Photography · Travel

Northern France

Written by Valentin BisterPublished October 24, 2026

Six days by car: the ship graveyard of Landévennec, the Crozon peninsula, the U-boat pens of Lorient, rebuilt Brest, Mont-Saint-Michel, the Normandy coast and Cap Blanc-Nez.

The ship graveyard of Landévennec.

Man in a blue T-shirt seen from behind, looking at decommissioned warships reflected in the still river

Rusting grey warship hull in the Aulne, a flock of birds over the wooded hill behind

Small boats moored in a calm bay, framed by pine branches

At Landévennec, the French Navy parks its retired ships in the river until the scrapyard calls. Grey hulls, rust, and a perfect reflection. They are being towed away one by one, so don't wait too long if you want to see them (a few years ago I was there the last time it was still like 12, now its only 2 left).

Château de Dinan. Not a castle.

Dark rocky cliff silhouetted against a silver sea, black and white

The Château de Dinan rock and its arch seen from the cliffs over a calm blue sea

Tidal pool and rock on the beach at low tide, black and white

Out on the Crozon peninsula, the Château de Dinan is not a castle at all, but a rock (we had been scammed), tied to the cliffs by a natural arch more than twelve metres high.

A pair of walkers on an empty beach, a headland across the bay

Two people on the beach seen past a dark rock in the foreground

Keroman.

Street lamp in front of a weathered concrete bunker tower, black and white

Intercom and mailbox on a corrugated metal door, black and white

Lorient. The Germans started building the Keroman submarine base in 1940. In early 1943 the Allies, unable to crack the pens, flattened the city instead: nearly 90% of Lorient was destroyed, the bunkers survived. The French Navy kept using them until 1997.

Inside the Flore.

Red-lit control panels and screens inside the submarine Flore

Control room of the submarine Flore in red light, dials, wheels and a periscope column

Today you can climb into the Flore, a Daphné-class submarine from the early sixties, lit in red like a darkroom.

Two deckchairs on a terrace overlooking the sea, framed by trees

Steep wooded cliff edge over a blue sea with a tiny sailboat

White houses with slate roofs behind a black wooden fence under blue sky

Pont de Recouvrance.

White post-war apartment tower against a pale sky, black and white

Concrete pylon of the Pont de Recouvrance on a hill, black and white

Pylon of the Térénez bridge from below, stay cables fanning out against a white sky, black and white

Brest got the same treatment in 1944. The old center was almost wiped out and rebuilt under chief architect Jean-Baptiste Mathon: straight streets, wide and dead serious. The Pont de Recouvrance crosses the Penfeld between two 70-metre concrete pylons; since 2012 the tram rides across it.

Hôtel de Ville, 1961.

Brest city hall with its flag on the stepped tower, people on the steps of the square, black and white

The stepped concrete top of Brest city hall with a flag, black and white

The city hall by Maurice-Léon Génin, finished in 1961, closed the reconstruction. Raw concrete, and sixty years later people are still not sure they like it.

Stone gateway with a pediment standing alone in a small park between apartment blocks, passers-by in front, black and white

Long straight street of rebuilt apartment blocks running toward the sea, black and white

Yellow and white market hall façade above a graffiti-covered wall

Old stone house with chimneys behind a rough stone wall

Steep narrow street with blue shutters and parked cars

Sloping street of old houses down to an intersection, a white van in the foreground

Corner with a mural and a hair salon by the tram tracks on a wet day

Of course, this being France, the people were protesting and we got to know the local police force. The kids are alright.

Crowd of hooded people on the tram tracks, a police van at the square beyond

People walking along the tram tracks on the bridge, a police van in the distance, black and white

Three riot police officers in silhouette behind the bridge railing, black and white

Mont-Saint-Michel, technically already Normandy. The Couesnon is the old border with Brittany, and the saying goes: "Le Couesnon dans sa folie a mis le Mont en Normandie." The river shifted its bed and put the Mont on the wrong side, depending on who you ask.

The bay at low tide.

Mudflats of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel under heavy cloud

View between two dark walls down onto the sand flats of the bay

Wide grey tidal flats with shallow channels

At low tide the bay is mostly grey sand and sky.

A winding tidal channel and Tombelaine on the horizon, black and white

Three tiny walkers on rippled sand flats, black and white

Mont-Saint-Michel.

Mont-Saint-Michel behind a creek with sheep in the salt meadow

From the salt meadows, the Mont shrinks to a small triangle on the horizon, and the sheep don't care either way.

Empty road with power lines under storm clouds, black and white

Windmill on a hill and a blurred town sign seen from a moving car under a green-grey sky

White marker post and power lines along a field, black and white

By the evening the weather had turned. Pointe du Hoc, between Omaha and Utah Beach: on 6 June 1944 the 2nd Ranger Battalion climbed these 30-metre cliffs to knock out the German guns above the landing beaches. The ground is still full of bomb craters and broken bunkers, grown over with dry grass.

Dry grassland on the coast under a heavy grey sky

Rough sea beyond a wire fence and brown grass

Collapsed concrete trenches in long grass above the sea

Wet sand and breaking waves under a dark sky, black and white

A lone figure on a long sand spit with cliffs behind, black and white

A lone figure on a wide beach by rough surf

Sand ripples and the waterline under a grey evening sky

Street of houses and an apartment block lit by low morning sun

Apartment block in golden morning light behind trees and parked cars

Last day, and the storm was still going strong in Le Havre.

Wave exploding over a jetty in front of a domed lighthouse, black and white

Person photographing waves breaking at the end of a jetty, black and white

A large wave breaking against a sea wall, black and white

Cap Blanc-Nez: around 130 metres of chalk above the Channel, with Second World War bunkers sitting half buried in the cliff.

Cap Blanc-Nez.

Concrete bunker with graffiti set into a chalk cliff above boulders on the beach, black and white

Straight road through fields toward a lone warning sign, black and white

Rolling chalk downs falling to the sea and the coast beyond, black and white

Rolling fields and a winding road below Cap Blanc-Nez, black and white

Radio mast and buildings on the hill under big clouds, black and white

Radio mast on the hilltop above long grass, black and white