June 27 - Day 23 - Mont St Michel

The legend tells that the history of the Mont-Saint-Michel begins in 708, after the archangel Michael appeared to the bishop Aubert three times in dream..

It was a chilly morning, so we bundled up and rode our bikes across the causeway, focused on beating the crowds.  Mission accomplished. 

It is an amazing journey as you get closer, Mont St Michel is a small village, hugging the side of this tiny island, layers and layers of old buildings and sculptured rock. As soon as you arrive, you basically start climbing. 

And climbing. 

We took the Abbey tour via a tablet, which was so well done. In each important room they describe the room now, and its history, with images on the tablet of what it likely looked like when it was used by monks (twelfth century) versus when it was used as a prison (middle ages and during the French Revolution), for example. Very interesting. So much information based on such a long and sorted history. 

This depicts the archangel Michel in Saint Aubert's dreams. 

The archangel Michel (slaying a dragon) is also on the spire of the Abbey, originally designed in 1894 and installed in 1897.  It was reguilded and restored and the latest version includes a lightning rod on his wings, as the Abbey suffered many lighting strikes causing fires over the years. There was a cool video clip on the tour tablet showing a helicopter bringing this angel back to the spire after it's restoration in 2016.

The tour led us round and round, for sure we would still be in there trying to find our way out if we didn't have instructions. So many stairs and passages, each section built considering what is above it (many support pillars) and what is below. And of course there were quite a few additions over the hundreds of years. 

(Above, another beautiful use of an ancient building housing a modern art installation.)

Once we finished the tour we followed the well-worn path, down down down. And it was hard not to enjoy the view from every angle. 

We literally stood and watched the tide come in. Such a powerful force, it was like watching a storm surge. One minute there was beach and then it was gone. Very cool but hard to capture. They have a special search and rescue vehicle for the muddy "quick sand" as people get caught by the fast moving tide. 

And that was our Mont St Michel adventure. 

The sheep that graze in the the salty marshlands around the Mont, are famous for their unique taste based on their diet. Instead of trying them, we are just enjoying the tourist shop sheep 😉.  

The little village (hotels, the campground, tourist shops and restaurants) is dotted with cows, so I did a little tour of them to introduce myself. 

This marks the end of Stage 2 and our coastline cycle tour of Brittany, and may indeed be the beginning of the Normandy tour ... Because the French can't quite agree on where Mont St Michel actually is - Brittany? Normandy?  No one knows, we just know that neither side will agree to the other's opinion.

We have had a lazy afternoon, going from shade to sun to shade to sun, sweater on, sweater off, you get the idea.... because Brittany (or Normandy?) weather is like that - all 4 seasons in one day.  We went for dinner and noted 0% chance of rain (Accu weather), and, yes, it rained on us. Note the wardrobe in my 3 cow photos, all taken with a few hours of each other. 

Tomorrow we will head inland toward Rennes, towards Nantes. Stage 3 here we come. 

Comments welcomed.