Along the Flamanville coastline, from port Diélette to Havre Jouan, Flamanville offers you breathtaking landscapes.
The Cap of Flamanville, a rocky promontory in the southwest of the town, offers walkers an exceptional panorama from the imposing cliffs, which rise up to 89 meters. At their summit, discover the Pierre au Rey and the semaphore dating from 1867.
During your walks among gorse and greenery, take a break at Cap of Flamanville. At 85 meters above sea level, you will discover the buildings of a former French Navy semaphore dating from 1867. Now restored, since 1988 it has housed a restaurant and a stopover lodge much appreciated by walkers.
This site, advanced out to sea, was selected in 1794 to become one of the posts of the line of lookouts established on the French coasts.
The Flamanville semaphore was built in 1807: a mast, operated by a system of pulleys and arms, was originally designed solely for the Navy. It enabled those monitoring maritime traffic to communicate with boats at a distance.
Its wings could take up to seven different positions, and compose a total of 343 signals. In the middle of the 19th century, an electric telegraph, a means of instant communication, was attached to the mast. The Navy then acquired 440 m2 of cliffs.
The building was then built: with a frontage of 19m, it contained accommodation for the two lookouts and their families, as well as a semi-circular room where the 18m high mast was located. In 1923, a public telephone station was opened here. In 1928, the mast disappeared and was replaced by antennas which remained in operation until the Jobourg CROSS came into service in the early 1970s, marking the end of surveillance activity in Flamanville.
Sold by the Navy to the municipality in 1984, the semaphore was transformed three years later into a stopover lodge and inaugurated in 1989.
Located on the coast of Flamanville, in the Sciotot cove, the Havre Jouan is a small boat slipway famous for its geology.
You can walk along the cliff edge to the footpaths, overlooking the Sciotot cove and its 4 kilometres of fine sandy beach. A real postcard setting!
Above the Havre Jouan, perched at the top of a cliff, discover Ghislaine Vernaujoux’s sculpture studio, her works and installations.
