Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 828347" data-attributes="member: 53455">A hiding place for customs officers (2015)Throughout Brittany and since the Middle Ages, beaches and other parts of the coast easily accessible to man and goods were heavily watched (or supposed to be). Small stone houses like this one were built, hidden behind rocks so as to not betray their presence to anyone sailing in. They would offer shelter to customs officers, but of course they had a fireplace (with good eyes, you can discern the squat little chimney jutting out of the roof), and so trained eyes could sometimes detect puffs of smoke swirling up from a clump of otherwise innocuous-looking rocks... <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite11" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />   Then, of course, the better organized groups had accomplices on land that would bribe and/or inebriate liable or unsuspecting customs officers, so that smuggled goods (and, sometimes, people) could be nocturnally disembarked on the nearby beach...Stories of that kind abound on both sides of the Manche (which the English like to appropriate by calling it the “English” Channel).This customs shelter is on the beautiful sandy beach of Cléder, on the northern coast of Brittany.Nikon D810, Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.[ATTACH=full]414616[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

Verification