Never heard of it.
Colleagues exchanged puzzled glances – or that look that says, 'hey up… we've got a right one here… ' They responded by saying they would try to find out from officers on the bridge once underway, but for one reason or another they did not succeed (if they tried at all, there was a change of shift so perhaps that is why I got no further). I did a bit of simple arithmetic (speed, distance, etc.) …gave it up… and went to bed.
So, I still have never set eyes on Le Grande Phare de Roches-Douvres, or its night-time flash; probably one of the most magnificent lighthouses in the French listings. Nineteen miles out but seemingly with an hotel or barracks underneath it, on a sea washed rock platform. Or did the keepers, when the light was still manned, have very large families that they brought with them?
Anyway, the phare is further from the French mainland than any other. 32kms off or thereabouts. It is actually just visible from Jersey – but from anywhere else? I don't know.
The current lighthouse was built in 1954 and the first light came on stream in 1868. The focal plane is 60 metres (197ft) it's a white flash every five seconds. The tower rises to 65 metres or 213ft tall and is a round stone tower rising from a five-storey elliptical stone keeper's quarters. The Roches-Douvres are rocks forming a very dangerous reef in the English Channel (or la Manche seeing that this lighthouse is French); the rocks are completely covered at high tide but exposed at low tide.
The original lighthouse here was a 58 metres (190ft) cast iron tower, one of the tallest such towers ever built. Tapering to a mere 4 metres (13ft) in diameter at the top, the lighthouse swayed alarmingly in storms, but it stood until it was destroyed during ww2. After the war, it took six years to build the present stone lighthouse.
When we were visiting the wonderful Musée des Phares et Balises at the bottom of Cre'ach lighthouse during our stay on île d'Ouessant in 2004, we were able to inspect an impressive model of that original pre-fabricated cast iron lighthouse. Amedée was made at the same time and is practically the same. It remains in service to this day in New Caledonia.
I've not seen that lighthouse either. It is a bit of bummer but I try to remain cheerful.
Both illustrations here are by Jean Benoît Héron.
