Thursday August 7, 2014

It rained during the night, but was clear by the time we woke up at 7:00 am.  We are already noticing a change in when it gets light in the morning and dark at night.  Our lives revolve around the amount of daylight there is available.  We had decided on a short ride to Mortain, and cycling along the road instead of the Velo Route.  The road was much shorter by about 15 kms than by the trail, but much hillier.  However, the hills were such that we got the momentum down one side to get up the other side – I really love it when that happens.

We had planned on a short ride so that we could get some washing done – unfortunately there was no laundromat in Mortain.  We also had planned the short ride so that we could visit the sites in Mortain which included the Abbey and two waterfalls.

I thought the sites were in the Town, I didn’t realize that we would pass the Abbey on the way in to the Town and the Grand Cascade was also on the same road.

I had stopped at the stone gate of the Abbey and could see the arches and the Abbey, Ralf had stopped a short way up the road, can you see much he asked.  \”Yes\” said I you should see the arches in this place.

On the entrance gate it said it was Privée.  We parked our bikes inside the gate and had a good walk around the Abbey it was huge and beautiful.  It was built in 1115 to house a women’s religious community.  The White Abbey was fully established in 1206 the year it was consecrated.  Most of the buildings were restored in the 19^th century.  It was used as a maternity hospital after the second world war.

As we were leaving I spotted Notre Dame la Blanche, I think she had been checking us out as we were looking at the Abbey. She stands 13 metres on a pedestal at its highest point on the rocks which dominate the abbey.

As we came around the corner from the White Abbey we spotted the sign for the Grand Waterfall.  It is the largest waterfall in western France falling from a height of 25 metres.

Unfortunately you do not want to leave loaded touring bikes unattended so we had to take it in turns to go to the waterfall, it was only a short walk down to the falls (250 metres).

As we came into Mortain we spotted this car in the petrol (gas) station.  Ralf took a couple of pictures when the passenger said “Hang on” and scooted underneath the dash board so that he could get a photograph of the car without her in view.  Of course, they were English and the guy had built the car 25 years ago.

We arrived in Mortain at 11:30 and found the municipal campsite and set up the tent.

Because we didn’t have to do any washing we had more time to do some walking in the area.  We followed the signs to the Petite Cascade (the small waterfall).  The path to the waterfall took us down a narrow walkway and then across two small wooden bridges, the path was quite narrow and slippy in places.

However, the walk was well worth it we passed two other small waterfalls before getting to the Petite Cascade.  The Petite Cascade was much prettier than the Grand Cascade.

After the waterfall we followed a trail to the Chapel Saint Vital.

This tiny chapel was built in the early 19^th century.  Count Robert of Mortain liked to come and meditate near these rocks.

Continuing up the path past the Chapel we got a great view of the Town of Mortain.

It was great to be able to spend the time in a Town and see the sites.  This is what we did in New Zealand and Australia and really enjoyed finding things in an area we didn’t know were there.

On our way to get our groceries we spotted a guy that was at the campsite in Vire.  We waved and he came over to chat to us.  He is from the Vimy area – He knew the Canadian history regarding Vimy Ridge.  He was a really nice and funny guy we asked him lots of questions about the Regions and Municipalities.  He explained there were 6 levels of government in France – the State, the District, the Region, the Canton, the Community (which could be split into two).  He says it has to change there are too many levels of government.

During the summer every Thursday evening in Mortain there is a music festival. Different music genres each week, tonight they are playing blues.