Off the NW tip of Brittany lies the Raz de Sein. Few other stretches of water have such a fearsome reputation: the tide can rip through at 6 knots at Springs, and when an Atlantic storm hits, the result is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Pity the lighthouse keepers of old. The Ar-Men lighthouse, the most westerly of those marking the shoals around the Île de Sein, was nicknamed the ‘Hell of Hells’ by its former keepers. Closer inshore, the square tower of La Vieille lighthouse was the second last in France to be automated, due to the protests of the live-in keepers. It took until 1995 for the light to be automated and the keepers to depart.

Video courtesy SailingNews.tv