la vieille and pointe du raz

Reading left to right, 
and assuming that you have taken to my postings with such enthusiasm that you have followed my progression, post by post, round the French coast up to Minou and Portzic, you will see from the JBH poster representation I have taken the liberty of including here, that we now come to Ar-Men (fourth from the right). The trouble is we didn't, couldn't and still haven't. Ar-Men is way out. Elusive. Sure, we've seen it flash at night from Ouessant. We have also admired its old-fashioned and obsolete pressurised vapour lantern with associated Fresnel now exhibited in the Phares et Balises Musée. But this world-famous light has avoided a direct sighting from us; the only place we might have achieved a distant view from land was wreathed in sea fogs, mists and mither when we visited the Île de Sein. When we went there it was touch and go if it would be clear enough to see Sein's own phare: thankfully, that was managed.

But before the saga of the Île de Sein trip let's tick off La Vieille (second from right above, postcard view adjacent) at the very tip of the Pointe du Raz, because as lighthouses go this is extremely satisfactory. Arguably better seen by vessels abroad on the briny, or from a helicopter, drone or hot air balloon, La Vieille can also be viewed from land, to which it presents a most noble if tantalising profile. One has to settle for just one of the four sides of the tower mostly, but never mind. After all, it is a true rock lighthouse, named after the isle on which it sits, although the local name for said islet is Gorlébella. It certainly gets a right pasting in western storms. That is why the loading derrick that my 2007 photograph shows, and visible in JBH's earlier drawing of Vieille, is no more; carried off in some storm or other in the last few years. JBH has amended his rendition (I think it might be an entirely new elevation he has produced of this singular phare); one can see that the lower gallery on the tower has also been removed (marked by the rust stains below the lantern platform), either by the agency of the sea or the powers that be, I am not sure, I have no intelligence on the matter. I trust they keep that upper door firmly locked. Not that Vieille is occupied these days. Shame.

We reached the Pointe du Raz by a fine coast path: the GR34 coming along from our isolated hotel (three nights) in the sandy Baie des Trépassés. It was a splendid walk although rather compromised by mist and sea fret. At the semaphore (which shows a light itself and was once a land based lighthouse) I left the family to do a scramble to the very tip of the Pointe so as to get the best view I could in the rather grey and misty circumstances. Even on this relatively calm day, the movement of the swells around the pointe were impressive. Vieille marks this dangerous area of rocks and adverse currents, together with the Feu du Plate, that yellow and black tower left of it, a feu. Whirlpools can form at certain states of the tide: big ones!

The salient facts regarding La Phare de la Vieille are as follows:
The phare was brought into service in 1887. It has a focal plane of 33 metres or 108ft, showing a white, red or green light depending where you see it from (there are no less than nine sectors) and it is four seconds on, one off; four seconds on, one off, one second on then one second off: if you follow my drift.  The light range is: white 18 miles, red 13 miles, green 14 miles (nautical) The tower is 27 metres high or 89 ft in non-metric, made of granite. It runs to a fog signal, short-long-short, Morse for 'R' (Raz?) every sixty seconds. Huelse of course has an historic postcard view. The Phare is about 1600 metres (1 mile approx) west of the Pointe du Raz. It was granted Monument Historique status in 2016. Quite right too.


The Lighthouse Directory asserts that one should be able to see Feu du Plate (yes) and Tévennec, Île de Sein and Ar-Men lighthouses from the Pointe du Raz (no). Not on our visit… what a swizz…but you have to take the rough with the smooth in these matters. We were around this area for a week-and-three-days but the fret hardly cleared at all, until the end of our week near Camaret. It was still a dashed good trip, notwithstanding a starter failure on the motor requiring a day's loss of mobility (so we walked to Pointe du Raz as outlined above, planned anyway). Good coasting! Damn it, we should have  been able to see Vieille from the beach! (Can you spot it? It is just visible……). Shall have to go back, obvs.

We should have been able to see Tévennec clearly from the beach too: we saw it flashing at night. The last picture below is the best I could do. We thought it was a warship out of Brest for quite some time…

Photos are mine, illustrations are JBH's, with thanks.