It was at lea­st three years that we fan­ta­si­zed about Nor­man­dy as a pos­si­ble tra­vel desti­na­tion. The infor­ma­tion gathe­red about its wea­ther, often bri­sk, makes us choo­se the late spring as the time of the year to try to ven­tu­re bet­ween the Côte d’Al­bâ­tre and the Mont Saint-Michel. Once again, sin­ce Ste­fa­no lives in The Hague, we deci­de to arran­ge the short trip in a van, lea­ving from The Nether­lands. Becau­se of the beau­ti­ful wea­ther and the few tou­rists around, we are defi­ni­te­ly char­med by this cor­ner of Fran­ce histo­ri­cal­ly kno­wn for the allies lan­ding during World War II. Both the coa­st, cha­rac­te­ri­zed by whi­te cliffs that remind us of the views seen in Sus­sex, and the beau­ti­ful inland coun­try­si­de, dot­ted with pastu­res, farms and tiny vil­la­ges with straw roof hou­ses, fill our hearts. To cro­wn the short but inten­se path, the famous small for­ti­fied island with the sanc­tua­ry dedi­ca­ted to the Archan­gel Michael.

Tips

Tra­vel plan­ning: Lone­ly Pla­net Fran­cia set­ten­trio­na­le e cen­tra­le, dedi­ca­ted Meri­dia­ni dos­sier and Turi­sti per caso tra­vel logs

We pre­fer­red to skip the high­way, whe­re pos­si­ble, to dri­ve on secon­da­ry roads like the Rou­te des Chau­mie­res to appre­cia­te the magic of hou­ses with straw roof typi­cal of this area

Plan the visit to Mont Saint-Michel at the arri­val of the high tide to wit­ness the rising water coming “like gal­lo­ping hor­ses”

Find pla­ces to park your van and spend the night on Fur­go­per­fec­to