Mont St Michel (yes, that one), and a Medieval and Neolithic Mélange

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Tuesday 4th June

Having received advice from the host at my gîte last night, I decided to get an early start to visit Mont St Michel before the crowds – and what good advice it turned out to be! I headed off at about 7.30am and arrived at the parking lot at Mont St Michel about an hour later. I was just in time to catch a shuttle bus immediately, and having arrived at Mont St Michel, had time for photography and a leisurely walk up the back way (avoiding all the shops) to the abbey just before it opened. Consequently I was only in a bunch of about 30 or 40 people going through the abbey. I hired an audio guide gadget, which was great as it explained the history and architecture.

Mont St Michel really is absolutely stunning, hence the tens of thousands of tourists a day it receives in tourist season. It's amazing that they manage it all, but the remote parking and shuttle buses are a good idea. The views from the abbey are also impressive, and the whole place has an atmosphere that is hard to describe, but relates to its extraordinary location, beauty and historical significance.

I left at about 11am or so, to witness the enormous crowds now starting to arrive, and the long queue for the shuttle bus from the car park. Going early had been a great idea. There are many American tourists about, presumably due to the 75th D-Day anniversary, which I think is tomorrow.

My plan from here was to drive to the coastal road along the bay to Cancale and then St Malo, but a steady rain started, and consulting the weather radar suggested that it was going to continue coming from the south for a couple of hours. So I changed my plan and decided to head south to Dol de Bretagne and Dinan, places which I had planned to visit tomorrow.

I went to Dol de Bretagne to see the Menhir du Champ Dolent, which was marked on my map as a significant megalith. I was not disappointed, as it is a large and outstanding example of a menhir, being 9.3 metres in height. Again, for those readers of Asterix books, it has the classic menhir shape that Obelix makes, but larger!

The rain had started to ease here south of the coast, and I continued on to the city of Dinan. Dinan is known for its largely intact medieval city walls and buildings, as well as its incredibly picturesque port on the River Rance. Parking was a bit of a nightmare, but eventually I found a spot (metered) about half a km from the old city centre, outside the walls. Lunch was then the priority, and I found a nice crêperie in the old town. Since my gluten episode, and following advice from my French teacher friend in Angers, I now always enquire if the buckwheat pancakes are really 100% buckwheat and not a mixture, and sure enough this crêperie used a mixture of buckwheat with some wheat flour. So I left and found a better crêperie down the road near the Porte du Jerzual, one of the gates in the medieval city wall.

After lunch I did a walk around the city walls. They are not all intact, but there is plenty of interest and large sections of wall and fortifications remain. About halfway round, I was close to the railway station and so made my way there to visit the little railway museum housed there. It's not a busy station, and at present is heavily encumbered by catastrophic roadworks going on all around – I'm sure it will be nice when finished! The railway station itself was an unexpected treat – it is a stunning 1930s art deco building, featuring an unusual exterior which includes Breton symbols and a square clock tower. The interior ticket hall is a superb example of art deco (see photo).

The little rail museum, established by local rail enthusiasts, is crammed full of stuff, mostly donated by community members and rail companies. Highlights included a huge collection of rail travel posters, hundreds of locomotive and train models, an operating HO model train layout, and a small reconstruction of a signal box. I spent about an hour or so having a good look around.

I then continued my walk around the medieval walls, which included the Château de Dinan, quite a large building with adjacent portal and fortifications. I then made the extra 1km or so hike down to the road viaduct at the bottom of town, to see the fantastic view of the very picturesque port of Dinan on the Rance River below. Worth the walk I think. All the walking on this trip has resulted in 7kg weight loss, which is a beneficial side-effect I think! I headed back through the medieval town, now flooded with students as the schools had let out, back to the car. I had to tackle the school-hour traffic to get out of town. For me, Dinan was a very interesting town to visit.

I had also been talking to my host at the gîte of my interest in the megaliths around Brittany, and she told me that there was an allée couverte quite close to La Vicomté-sur-Rance, where I was staying. It took three tries, three apps (two of which had the wrong location), a local map signpost, some determination and about an hour to find. It is not very big and was largely overgrown, but I did find it in the end. So quite a lot of touring accomplished today, despite the rain.

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Photos

Le Menhir du Champ Dolent
Height 9.3 metres

Château de Dinan
The castle is integrated as part of the city walls