June 13, Day 3 Mont Saint Michel to Granville – 53 miles, 2000’ elevation gain
This morning at around 7:30 a.m. I walked around spectacular Mont St. Michel before the crush of tourists arrived. It is truly an awesome place. I tried to get into the abbey at the top of the staircase, but it was closed. Nonetheless it is a marvel of engineering, imagination, and beauty.
As we biked away from Mont-Saint Michel toward the city of Granville, Mont-Saint Michel was often visible, even miles from it because it is set on an island in the midst of mostly flat land.
The ride today was pleasant—mostly on secondary, quiet roads. The tour leaders, or whoever planned this ride, did a really good job of finding quiet roads.
Throughout Europe there are magnificent churches. Today we saw such a church in Avranches at our morning snack site. It must have taken years, thousands of dollars, and significant work from poorly paid laborers to build it. As I marveled at it, I wondered if construction of such magnificent churches contributed to the French Revolution. Wikipedia confirms my hunch. See the causes of it here.
One of my more memorable takeaways from today was not the nice roads or scenery. It was the smell of jasmine plants. They were everywhere and I often could smell them before I came across big bushes of them. The ample rhododendron bushes and wild poppies were also prevalent.
Check out some pictures from today’s ride.
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