The others - day 31 (Pontorson)

We had a slightly earlier breakfast this morning to get to Mont St Michel as early as possible. It is a very easy .5 hr ride to the bike parking area and then another half hour walk to the Mont itself via a wooden walkway. You have the option of taking a free shuttle bus but we decided the walk would be good. Beat the crowds and wandered through the village and upwards towards the Abbey for 11.15 Mass. Plan went slightly awry as when we got to the Abbey with the intention of confirming a tour time from our pre-booked ticket we were met by a HUGE crowd and eventually informed by a guide that, due to a music festival, there were no guided tours of the Abbey today! So much for our E20 online tickets! We could, however, still return at about 11 to go to the Mass. So we went and had a reasonable quality E6.50 latte and then headed back to another huge que and general confusion as there were concert goers, Mass attendees and passing traffic all together wondering which group was which. We eventually get moving and ended up with front seats for the Mass. All in French of course so couldn't understand anything except the general order of the service we much as we know. Bishop gave a long address in French but the chanting by the nuns and monks and the organ music was very good. No hymn singing but the sung responses by the mainly French congregation were beautiful. The nuns had all the children help with the offertory and bringing up candles and they were really great with the kids. Had a good look at the organ afterwards - quite a beautuful and powerful instrument - have a recording on the phone. Took our time just wandering around the myriad of pathways around the mountain and came across gardens, cemeteries, parks and some extraordinary buildings and flying foxes to transport things up the side of this amazing complex. Lovely crepes for lunch and finally headed home about 4. Great and memorable day! Pontorson is very quiet and we were a bit worried about our dinner to fight as everything was seemingly closed but our host recommended a little place and it turned out fine- had a really good final foi gras and we both ordered ".leg of lamb" thinking we would have some nice roasted lamb but what did we each get? - a LEG of lamb! No dessert tonight! Almost finished the trip. It has been absolutely fabulous - so much variety, unexpected surprises, some crises, wonderful people, great riding, magnificent countryside, unreal towns and architecture. One of our best trips. France (for the fifth time actually) ? - what can you say? - magnificent scenery, food here is an art form - even the most humble little cafe or restaurant will treat you go amazing food; the language is again music to the ears, the children are beautiful; there are no ugly French policewomen either; they are very loyal to French carmakers; their trains are fabulous and run on time; they are very arrogant and proud of their country but tbey have reason to be. A fabulous trip but as always it will be good to go be home! It's a beautiful world!