Mythical lighthouses hike
17 lighthouses, 9 hours sailing on the high seas, almost 200 km... unforgettable!
Preamble
Finistère has the highest concentration of lighthouses in the world, with 56 lighthouses along its 2,200km of coastline.
So I would like to share this unique lighthouse tour of the Iroise Sea. This trip aboard a semi-rigid boat, equipped for navigation on the high seas and motorised accordingly (2 x 300 hp), is organised by Archipel excursions. Only possible when the tide and weather conditions are favourable, this lighthouses tour only takes place a few times a year. On Saturday 5 April 2025, the conditions were right: calm to moderate seas, a sunny day and light winds.
Our Captain Thomas, a certified Captain 200 and experienced sailor, and his teammate Léo will be our guides for this day to meet the lighthouses of the Iroise Sea, including the legendary lighthouses of hell. In the lighthouse keepers' jargon, lighthouses fall into three categories: lighthouses at sea are in « hell », those on land are in « paradise », and those on islands are in « purgatory ».
No. 1 - Kermorvan lighthouse
We leave the port of Le Conquet for our first meeting at sea. Located at the end of the peninsula of the same name, the lighthouse of Kermorvan offers a breathtaking view of the Iroise Sea. The lighthouse commissioned in 1849 is 20 meters high and indicates the channels of the Helle and the Four. Its square tower is quite original at the time. It is the second lighthouse of its type to be built in Finistère, after Île Noire.
No. 3 - Le Four lighthouse
We then catch a glimpse of the Trézien lighthouse inland, but too far away to be photographed, and continue on to Le Four lighthouse located off the coast of Porspoder. Erected on a reef, the construction of this lighthouse in the Chenal du Four, renowned for its dangerous currents and reefs, took 11 years. Inaugurated in 1874, it was automated in 1993. Its 28-metre cylindrical tower is topped by a lantern, whose waves can sometimes reach its 31-metre peak! Its maintenance has been costly in human lives. The last tragedy, in 1978, saw two sailors perish during a resupply mission.
A few kayakers had also taken advantage of the sea conditions to come and admire it up close.
No. 4 - The Stiff Lighthouse
Sailing northwest, we reach the first lighthouse built on the island of Ouessant: the Stiff lighthouse, one of the oldest lighthouses in France still in operation.
Built in 1695 on the highest point of the island, at Vauban's request, it was lit in 1700, first powered by coal, then by oil in 1889. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was equipped with a new optical system. Electrified in 1957, it is now automated and remotely controlled from Le Créac'h. Its height is around 33 m (90 m above sea level).
No. 5 - Créac'h Lighthouse
Still on the island of Ouessant and easily identifiable by its 55m high tower with white and black stripes, the Créac'h lighthouse guides the entry of ships into the English Channel. Lit in 1863, electrified in 1888, equipped with a flash light in 1901 and metal halide lamps in 1971, the Créac'h, which means « promontory » in Breton, is one of the most powerful lighthouses in the world. It marks one of the busiest shipping routes in the Atlantic.
No. 6 - Nividic Lighthouse
The Nividic lighthouse was built between 1912 and 1936 on a rock at the tip of Saint-Pern, at the western end of the Ouessant island.
Construction began in 1912 on a site that was very difficult to access due to strong currents and exposed to sudden changes in weather. It took three years to complete the foundation. The concrete beacon tower, begun in 1916, was not completed until 1930. The work was finally received in 1936 but it was decommissioned in 1940 by the German occupation authorities and abandoned. The light, which was turned on again in 1953, suffered multiple failures and remained difficult to access for technical interventions, hence the installation of a helicopter platform above its lantern in 1958. Powered for a time by helicopter-borne gas canisters, the light has been operating since 1996 thanks to energy produced by solar panels.
Octagonal in shape, it rises to 32.70 metres above sea level. Its appearance is blood-chilling ...
No. 7 – La Jument Lighthouse
On 16 June 1896, the Drummond Castle, a 110-metre steamship belonging to the British company Castle Line, carrying 246 people, crew and passengers, mostly British, struck the reef between Molène and Ouessant and sank in less than ten minutes. Only three people will survive ...
It was following the Drummond-Castle disaster, and the numerous shipwrecks in this area, thirty-one ships were lost and sank there between 1888 and 1904 ... that the commission of lighthouses decided to improve the lighting and build a lighthouse. High 47m, the La Jument Lighthouse is thus built 2 km to the south-west of the island of Ouessant on the rock Ar Gazec, which means the « mare » in Breton.
Its very complex construction: difficult weather conditions, a site swept by storms, crossed by the Fromveur one of the strongest currents in Europe, took place between 1904 and 1911.
The lighthouse will be lit on October 15, 1911 then automated in 1991 and is now managed from the Creac'h on Ouessant.
If the lighthouse of Ar-Men is nicknamed « the Hell of Hells », that of La Jument, which was shaken many times by terrible storms, remains « the Hell » in the memory of the lighthouse keepers.
No. 8 - Kéréon Lighthouse
Located 3 km southeast of the island of Ouessant, in the Fromveur Passage (a very violent current, which can reach 16 km per hour, whose Breton name means « great torrent »), the Kéréon lighthouse throne from the top of its 41 meters on the Men Tensel reef, which means « the angry stone ». Its construction, begun in 1907, lasted 10 years under extreme conditions, even resulting in the death of its construction manager. Powered by oil until 1972, it is now electrified and automated. Since 2004, the date of the last changeover, it has no longer been visited or maintained by the keepers.
Thanks to donations, the Kéréon lighthouse was equipped with a room with a floor adorned with a marquetry compass rose and Hungarian oak paneling, this rich finish earning it the nickname "Palace of Hell" from its keepers.
No. 9 - The Trois Pierres lighthouse
We then pass the Trois Pierres lighthouse, and its guard cormorant..., which marks the entrance to the Molène Island channel, where we dock for a short lunch break.
After a short sandwich break on Molène Island, we resume sailing accompanied by a school of dolphins who do us the kindness of coming to play near and under the bow of the semi-rigid.
No. 10 - The Pierres Noires Lighthouse
Construction of the Pierres Noires lighthouse began in 1867 and was completed in 1872 when it went into service. He is the brother in construction of Le Four lighthouse. High of 28 meters, it is part of a desire to secure the channel of the Four famous for its violent currents and numerous reefs. Different fuels were successively used to fuel the fire: mineral oil in 1872 and petroleum steam in 1903. The lighthouse will be electrified in 1984 and automated in 1992. In 1910, the lighthouse underwent an aesthetic and functional transformation: its tower was painted white and red to improve its visibility in the harsh conditions of the Iroise sea.
No. 11 - Ar-men Lighthouse
A long crossing to the south allows us to reach the Ar-men lighthouse, which means « stone » in Breton. It was built between 1867 and 1881 at the end of the Chaussée de Sein about ten kilometers west of the island of the same name. The Ar-Men lighthouse is famous for its very isolated character, the considerable difficulties in its construction and the danger during the lighthouse keepers' changes. Considered an extremely challenging workplace by lighthouse keepers, it has been dubbed « the Hell of Hells ». The blows carried by the swell during storms could made the whole building shake. In 1922, the keepers stayed in the lighthouse for 101 days. Due to the weather, lighthouse keepers change was impossible. The situation could have been dramatic because food was starting to run out.
It will finally be automated in April 1990.
No. 12 - Goulenez Lighthouse
The large lighthouse on the island of Sein was built between 1950 and 1951. It succeeded a previous lighthouse built on the island of Sein in 1839 but destroyed in 1944 during World War II. Located on the far western part of the island, the Goulenez lighthouse is 51 meters high and has no fewer than 249 steps. It was automated in 2000.
We make a short stop on the island of Sein for a "Breton snack" offered by Archipel Excursions.
No.13 - Men Brial Lighthouse
We leave the island of Sein, and its seafront with colorful houses, under the look of the Men Brial lighthouse that overlooks the exit of the port. With a height of 14 meters, it was built in 1909 and put into service in 1910.
No.14 - La Vieille Lighthouse
Located one mile offshore west of the redoubtable pointe du Raz, the La Vieille lighthouse is built between 1881 and 1887 on the rock of Gorle Bella (the « farthest rock » in Breton language). Commissioned on 15 September 1887, it will be electrified and automated in 1995. Square and stocky as a medieval tower, it proudly stands its crenellated silhouette of 27 meters high ready to face the breaking waves that are familiar to him.
No. 15 - Tévennec Lighthouse
The construction of the Tévennec Lighthouse, on the islet of the same name, located at the Raz de Sein, took several years. It began in 1869 and was completed in 1875, the year it was commissioned. The Tévennec Lighthouse, traditionally known for its legend of a cursed lighthouse, or a lighthouse that drives people mad, is the only lighthouse-house built offshore.
Between sinister legends, rumors, and curses...
During the construction of Tévennec, around 1869, the workers constantly hear what they think to be screams and voices sighing. According to the rumour, these were the pleas of the shipwrecked who perished offshore over the centuries. The first lighthouse keeper goes crazy after a few weeks in the building. He also claims to have heard voices whispering. The second keeper, after seven long years in the lighthouse, will also lose his mind. After that, none of the keepers will stay on the rock for long... All lose their reason, commit suicide, or die in mysterious and usually violent circumstances.
In 1910, no more lighthouse keeper wishing to live in the « tower of death », the Tévennec lighthouse becomes the first automated lighthouse in France.
In the 1930s, Charles Le Goffic, a prominent member of the Académie Française, published an account of the building's dark legend. The author's reputation meant that no one doubted the veracity of the story and the facts evoked.
However, in the late 1990s, a historian specializing in maritime signaling, Jean-Christophe Fichou, challenged the rumors surrounding Tévennec. Consulting the Quimper archives, he claimed to have found no mention of keepers going mad or of strange deaths.
Ultimately, the howls heard could be explained by the presence of an underwater cave beneath the islet, which, when the waves crash into it, produces sinister howls, quite comparable to screams.
No. 16 - The Toulinguet Lighthouse
The Toulinguet Lighthouse, a lighthouse-house built in 1848 and commissioned in July 1849, is located at the western end of the Crozon Peninsula, on military land.
No. 17 - Pointe Saint Mathieu Lighthouse
Our lighthouse hike ends at the Pointe Saint-Mathieu lighthouse and its majestic abbey, ablaze with the last rays of the sun. The 37-meter-high Saint-Mathieu lighthouse was built in 1835 in the ruins of an old abbey.
This long day of sailing, which is not recommended for people with back problems, is coming to an end. We return safely to Le Conquet, a little exhausted! It has been an intense day, but with a wealth of images.
A big thank you to Thomas and his team from Archipel Excursions for this journey through the history of lighthouses.