Le Tour de la Jardinière

We had an absolutely yummy dinner at Restaurant de la Croix d’Or last night and it was fabulously exciting because the menu was all in French and I could only work out what half of the things in each dish were so we didn’t really know what we were ordering.  But we figured it didn’t really matter as whatever we chose was going to be delicious and we were right.  The desserts were particularly fantastic but by the end of so many other courses we couldn’t really do them justice even though we had left an ‘empty corner’ a la Ben. J  Breakfast this morning was equally yummy and we filled up on cereal, yoghurt, fruit, croissants, crusty bread, juice and coffee/chocolate.

Headed off to Mont St Michel and took the scenic route around the bay rather than along the main roads and we were soon pulling over to start taking photos of the Mont as it loomed across the bay.  It was very overcast and gloomy but the forecast said no rain and we discovered later from the numerous jokey postcards at Mont St Michel that that is pretty unusual and it is one of the other things that Normandy is famous (infamous?) for.  Larry felt much more comfortable behind the wheel today and remembered to look left instead of right at roundabouts without me having to remind him.  We got to the Mont about 10am so although there were lots of people about it wasn’t hideously crowded.  We walked up the main street looking at all the souvenir shops and Larry drooled over the walls of swords, daggers, guns and other assorted arsenal.  Got told off in one shop for taking a photo of him but that was okay because the shopkeeper told off Larry and not me! J  Continued on up and up and decided not to go in the abbey but just to wander around on the ramparts and enjoy the views.  Eventually breakfast wore off and we found a nice cafe overlooking the bay and had a galette with cheese, egg and ham and a cold drink and coffee.  Feeling suitably refreshed we hit the shops again for a while then decided the crowds were increasingly annoying and that it was time to leave. 

Decided we would continue to drive west around the baie to Cancale.  Everywhere along the road there were gardeners tidying verges, roundabouts etc and quite often when we pull over somewhere to video there is the sound of lawnmowers or whipper snippers in the background.  This is becoming Le Tour of the Jardinière!  When we eventually arrived at Cancale we decided to continue through and right to the tip of Point de Grouin so that we had completely finished the arc of the baie.  Great views across the bay but Mont St Michel was just a little hazy bump on the horizon.  Larry was particularly excited by the gun turrets buried into the cliffs around the Pointe – our first real ‘taste’ of the military history of the area.  Wandered over the headlands (yes, with mowers and whipper snippers in the background) and were particularly amused that the fences were on the other side of the path from the steep crumbly cliff and were rather to keep people off areas they were trying to revegetate on the other side – plants are definitely pretty important here!!  After our fill of scenery we decided to head back to Avranches via the more major roads with one brief stop at Mont Dol as it was the highest point in the area and had great views across the plain and out across to the bay and Mont St Michel. 

Back in Avranches and it was time for some domestic chores so we drove up and down some streets hoping to stumble across a Laundromat and we actually found one just as were heading up a tiny back street and were giving up hope!  A nice lady that was already in there asked us if we needed help (in English!) so we were soon in sudsy heaven and could wander off and find a much needed toilet and something to eat. We headed into the town centre and found a kebab shop and had a kebab, frites and drink – a far cry from our fancy meal last night but we are nothing if not versatile and it certainly hit the spot alright.  Larry felt that a little dessert was in order so we headed over to a patisserie/boulangerie/glacerie which sold the most humungous meringues I have ever seen – about the size of a lawn bowl so we had one of those each and then the most enormous sugar rush so that we were giggling away whilst we strewed ourselves with crumbs.  Larry used to the opportunity whilst the dryer was on to finally work out how to use Kevin properly (putting up the aerial fully apparently makes a big difference to the satellite working properly and not freezing!!) so we made it back to the hotel easily.  After hanging up any washing that was still slightly damp after we ran out of coins at the Laundromat we walked up to the memorial to General Patton and took some photos of the tank and now we are sitting in the pretty garden at our hotel as it not too cold and it still quite light at 8pm.