Nothing compares to...

Sinead O'Connor could well have been referring to Le Mont Saint Michel when she penned the lyrics to her song.

We have been lucky enough to see many fine buildings, structures or sights during this and our other trips but nothing compares to Le Mont Saint Michel.

We first saw it in the distance when we were 23 road kms away and stopped to take the following photo when we were 5 kms away

and again when we walked across the causeway to enter her (it would have to be a her as it has such beauty)

Construction of it commenced in 708 and was settled by the Benedictine monks in the 10th century and over the centuries the buildings have been added until it is what it is today.

It is an example of military architecture and as well as being a working Church, the Abbey sits atop of everything, it has also been used as a prison.

It was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979.

The above is looking across the western terrace out over reclaimed land and is in front of the doors to the Abbey which while we were there a Mass was coming to a conclusion

One of the Monks in his robes

The cloister overlooking the garden was particularly impressive as was

the refectory. It always astounds us when we visit buildings of such magnificence and that were built many years ago how they accomplished it with the tools and equipment that they had to use

And it goes without saying that the place was awash with visitors most struggling on the climbs in the 35 degree heat - it was hot!

At certain times of the year when there is a very high tide the site is cut off by the sea and becomes an island - it would be a spectacular sight.

Late in the day we left all this behind as we drove to Landivy, a small village further south for our overnight stop

 

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The exercise is working...

...if today is any indication! My glasses are so loose when I wear them that I had to go to an optician today to get them tightened which shows that I must have lost weight from around my face!

A lovely sunny warm day today with a temperature of around 25 which was an invitation to have a traditional French lunch sitting on the wall overlooking the town basin

Being Monday the weekend day trippers were not in town and so it was less busy than yesterday more so as we walked up to Cote de Grace which gave views out across the town and the La Seine and further away to the bridge I mentioned yesterday, Le Pont de Normandie, the largest cable stayed bridge in the world built in 1995 and 2141 metres long

On the way up we passed Eglise Saint Catherine which is one of a few wooden churches we have seen on our travels

inside of which were tributes to Saint Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower" of the Discalced Carmelite order

Honfleur is a town of quite some grace with the nautical theme and restaurants that pervade the basin, with the numerous art galleries where you can see originals works by numerous local artists some of which we would love to have been able to bring home, and the old buildings as you move away from the basin and up towards Cote de Grace

 

We pack up tomorrow moving on for an overnight stop in Landivy having detoured to see Le Mont Saint Michel.

 

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A long drive...

...to Honfleur today caused by an incorrect setting on the GPS.

As we travelled south west on the motorway it wasn't long before we followed her instructions and turned off the motorway. This took us through various small villages where the speed limit was down to 50 whereas the motorway has a limit of 130.

The GPS was telling us that it would take until 1.15 to arrive and having left at 9 four and a quarter hours of travel was a little too much to contemplate so I reset the GPS and saw that the setting for "No tolls" was activated and it was then obvious that we had been diverted away from tolled roads.

Having then reset to travel on tolled roads it immediately indicated that we would arrive 60 minutes faster and off we went hooking back up with the motorway.

At one of the toll booths you had to insert your credit card and the transaction was completed in a few seconds without the need to enter any PIN number and no receipt was provided for whatever amount the "system" charged to the card!

The drive into Honfleur was across a rather impressive bridge about five kms before the town and we arrived into town which was literally buzzing with tourists, locals and day trippers.

We are actually staying in the Post Office! Well the 3rd floor of it anyway in a spacious apartment - what I have come to realise is that the old body is not as good as it once was after carrying suitcases up 3 flights of stairs, some quite narrow, for the second day in a row.

The town is a seaside town and has a lot of character and even more restaurants. There is a town basin and there are restaurants all around the basin as well as in every side street and most of them were full

As yet we haven't come to understand the history of the town but being on the Normandy coast it's more recent history will be Second World War related and the street where the post office is, Cours Albert Manuel, is named after a French Resistance fighter.

The photos today are poor quality due to an incorrect setting on the camera which was not noticed until I extracted the photos from the SD card - I hope to have better tomorrow

We are now 10 hours behind Auckland due to the time zone change from the UK (as we found to someone's cost when we rung at what we thought was 7 am NZT when in fact it was 6 am - sorry J)

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Parlez Vous Francais

Leaving Pigeonwood House we went back to Dover to revisit the White Cliffs as the morning was very sunny and the wind had all but disappeared.

We ventured out across the National Trust area until we got a very good view of the cliffs

On the way back we spent some time looking down over the loading & unloading operations at the port - there were trucks for Africa on the wharves waiting to board the various ferries

It is a very slick operation as is the train crossing known as Le Shuttle which we used this afternoon. For £64 which we had booked from NZ in September you drive your vehicle onto and along the train filling up each carriage with 4 or 5 vehicles depending on size - there are two levels in the train so each carriage has between 8-10 vehicles on board.

Precisely at the scheduled time the train leaves and 35 mins later one drives the vehicle off into France remembering of course that now the left hand drive vehicle has to be driven on the right hand side of the road

Calais was also beautifully warm as we walked around the city (I won't tell you about knocking over, well almost over, this old lady as I gawked around the sights).

There were two particularly attractive buildings in the CBD area

You might have read in the papers or seen on the news the vast number of migrants who are trying to enter England from Calais - the men in this photo are a group of Syrian refugees protesting about being abandoned in Calais.

It is Saturday here and as we walked along there was an absolute cacophony of car horns as a stream of cars went passed and it brought back memories of having heard that last time we were in France - it was signifying that the cars were taking folk to a wedding.

Tomorrow it is Honfleur's time to welcome us.

 

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Pigeonwood

Awoke this morning to a beautifully hot morning so ventured outside to take a couple of photos.

Firstly of our accommodation Pigeonwood House built in 1769 and then a view out over the Kent downs looking south towards France which with the naked eye we can make out in the hazy distance

Forgot to share something from yesterday in that days blog - we stopped at a motorway cafe on the way down to Folkestone for a coffee and a middle aged guy came in and I noticed that he had THFC and the club's emblem tattoo' d on his right cheek and being a supporter of Tottenham Hotspurs myself it intrigued me, however what was more intriguing was the fact that he wore his work overalls and the company name was emblazoned on the back "Grafitti Solutions"

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You have got to stay somewhere...

...and tonight it is Folkestone as that is the town closest to Le Shuttle which takes us and the 3008 across (or in this case under) the Channel to France tomorrow.

Folkestone is nothing to write home about hence this blog will be short!

The tide was out when we arrived but looking at the gunge around the motors of the beached boats it has been out for quite some time!

We found our accommodation in a B&B about 10 mins from the harbour having driven along a country lane for a mile or so, a lane so narrow that both sides of the vehicle seemed to be brushing the bushes on either side at the same time.

Having dropped off the luggage we then drove the 8 or so miles to Dover to have a look around and whilst it was a bit more inviting than Folkestone it too didn't have a lot going for it - if the Channel ferries left from elsewhere and the cliffs were not white I suspect Dover would be a backwater, if I could be so unkind and say like Invercargill.

The port is extremely busy and looking across the Channel you could see three ferries steaming to France and another three coming the other way with another tied up and being loaded with trucks

There was a sign saying that there are over 400 crossings each day.

Dominating the skyline is Dover Castle which sits majestically up on the hill towards the White Cliffs

Around 5pm we started walking around the cliff top to get a better view of the White Cliffs but the wind was up, the temperature was down so we gave that away about 15 minutes after we set off but nevertheless we were able to get an appreciation of these chalk faced cliffs

Tomorrow afternoon we leave the UK and start the next leg of our trip in France. We have enjoyed our time here and have learned so much from a historical point of view but nevertheless we look forward firstly to perhaps warmer weather and secondly a different culture - we will keep you posted!

 

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We took a punt!

After a look around Anstey Hall this morning we returned to the City for our last day in Cambridge. We followed a walking tour which was printed in the Tourist map we had acquired.

The walk took us passed the oldest building in Cambridgeshire, St Bene't's church

then passed the Old Cavendish Laboratory, then Peterhouse (the oldest college) and across the road from that college Pembroke College which we spent some time exploring - like most of the colleges it is strikingly beautiful with well maintained buildings and gardens

Onwards we walked passed St Catherine's College, Corpus Christi College, the Corpus Clock, and King's College. The University is in the middle of their graduation week and there were numerous ceremonies being held in the various Colleges

Opposite King's College is Great St Mary's Church and for a few quid one can climb the 123 steps to the tower of this building which has stood since the 13th century. The view was very impressive!

Our walk finished after passing various other Colleges and Churches.

After lunch we went to the Backs and had a tour of "the back of the colleges" which back onto the Cam in a punt - a very relaxing way to travel I have to say and the information provided by the "punter" was well worth hearing

We finished our day back in the City centre and arrived back at the Hall having clocked up another 17.8kms on our feet.

Tomorrow we move further south before crossing to France on the 27th.

 

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