16 – Tombelaine

The Neighbour to the north

From the ramparts as well as from the saltmarshes below Mont Saint Michel, on a clear day you will see a smaller granite rock island off the Normandy coast. Situated a few kilometres from the Mont itself this is the island of Tombelaine.  Popularly (though probably apocryphally) believed to be named after a Princess Hélène reputedly buried here (Tomb of Hélène) Tombelaine was at one time also home to an abbey founded in the thirteenth century. More vulnerable than Mont Saint Michel, this island was occupied in early 1423 by the English during that period known as the Hundred Years War. All buildings and fortifications were destroyed in 1666 for fear of repeated English occupation.

Geologically these granite outcrops in the area are known as igneous intrusive formations, having formed below the earth’s outer crust – then being exposed through centuries of erosion of the outer sedimentary layers of softer rock formation.  Today Tombelaine is owned by the state as a bird and nature reserve. It is possible (given enough time) to hike across the bay from Mont St Michel, but be aware that you will be crossing quicksand areas and a couple of river burns, so your timing - in view of the strength and fearsome speed of bay tides - will be critical. Departure some four and a half hours before the high tide hour is recommended. A visit to Tombelaine will give the visitor some idea of what Mont Saint Michel would have been like before being built upon.

15 – Along the Ramparts

To the Liberty Tower

Walking along the ramparts, with its aged lichen encrusted balustrades, you approach the corbelled stonework of the Liberty Tower. Built as part of the fortifications during the Hundred Years War this part of the lower ramparts of the Mont date from around the early fifteenth century.

Apocryphally the Hundred Years War actually lasted a hundred and sixteen years from 1337 to 1453 – one of those frequently encountered trivia questions designed to trip up the unwary (like I). The war was in fact a series of conflicts between the English and the French and was punctuated by brief periods of peace. It was fought over entitlement to the French throne following the extinction of the Capetian line of French monarchs, between the houses of Valois (France) and Plantagenet (English). The Plantaganet dynasty of course descended from the lineage of William the Conqueror, so claiming rights to both French and English thrones. Strangely one common thread between English and French (who to this day do not agree on much) is the French name for the period being the “Guerre de Cent Ans”, for once a direct translation of the English term. The final victory was to the French, but at enormous cost, and resulted in great enrichment of England. A winning of the war but a losing of the battle I guess.

A telescope on the tower provides the visitor a north easterly view across the sands of the bay (the tide being out) providing views of the town of Avranches – a town with close ties to the Mont as we shall shortly hear.

And that’s as far north into Basse-Normandie as I would see.

08 – On Entry

Onwards … and upwards

Immediately you enter the paths, roads, streets and stairs of Mont St Michel you will be impressed if not overwhelmed by the scale of the place. Stone walls abound, and the fortifications look decidedly impenetrable. Although building on Mont St Michel originated in its use as a place of Christian worship and homage, much of its history has seen it under siege and attack, and the fortifications were increasingly strengthened over the centuries since dedication to its patron in the eighth century. The most notable and intense period of fortification was the Hundred Years War of the fourteenth century. Repeated attacks by the English later in the fifteenth century were withstood, but as monastic life declined so too did Mont St Michel, becoming a prison by the eighteenth century – the Bastille of the sea, and then the island went into gradual decline and decay (it has recovered!!!).

The rock on which the church and abbey are built is one of two in the area, which have over centuries withstood the ravages of time and tide. The larger of the two is St Michel and its foundation rock rose some two hundred and fifty feet above the sands surrounding it. Although appearing to be on flat and sandy land when the tide is out, the mount becomes an island when the waters rush in reaching a tidal height of some forty feet - and the tides of the bay surrounding Mont St Michel are amongst the strongest and most dangerous in the world. It is said that the incoming waters would beat a galloping horse – so be forewarned if you have plans as I did to walk around its base.

Having passed beneath the Overhang Gate, a considerable climb alongside the lower walls leads into the streets of the town, passing towers then along numerous external and internal stairs, along the ramparts ultimately reaching the upper level of the church.

With a deep breath we set out en route to the abbey at the top ……..