Petit Minou - it overlooks a fort, and faces the Crozon Peninsula (another trip!)
A bit further down the road, we came to the Phare de Saint Mathieu. It was built in 1835 on the ruins of an ancient abbey, on top of which the monks kept a fire to guide sailors to the entrance to the Brest roadstead (a partly sheltered anchorage for ships).
We drove a bit farther to view the Phare de Kermorvan across the estuary from Le Conquet.
We went on to the
Corsen Point, the westernmost point of continental France! Although there are no lighthouses here, you can see the western islands (our day wasn't clear enough for more than a hint).
A bit farther was the Phare du Four (Oven lighthouse). The history of
seaweed harvesting is interesting (and unexpected to me)! It's used in all sorts of things - medicine, food, fertilizer, cosmetics... I tried a sauce containing seaweed - it was... ok.
The walk from the parking lot to the end of the peninsula was full of interesting sights!
Rocky headlands
The Cromlech Pors-an-Toullou et Ar-Verret - a Néolithique édifice
One of the many seaweed ovens, used to burn the seaweed into useable ash
On the way back, we saw people swimming!
Our route for the day. We had planned out some more possible stops, but decided we would get to them later. So, to home!
Day 2 - we took another day to finish our Route 🙂. We went directly to L'île Vierge to see the tallest lighthouse in Europe (and the tallest lighthouse of dressed stone in the world).
From the plaque:
the île Vierge and its two lighthouses. The little white one, which is 33 metres high, was built between 1842 and 1845 with a house at its base for the keepers. It indicated the entrance to the Aber Wrac'h. As its range was insufficient, the "big lighthouse" replaced it in 1902. It is the highest lighthouse in Europe and the highest lighthouse in the world built with dressed stone: 82,50 metres high and 365 steps. It has been automated since 2010 and you can visit it from April to October. The access to the island is only possible by boat, from Plouguerneau or the harbour of Aber Wrac'h.
The point gave onto some beautiful views!
Statue of Victor Hugo
Another lighthouse across an estuary
On our way to the next lighthouse, we stopped at the ancient village of Meneham.
Then on to a beach - Plage des Amiets
There's a mini-causeway between the beach and a little island - you can see a couple of people wading out, even at mid-tide...
Here ended our day - I took a tumble and ended with some bruised ribs 😕
This was our route for part 2
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