Abbeys, Forts and Lighthouses

We drove just a short distance this morning to Pointe Saint Mathieu. You'll see there's quite a cluster of buildings perched on the edge of the Atlantic and just around the other side of the lighthouses there are more gun emplacements and a memorial to the sailors of the Great War (1914-18).

On my main blip we have the chapel of Notre Dame de Grace, then it's the rather lovely 1835 lighthouse, The ruins of the abbey Saint Mathieu de Fine-Terre and the 1906 lighthouse and signal station. I happened to catch a sailing barque (I think) in the distance.

All those buildings plus a Michelin starred restaurant and another fancy bistrot but nowhere open for a cup of coffee! We carried on a mile or so to Plougonvelin where we found that close to our next destination which was the Fort Bertheaume.

It seem that this rocky islet, 30 metres off the cliff edge has been fortified since the middle ages. In the 17th century Vauban impoved the fortifications as did Germany in 1940 to strengthen the Atlantic Wall. In my extra you can see the island from the cliff path and you may notice some newer improvements in the way of cable bridges, zip wires and such stuff. I'm not sure how much it adds to the historic monument and I'm glad we came before it reopens in two days time.

Our day started with a thunderstorm and some rain but it soon cleared and left all too perfect blue skies. It's seemed very hot but it's stayed around 33 degrees which is hot enough but not compared to the 40 pluses of Marseille and Nimes where they have a red alert.

You can see more of today's shots in my album here.