Tuesday 1 May 2007

Cornwall photos - 6 - St Michael's Mount






On a family holiday to Brittany some years ago, with the Sage, me, all three of our children, my sister and her husband (who is no longer alive), one of the highlights was the walk, with a guide, across the bay to Mont St Michel. One needed the guide because of quicksand and the incoming tide, both of which were dangerous. What we enjoyed most were the patches of quicksand, where we could wiggle our toes and sink in several inches. We rapidly learned to recognise them and joyous shrieks of "ooh look, there's more mungo!!(!)" brought us all together giggling, to go into the muddy sand, ankle-deep. The French people on the walk looked at us tolerantly but did not join in. There weren't any other children there, maybe that was it - although El and Al were both in their late teens then, it was only Ro who was actually a child.

Mont St Michel, spectacular though it was, was a bit of a disappointment in some ways, as it was so commercialised. Lots and lots of muck'n'tat shops.

St Michael's Mount is quite different. It is managed by the National Trust, although the family who owned it still have apartments in the castle. It was lovely, tranquil and impressive and we had a perfect sunny day to enjoy it. The tide was so low that you could walk out on the sand or the causeway - it's cut off by high tides and you can go by boat. It's a stiff climb to the castle, but I was starting to cope with gradients by now and hardly complained at all.

I realise that I didn't take any photos of the island while I was there, only of the sea and mainland. Sorry. The last village on the left of the bottom photo is Mousehole, across the bay.

6 comments:

martin said...

I am so jealous of you. You seem to have had a wonderful time in wonderful weather. Did you have champagne on your return ?.

Z said...

Yes, actually we did.

We also had champagne the first night we arrived in Mousehole, as it was my sister's birthday.

Rog said...

Agree that the French version is a Disneyland and the Cornish version is lovely!
And there wasn't a Marks and Spencer outlet on either!

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos! Glad you had such an ace time xx E

Z said...

Cheers, E
xx

Pat said...

Thank you ! It's like having a long lost holiday all over again and that was a long lost holiday avec des enfants. Confused? I suppose it's about every 20 years since the thirties.