France 2026 - Day 8 / Mont Saint-Michel

Steps today: 18 448 ....  I'm suspicious! 

Today's day-trip is one we we'd been looking forward to for a long time: Mont Saint-Michel. 

Getting there from Rennes was very easy; just one coach bus all the way from the train station near our hotel. The ride is about 1h15 and overall is much simpler than the train.

The bus drops you off at the tourist office for Mont Saint-Michel where you can then take a free 10-minute shuttle, or walk 35 minutes to enjoy the view. Obviously we chose walking and it's so worth it. I feel you'd be missing out if taking the shuttle.

This view is so worth it!...  how to pick just one picture?

To be honest, this was the highlight of the day. The views walking up to it.  Once there, it's a tourist trap and all shopping.... not a whole lot to do for us aside from admire the views and have a drink before visiting the Abbey.

We walked along the bottom for a while since the mud was dry and wouldn't destroy our shoes.

I would have liked to see what it looks like when the tide comes in to compare

The Abbey visit was nice, I had no idea how complex it all was - it's NOT for people with reduced mobility - lots of stairs, lots of rooms, lots of up and down... I had no idea! 

After the visit, we went to the Église Saint-Pierre where we lit a candle for our fur baby JR who died on this day 7 years ago. He was so sweet and we still miss him.  I know it's a little silly to light a candle for a cat all these years later, but we like thinking about him.

And then of course: lunch.... in the SLOWEST RESTAURANT ON EARTH. Thankfully we were not in a hurry because our bus back to Rennes was only at 4:45, and it's not like it was taking time out of a shopping spree schedule, but still it was a little ridiculous. 

I wish I had taken a better picture of the view.

Enjoyable meal, can you spot the sausage in my plate under all that sauce? And why the salad dressing on the cheese?

We were done by about 2ish, puttered around a little more for an hour or so and decided to walk back.

OMG IT WAS MURDER!!! The temps were 'only' in the high 20s and I was almost in tears it was so miserable. How did people survive the heatwave this summer? This walk in the full-on sun was unbearable.  I held my jacket over my head like a cape/tent to get some shade, and after a while I thought my arms would fall off!  Taking the shuttle back was a non-starter, the line-ups waiting for it were loooooong and also in the full sun. 

Once we were done walking the length of the exposed causeway, we found a café and relaxed for an hour. I was so hot and sticky and grumpy that I didn't even bother with pictures.

We got back to Rennes around 6PM and supper was just a snack at the terrasse in front of the hotel again. The no-resto-repeat rule was really taking a beating, but it was a nice place and really perfect to be so close to "home".

After supper, time to pack up since we were moving on again the next day.