Le Sémaphore De Carteret

The little town of Carteret is about a quarter of the way down the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula from Cap de la Hague. We wanted to stop there because Ken grew up in Carteret County, North Carolina, and we thought it would be cool to see the place. The English islands of Jersey and Guernsey are off the coast and ferries run to them from the port at Carteret.

Ruins of rock walls on the bluff near the Sémaphore de Carteret.

Before we got to the town, however, we stopped at le Sémaphore de Carteret on the cape just to the west of town. A sémaphore is like a lighthouse, but serves as a post of communication between shore and ship through the use of optical (lights/flags) signals. We use the same word in English.

Le Sémaphore de Carteret.

The sémaphore sits high up on a bluff, of course, and the views were pretty spectacular. The west coast of the peninsula is quite different from the northern coast of Normandy. The land no longer ends in abrupt cliffs but in undulating hills and headlands with great expanses of sandy beach. I didn't see the east coast of the peninsula until many years later.

A view toward the north from the headlands at the Cap de Carteret.

After a look and a few photos, we drove down into the town of Carteret itself.