La baie...

Mont Saint Michel (or LE Mont Saint Michel as it is officially called, sort of like THE Pennsylvania State University) is a small, rocky island located in a large bay in the north of France that is between Brittany (the sticky-outy part of France part that points across the Atlantic) and the Normandy coast. It is very touristy and very crowded -- even on a Wednesday in April, which is when we were there. Nonetheless, because it is such an anomaly compared with its surroundings (think FLAT and SILTY), it is really quite impressive. For instance, this picture gives a sense of the amazing view from the abbey at the top of the Mont, which is the subject of our next post.

The mont is surrounded by a very shallow body of water, but only at high tide. When the tide is out -- and it goes out eight miles -- there is only a vast expanse of sand, much like in this picture taken at the beach in Cherrueix, which is a small town a little bit west of MSM. We had arrived on a Tuesday afternoon to visit MSM on Wednesday, so we decided to drive to the coast Tuesday evening just to check it out. To get a sense of what we mean by "vast expanse of sand," you have to understand that this photo was taken in the direction of the water.

It was quite windy at the beach, but windsurfing is not so practical when the tide goes out as far as you can see and leaves a big muddy field behind. So instead, the folks in Cherrueix have a "char à voile" club, which our dictionary translates as "wind yacht". Think iceboat on sand. Cool.

Speaking of mud, one great thing we did at MSM itself was wander around the mud flats around the island shortly before the tide was about to enter the bay (i.e., begin the eight-mile trip to the Mont, which it makes at a speed of about 12 mph, or two feet per second). This gave us a chance to see what quicksand might look like, as we noticed that, in some places, the firm sand on which we were standing slowly became wet and quivery in the places we stood, jumped, or stomped. We, uh, moved when this happened.

Apparently this quicksand (see warning sign at left -- we recommend enlarging to see the impressive graphics!) and the tides that cause it figure into the history of the place, since they added considerably to the difficulty of attacking the fortified island. The MSM was the only French outpost in all of what is now northwest France that did not fall to the British during the Hundred Years' War -- a fact that is said to have inspired a young girl named Jeanne who is very familiar to those of us living near Orléans. Too bad the causeway (shown in the very first picture above) wasn't there at the time, or the English could have simply driven up to the doorstep in their Winnebagos.

The quicksand figured in the history of MSM even before the 15th century, as it is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066.