Tuesday 10.05.2011 – after waving off our Cancer fund raising push bike rider we set Tom the challenge of getting us to Le Mont-St-Michel, the small island with an Abbey built on it that we had often seen post cards of. As we approached to about 2 km Kerrie said over our intercom, "Oh my goodness!" This photo she then took from the back of the bike explains why.

We later took some photos of photos just in case we didn't "capture" the real deal. We have included them but Kerrie's photo meant we needed have worried. Judge for yourself.

Greg also wanted a real deal photo so he snapped Kerrie on the walk in.


Le Mont-St-Michel now also has a small town built around the bottom edges of the cathedral that has heaps of tourist souvenir shops (surprise, surprise) and restaurants. For lunch we shared a panini and had a coffee, and at 6 Euro each ($8) – it was the most expensive coffee we think we have ever had!

We both thought Le Mont-St-Michel was cut off and completely surrounded by water when high tide was in but we were wrong. Since 1879 there has been a causeway joining the island to the mainland. You can see by the photo of Kerrie on the causeway.

Today the cathedral is still in use but essentially Le Mont-St-Michele is a tourist attraction. You climb up stairs after wandering through the town shops - up, up and up.


You almost reach the top when you discover there is a billet (ticket) to enter the Abbey right at the top.

b*****! Sneaky those religious Frogs because you figger after huffing and puffing your way to almost the top, what the hell, pay the entry fee and see the view from the penthouse. The Abbey is still used for religious services, one which was going on when we were there. .

Anyway the view from the top was worth the cost of entry.

The Abbey has a garden at the top, and a large hall Greg reckons was the dining hall for the monks but he couldn't find any.



There is also the "big wheel" as the French call it.

We thought it may have wound up the drawer bridge but it was used to haul stuff up the walls from the bottom. Check out the photo.

We found the drawer bridge at ground level. We both agreed it was only used to shut in tight fisted tourists until they opened their wallets.



In the car park we spoke to three British bikers who said they had just had 10 days off and had ridden to Spain and done the Pyrenees and were on their way to catch the ferry from Cherbourg and would be home down at their local by 9.00 pm. How lucky to live in a part of the world where you can just jump on your bike and be in another country and culture in such a short time and distance. We also spied a maroon coloured Sprint ST, a cousin to the P-D but not nearly as pretty.

We then headed to Bayeux, famous for a whole bunch of stuff but more on that in the next edition.