Four years ago (in 2016), Armel Le Cléac'h passed very close to the wild coast of Ile d'Yeu, many, including me, went to greet him at the Pointe du Châtelet. A few hours earlier, he had walked along the coast of Belle-Île. Arriving from the North-West, he had certainly been able to see the large lighthouse on the Ile d'Yeu, built by the same Vendée architect from the Armandèche lighthouse, the same one that marks the start of the Vendée Globe.
The construction of a lighthouse at the northern tip of the island of Yeu had been decided following the wreck of a large state-controlled barges, the Active, lost on the reefs of Basse-Flore on 4 January 1827 while it was on its way to Saint-Nazaire to fetch nuns on their way to the Colonies. The story goes that the captain would have fired the alarm gun, the Islais, alerted but powerless, would have seen the last of the 80 crewmen standing at the end of the mainmast before disappearing.
La Petite Foule lighthouse was commissioned in 1830 and was destroyed by German troops when they left in 1944. Rebuilt in 1950 and put into service the following year, the current white tower is 38 metres high. The lighthouse was automated in 1980 and, registered as a historical monument since November 2011, it is open to visitors.
Thus ends this round-the-world tour in a dozen lighthouses. Of course, the choices were dictated by the route taken by the Vendée Globe skippers, of course, these choices are arbitrary, but that leaves the possibility of another round the world voyage with different images... See you in four years time?
