The small town of Auderville is located at the tip of the Hague, a promontory around which swirls the Race of Alderney, one of the strongest tidal currents in the world. Its particular strength is caused by the uneven seabed and narrow channel between the Cap de la Hague and the Channel Islands.
La Hague is often nicknamed "la Petite Irlande" because of its dry stone walls and windswept fields. A cross built in memory of the shipwrecked Vendémiaire is so popular with tourists that La Hague is actually the second most-visited spot in Normandy after the Mont St Michel.
Goury lighthouse:
Construction of this granite tower was completed in 1837. It was built after a dreadful sequence of twenty seven shipwrecks in the year 1823. The lighthouse is 157 feet tall and houses a gigantic lantern with powerful lenses.
Lifeboat station:
When the lighthouse was built the risk of shipwrecks was dramatically reduced but they have nevertheless been a recurrent feature of local life. In 1928 the old rowed lifeboat was replaced by a motorboat. A boat house was built with an octagonal shape which allows launch by two different ramps - one directed towards the interior of the port and one towards the open sea. The Mona Rigolet, a powerful 55 ft vessel equipped with two 350 HP engines, took her place in her new boathouse in 1990.
