We’ve arrived at our first port of call at Le Mont Saint Michel, and after a few hours of wandering around this historic island and commune, we’re spending a little quiet time in our hotel post-dinner before heading out again to catch the scenery in all it’s floodlit glory.

It was a mostly trouble-free 470 km drive down the coast from our overnight stop in Calais, through thoroughly familiar looking countryside and over some thrillingly high bridges over the river Seine.

Stopping briefly only to grab a baguette for lunch at a serviced station (and correcting an unscheduled detour when we misread the satnav) we arrived here a little after 4pm. Thankfully, our stay here is overnight and “off peak”, where the tourist ebb is low arriving mercifully in time for the exit of the heaving masses.

The weather had started to turn by the time we had checked into the Hotel La Mère Poulard, but it didn’t stop us from exploring every lane and twitten of this fortified extravaganza before stopping for dinner.