Genêts Bay

Genêts is a village on the Normandy side of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, facing the abbey across some five kilometres of tidal sand. It is the traditional departure point for the crossing on foot, and has been since medieval pilgrims used the same route.

The bay has the largest tidal range in continental Europe — around fourteen metres at springs — and the sea withdraws several kilometres, then returns across flat sand at a speed that has entered French idiom. The crossing is only made with a licensed guide, and the requirement is not bureaucratic: the sands hold quicksand pockets that shift position, and channels behind the walking party fill from the landward side, cutting off the return before the water is visible ahead.

The bay floor is grey sand and mud with tidal channels crossing it, walked barefoot or in old shoes. It is one of the largest intertidal areas in Europe and a Natura 2000 site, holding very large numbers of wintering birds. On the return the guides usually stop at the quicksand to demonstrate it, which is the part of the walk people remember.

There is nothing on the sand and nothing may be built there. Genêts has the guiding companies, a car park and a small centre; Mont-Saint-Michel itself is a separate visit with its own arrangements and its own crowds. The mount itself was reconnected to the tides in 2015, when a causeway built in 1879 was replaced by a bridge on piles and the Couesnon dam began flushing accumulated silt; the island is once again surrounded by water at the highest tides.

Five kilometres of mud each way, with a licensed guide, timed against a fourteen-metre tide. Crossing alone is prohibited and has killed people — the quicksand moves and the channels fill behind you before the water is visible in front. Done properly it is how Mont-Saint-Michel was reached for a thousand years, and the guides stop at the quicksand on the way back to show you what they have been keeping you out of.