The Pointe du Raz headland path

The Pointe du Raz is the western end of Cap Sizun and, for most people, the western end of France. A ridge of grey schist and granite runs out into the Raz de Sein, the channel between the mainland and the Île de Sein, breaking into stacks and gullies with white water permanently around them. La Vieille lighthouse stands on its own rock about a kilometre out; the Tourelle de la Plate is beyond it, and on a clear day the island itself is a low line on the horizon.

It is a Grand Site de France, which is good news for photographs: the buildings and the car park are set eight hundred metres back, and the walk in crosses open heath with nothing man-made in shot. The signed path forks — the upper route stays on the crest for the long view down the coast, the lower one drops toward the statue of Notre-Dame des Naufragés and the tip itself. Both are exposed and both need proper shoes.

The coast faces west, so the last hour of the day is the frame: the sun goes down the channel and behind La Vieille, and the rock goes from grey to gold. Sunrise is softer and, more usefully, empty — in July and August the site fills with coaches by eleven and the crest path becomes a queue.

Wind is the constant here, not the exception. Dresses, veils and hair all behave differently at the tip than in the car park, and a session should be planned around that. Charges, shuttle hours and closures in heavy weather change through the year — check the site before fixing a time.