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Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago.


The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue.




Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over to live on the island.




In 966 a community of Benedictine monks replaced the other community on the island and began to build an abbey. Shortly after this pilgrims from all over Europe started to travel to Mont Saint Michel to see the island and its monastery. The monks expanded the abbey so that they could have space for all of these Pilgrims and in the eleventh century a large church was built on the rock's summit of the with later additions made in the Gothic style.



During the French Revolution the abbey and the island were used as a prison during with all religious practices were banned.


In 1922 religious ceremonies were permitted again in the abbey church and since 1969 a diocesan Benedictine community of monks and nuns have been in residence.



The route starts in Winchester or Venta Belgarum as it was known in the Roman period when it became the fifth largest city in Britain. Mary Tudor was married to Philip of Spain in the city's Cathedral which has been a place for pilgrimage since Saxon times. The Pilgrims' Trail begins at the west door.  You then walk to the Hospital of Saint Cross.


The route passes through Owlslebury which has been a village since mediaeval times and is the highest village in Hampshire and then later through Upham.



Near to Portsmouth is the Bishop's Palace (run by English Heritage) which defineitly has a stamp for the Pilgrims' Passport.


The ferry is then caught from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and then walking south through Normandy.




The Carnet du Miquelot  (available from ww.lescheminsdumontsaintmichel.com - site in English and French) which acts like a Credential as stamps are collected (I think it costs 3 Euros but the section on how to order it is all in French! You can also buy patches and badges from this site)




Within Britain the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps 132 and 119 (1:25000) can be used (although I don't know how useful these would be for finding the path).  


The Lightfoot publications produce a guidebook on this route which is available from www.pilgrimagepublications.com/threesaints which includes some maps, directions and accomodation - you can view a sample on the website (that's all that I've seen of the book). When I looked the book was print on demand and took something like 20 days to be made and cost €18.50 (it was also listed on amazon uk and Waterstones websites).






 


The only other guide I've seen so far is in french and was on ww.lescheminsdumontsaintmichel.com. This guidebook consists of 127 pages and is in colour. It details two separate routes from Cherbourg (done in 7 stages) and Barfleur (done in 8 stages) to Mont St Michel  with each stage 25-30km made of both on and off road sections. The guide gives details of where you can find tourist information, including accommodation and refreshments.




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