Tombelaine, l'îlot du prieuré

Genêts

Tombelaine — the "little tomb", or, as the clerks said, the tumba Helenae — is the second rock of the bay, the shadow of the Mont. Two monks of the Mont, Anastase and Robert, lived there as hermits about 1030; in 1137 Abbot Bernard du Bec founded there a priory and a chapel of Notre-Dame, which drew pilgrims of its own. The islet was fortified in the 13th century, and it was from there that the English, who occupied it from 1356 to 1450 and garrisoned it with troops from 1423, blockaded the Mont during the great siege: from the ramparts of the abbey, the hundred and nineteen knights of Louis d'Estouteville saw the enemy fortress every day, three kilometres away. In the 16th century Montgomery, the Protestant leader, used it as a base; in the 17th, Fouquet had it put back in order, and Louis XIV, after the superintendent's disgrace, ordered it razed in 1666. There remain only stretches of wall beneath the bushes, a granite peak, and thousands of birds: gulls, egrets, shelducks, which have made Tombelaine a reserve since 1985. The crossing from Genêts, with a guide, retraces on foot the last step of the miquelots, over the sands where so many of them were lost.

Wikipédia — Tombelaine ↗

Getting there : Only on foot, at low tide, with an approved guide of the bay, starting from the Bec d'Andaine (Genêts) or from the Mont; the crossing takes half a day. The islet is closed from 15 March to 31 July for nesting; the rest of the year one can walk round it and climb to the ruins. Never go there alone: quicksands and rising tide.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound