Île d'Oessant

The persistent easterlies have taken us as far west as we can go, short of Eire via the Scillies!
After a frustrating morning getting the outboard to start (turning the fuel on helped!), we at last got ashore at Lampaul, where we managed to purchase baguettes and hire cycles before the two hour lunch break, very sensibly still practiced here.

With a following F6 we soon reached the northern arm of the bay we entered yesterday.

This photograph shows the amazing structures at Pointe de Pern on the northern arm of Baie de Lampaul. Built in 1912 to carry electricity to one of the earliest fully autonomous light houses from the outset.  The strange pillars carried the power from the Creach light house half mile away, where the electricity was generated for both lights. . Nowadays the Pern light uses solar power.

The lighthouse museam at the Creagh lighthouse, it's self, was fascinating. These lights mark the north west extremety of France and like the Lizard in Cornwall the entrance to the Channel.

The second photo shows the site of an underwater warning bell, used to warn shipping in fog. A large iron structure with a bell was lowered from the rock, in to the water several meters deep and rung twice every two minutes.  Ships could ascertain the sounds bearing, as the sounds were loudest when their hull was perpendicular to the bell source.  By the end of WW1 radio direction finders had replaced this technology, using the same principle.

Despite the wind we cycled on to the eastern end of the island where the ferry at Stiff looked decidedly uncomfortable. After several cidres to try and find some smoked sheep saucisse, we and the locals decided they were apocryphal. So we ate aboard in preparation for an early departure back to the mainland.