gatteville (or pointe de barfleur)

This phare is one of the greats. The preferred name these days is Phare de Gatteville, after the nearest community to where it stands. They must be very proud of it!

Phare de Gatteville is the third tallest 'classic' lighthouse in the world, the second tallest granite phare in France, a credit to the designers, builders and those who saved the structure from destruction in 1944. It is a very popular ascent for French holiday makers who still throng to France's coasts in holiday-time, just like the Brits used to take seaside breaks before they started holidaying mostly abroad. The last time we stopped there Mrs Melling secured a 2017 lighthouse calendar (illustrated, but sadly not by JBH) from the museum at the bottom. Gatteville light is positioned in splendid isolation on an extensive granite platform close to its predecessor and a semaphore. It is a long climb but worth every step. All 365 of them: not up an otherwise hollow cylinder but round a central hollow core of stone. It makes for slightly claustrophobic ascent which to some, I imagine is preferable to the great void that the stairs twist round in other lights, as it does in the highest of them all, Vierge.

The Lighthouse Directory is worth a look. In essence it reports that the lighthouse was built in 1835 next to the previous light which had been established in 1775. The focal plane is 72 metres (236ft) and it gives two white flashes, separated by the 2.4 seconds, every 10 seconds. The tower is 75 metres tall (247ft) made of granite, attached to a two storey keeper's complex which forms a U-shape around the base of the tower. Clearly the stonework is not painted.

This is certainly one of the best-known French lighthouses and indeed one of the world's great lights. It is the third tallest stone phare in the world. The lighthouse was called the Phare de Barfleur until 1891, when the name was changed to Phare de Gatteville. In 1944 it was liberated without major damage and quickly returned to operation, one of the first lighthouses of Western Europe to be relit. (German troops were sent to destroy the lighthouse, but the keeper managed to put them off). The 1903 Fresnel lens, stored for safekeeping during the war, was reinstalled and remains in use today. It has a lighthouse museum at the bottom, as already mentioned. Over 35,000 visitors per year climb the 365 steps to the gallery; it is very popular and well worth the slog to the top. Don't miss it if you are passing!

Illustrations by Jean Benoît Héron, photos by my good self.