Day 3: Cathedrals and Cobblestones

Outside Mont-St-Michel

By Tim

After a night’s rest (or something like it) at a “Formule 1” hostel in Avremanches, we ventured to nearly by Mont-St-Michel, an absolutely stunning site: literally a medieval paradise on an island. But that doesn’t do it justice; it’s a fortified island that is a maze of stone arches, spires, and stairways that leads up to the abbey. We didn’t go on the island itself; the view from the mainland was worth it alone.

Onward to Rennes we went. Our sat nav seemed to be tired of all the motorways and highways, so it took us on lots of farm roads before getting on what was the same motorway we could have taken from the start! Ah, how we are like sheep with sat nav’s; if it tells us to drive into a river, we would probably do it, or at least seriously consider it. (We’ve now decided to trust signage over the sat nav when in doubt.)But no regrets, since we prefer the “off the beaten path” options to when “she” (as we loving refer to our sat nav) tells us: “Drive 68 miles”!

Rennes, like other French cities, has its share of beautiful cathedrals. But what sets it apart is the cultural appeal. Rennes is a university town, known as a “party mecca”. We could see evidence of this as pubs and other establishments were cleaning up after a night of partying. As such, Rennes is a very young and vibrant place set against a very different (but somehow fitting) backdrop of old cathedrals, cobblestones, and half-timbered houses.

From there we headed south to Nantes. Our trusty Land Rover’s “happy place” is about 65 mph – which isn’t bad considering its weight, but is very slow compared to the 80 mph speed limit on the highways! We have resigned to the slow lane most of the time, taking some heart when we can pass the bigger trucks on ascents…

In Nantes we managed to find parking and take a stroll through the city. We went in the Cathedrale St-Pierre, which sadly sustained a lot of damage, not in the least due to a ravaging fire in 1972. Still, it was a stunning site, both inside and out. When we got back to the Landy, we noticed we had parked next to a sketchy district of shops (lets just say it was the redlight of Nantes!)… we must take more notice next time as we probably wouldn’t have parked there in the first place! :)

On the road again... southbound – toward the vineyards of Bordeaux!