Out of the blocks early again this morning to ride about 20 mins to Mont-Saint-Michel just on the Nomandy side of the Brittany border. The ride out of Ducey and through the surrounding fields is great and then you just see the abbey, enormous on the horizon on the other side of clear flat fields.
Very touristy and even through it only opens at 9am and we were walking in at 9:30am to a bustling town inside it’s walls.
The top half is pretty much all Abbey and even though we didn’t see any, I have no doubt there are secret passages throughout the structure. Who would build a place like this without them!!
We left Mont-Saint-Michel about 11 as we had a ling ride back to Le Havre for the ferry and still had a couple more sights to fit in.
We stopped for lunch again in Bayeux, this time taking in the delicacies of a local supermarket and sitting by the river with a baguette, some ham and cheese.
We headed back to Arromanches again only to get our bearings and then headed east along the coast. First stop was the Pegasus Bridge which is the site of the first contact on D-Day where the gliders landed, giving the element of surprise, and securing the bridge was the goal. The actual bridge is now long gone but he current one is still in use and is a replica of the original style opening bridge.
After a quick look around we headed of the Merville Gun Battery but upon arriving and checking how long it was going to take us to ride to the ferry we were out of time. A couple of quick photos and we had to say good bye to the country roads because we needed the autoroutes to make up the time so we wouldn’t miss the ferry. And boy does a 130km/h speed limit let you do that. Combined with very little traffic (anywhere!!!) we were back in Le Havre and on the ferry.
Right now we about half way into our 3 hour crossing before a 2 hour ride back to London.
So, historical sights aside, riding in France is brilliant. Stay off the main roads, park your bike anywhere as long as it’s not in anyones way and take water and snacks. You’ll love it, and every biker along the way is happy to have a chat.
Update – Also saw in the 40,000 mile mark on the bike when arriving home to mark the occasion.
