Coutances: The Lantern Tower, Regnéville's Lime Kilns and the Pointe d'Agon
Normandy, France
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Coutances Lantern Watcher
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
2 days
Coutances: The Lantern Tower, Regnéville's Lime Kilns and the Pointe d'Agon
250 + 100 XP
Coutances cathedral, rebuilt through the 13th century over the Romanesque church beneath it — nave in the first decade, transept from about 1208, choir finished by 1238 — is a masterpiece of Norman Gothic crowned by a lantern tower the town calls 'le Plomb'. Its roof burned in the bombing of June 1944 and the south porch was badly damaged. On the coast to the west, Regnéville's lime kilns recall a port that shipped lime and worked the Newfoundland fishery, and the dunes of the Pointe d'Agon close the Sienne estuary.
Required Activities
1
of 3
Stand under the lantern tower of Coutances cathedral, the one the town calls 'le Plomb', and look up through the eight open faces of the octagon carried partly in cantilever on four pendentives above a square crossing, on piers fifteen metres round
2
of 3
Visit the fours à chaux du Rey at Regnéville-sur-Mer, four 19th-century lime kilns fed by coal shipped in from Wales, now the village's maritime and industrial museum, then walk on to the castle Richelieu had packed with powder and blown up in 1637, throwing debris for leagues around
3
of 3
Walk the dunes out to the Pointe d'Agon at the mouth of the Sienne and look straight across the haven to Regnéville on the far shore, then find the salt meadows the silting estuary has built up, where the sheep that make Normandy's pré-salé lamb graze
Stand under the lantern tower of Coutances cathedral, the one the town calls 'le Plomb', and look up through the eight open faces of the octagon carried partly in cantilever on four pendentives above a square crossing, on piers fifteen metres round
Visit the fours à chaux du Rey at Regnéville-sur-Mer, four 19th-century lime kilns fed by coal shipped in from Wales, now the village's maritime and industrial museum, then walk on to the castle Richelieu had packed with powder and blown up in 1637, throwing debris for leagues around
Walk the dunes out to the Pointe d'Agon at the mouth of the Sienne and look straight across the haven to Regnéville on the far shore, then find the salt meadows the silting estuary has built up, where the sheep that make Normandy's pré-salé lamb graze
Before you go
The Romanesque core hidden under the Gothic skin can only be seen from the high parts of the cathedral, on a guided visite-conférence, which must be booked. The Sienne haven is a drying harbour that silts and floods with the tide: check the tide table before walking out on the sands at the Pointe d'Agon.
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About Normandy
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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