Day 17: Alencon to Mont St Michel

We had a somewhat shakey start today - Fifi had a coolant light show on her dash and after much googling and youtubing we decided to find a Fiat dealership and ask them for help. We drove into the lot and parked... right in amongst all the cars for sale. Matt took a photo of the dash and I used google translate to have a message ready in case they didn't speak English - which they didn't. A lovely man read my message, looked at the photo, shook his head and put his hand out for the key. He jumped in, turned a knob and all was well - Matt had bumped a menu log button and that was all it was. We were on our way to Mont St Michel...a place we have both wanted to visit for over 30 years! With just 1 minor detour - to look at a huge cathedral at Harcourt - we arrived at 12 and spent the next 5 hours walking around the Abbey, which dates back to the 8th century, and the town at the base. The Abbey and surrounding walls were amazing, but the town was like Disney on steroids. We went back to the mainland to find our accommodation, which was 1 of 4 tiny rooms built above the hosts own home, overlooking cow paddocks and barns and Mont St Michel. We went back at 6.30pm to watch the high tide come racing in and surround the island - it was amazing how quickly this took place. The sun setting over the western walls and reflecting on the ocean was magical. After 30 years, we can now say we've been!Read more