Cap Dramont and the Île d'Or

From the Plage du Débarquement, where the Allies came ashore in August 1944, a coast path climbs around Cap Dramont through pines and red rock. A few minutes along it, the Île d'Or appears just offshore: a red islet carrying a square, crenellated tower that a doctor had built in 1912 before declaring himself the island's king. The island is private, but it doesn't need visiting — the rocks along the path and above the beach put it behind you from every angle, with a strip of sea in between and red stone in the foreground.

That foreground is the point. The rhyolite here is rust-coloured, cracked into ledges and slabs that make natural places to sit and stand, and in low sun it turns almost crimson against the blue. The path is uneven and in places the rock drops straight into the sea, so this is a session in flat shoes, with a change of outfit carried rather than worn.