Mont-Saint-Michel

After taking the overnight ferry through the English Chanel from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo France, we spent the next day visiting a few sites in the area, and also toured the old walled part of this fun resort town.  We overnighted there at a hotel on the shore and then off to Mont-Saint-Michel in the morning. 

I first learned about Mont-Saint-Michel way back in high school in my French classes.  I always thought how cool it would be to actually go there. It is also one of the most visited places in the whole of France. That is one of the many reasons I signed up for this trip.  I was not disappointed!  Even though there were no interesting energetic happenings there, it was a totally interesting day! 

Mont-Saint-Michel is what is called a tidal island off the coast of Normandy, and is made of granite. The high point is about 300’ above sea level.  There is an ancient abbey at the top.  The high and low tides here are extreme, and up until the causeway was built in 2014, pilgrims and travelers had to walk across the sand flats for about ½ mile to get there from the mainland.  Many were caught by the incoming high tides and drowned, so that walk could be perilous indeed.  Walking on the sand flats surrounding the island is still a popular pastime, as we saw many people doing that. 

So our journey there involved the following, which would come into play later in the day.  We drove to the car park where the bus was parked.  Then a walk to the visitor’s center of about ¼ mile.  At the visitor’s center we took a shuttle most of the way across the causeway where we got out and walked onto the island itself.  The distance from the car park to the island is about 1 ½ miles. 

Once there, the real climbing began.  I have seen figures of 350 steps to get to the top.  About 200 as you walk up the steep street where what were once residences have now been turned into tourist shops and restaurants.  Very gothic!

Then the rest of the climb is on approximately 150 stair steps to get to the abbey at the top.  All very steep.   Several people in our group were not physically able to do that, so they stayed behind at the base of the main street.  All of the effort was totally worth it, as the views were fabulous.

There were more up and down stairs once we got into the abbey itself.  Lots of fabulous arches to be seen.

On the way back down I had lunch with a few fellow travelers, which was a welcome rest from all of the climbing.  It was very crowded there, and we were lucky to get a table in one of the many restaurants. 

So now we gathered together and went to where we were to catch the shuttle on the causeway.  We waited and waited, and then word came that the shuttles were not running because of a parade!  What???  So the decision was made that we were to walk all the way back to the bus at the visitor’s center car park, which was about a 50 minute walk.   The distance was not that far, but after all of the climbing, we were pretty tired and it was pretty warm outside that day.

Off we went and soon found out what the parade was all about.  Mont-Saint-Michel is not far from where the allied forces landed on D-Day during World War II.  The parade consisted of what I assume were army reinactors riding in jeeps and other military style vehicles.  Of course, this was D-Day week!  The shuttles had been stopped because the military parade was driving across the causeway to the island and back.  Talk about another interesting coincidence on this trip.

Our final destination that day was the city of Vannes, Brittany, which is on the Atlantic coast. We were to stay there for 3 nights.  Time for some down time after quite a long day. 

Avebury

After that incredible experience at Stonehenge the night before, we checked out of our hotel in Salisbury to head over to Avebury before getting on to the overnight ferry that would take us across the English Channel to the port city of Saint-Malo, France.   

The Avebury site consists of a large circular henge, which is a ditch and bank affair, an outer stone circle of monoliths just within the perimeter of the henge, and 2 other stone circles in the center.  The outer stone circle is one of the largest in Europe and the largest in Britain.  It is hard to see all of this from ground level, in addition to many of the monoliths having been taken away and used for local building material.  In fact, a quaint village has been built inside of the outer stone circle and henge.  You can read about Avebury here.

Another magical coincidence occurred upon arriving at the Avebury town to meet up with our local guide Mike.  The night before I had had dinner with him and 2 other group travelers, and I asked him if he knew of Maria Wheatley, since they both live near Avebury.  He said that he didn’t.  Well, we arrived at the car park and were walking to where we were to meet him for our tour.  He was standing with a woman, and he called me over to meet her.  Imagine my surprise to find out that it was Maria herself!  She was waiting in the same spot to meet another group of tourists for her tour.  Apparently they had struck up a conversation while waiting.  How lucky for me.  I was thrilled, since I had such a nice interaction with her regarding ordering her book.  After our group moved on, I ran back to get a photo.  Here she is.

We then walked onto a path was that ran along one of the inner stone circles.  A ways down there was a stone laying flat that Mike said was a healing stone.  I came over to test with my pendulum, and sure enough, the pendulum ran clockwise in a very strong motion.  You could tell that people had been sitting on it as the ground next to it was devoid of grass.

Here is the largest megalith weighing about 65 tons.

Here are male and female megaliths positioned across from each other.  You get to guess which is which.  Ha!

More photos of the circles. 

Sheep hanging around, some grazing in the humongous ditch which is part of the henge.  Sheep poop everywhere.

As I had been there before, I did not miss time we could have had wandering among the megaliths.  Each one was different, and you could touch them as much as you wanted! 

Stonehenge

Two days ago, some political activists sprayed an orange powder onto some of the stones at Stonehenge.  It was first thought that it was orange paint, but apparently whatever it was was easily washed off.  We were just there a few weeks prior to that event.  What a shame it would have been if there was permanent damage. 

Stonehenge has to be one of the most fascinating places that I have had the privilege to visit on my travels.  This trip was my 4^th one there.  The first 2 were with friends just looking around, and the 3^rd one was in 2012 with a spiritual group, so I never really got the whole gist of the place.  If you are interested in the complete story, again I highly recommend Maria Wheatley’s book “The Secret History of Stonehenge”.  Here is her website.  All kinds of information on Stonehenge can also be researched on the internet. 

The other times I visited, we drove into a small car park at the visitor’s center and just walked over to the site.  Things have sure changed since then!  There is now a very large car park quite a ways away and a new very large visitor’s center.  From there, one can either walk, take a shuttle part of the way, or all of the way to the monument.  Then there is a security gate to go through before getting on the pathway that encircles the site.  Even with the crowds, things seemed to be managed very well.  It is also easy to get lots of good photos without people in them, as there is a little fence there to keep people from going up to the stones.  And guards around, too. 

We had 2 visits in one day, which was more than enough to see everything.  In the afternoon, we had a chance to purchase items in the visitor’s center.  I got a bluestone polished sphere and a bluestone bracelet, which I am wearing now as I write.  Bluestone is a dark bluish stone with silica specks in it, resembling a starry sky. The smaller stones at Stonehenge are made up of this stone, which was brought from Wales.  The larger stones there are sarsens and were hauled from about 20 miles away.

In the afternoon, our group took the shuttle half way from the visitor’s center with the purpose of walking the rest of the way while our local guide Mike lectured.  Unfortunately, Mike was fond of more talking than walking, so another of the ladies in the group and I went on ahead, as we really wanted to get some good photos.  By the time we got all the way around the enclosure, Mike, with the rest of the group in tow, had just made it there and it was time to take the shuttle back to the parking lot.  I know that many were not happy that they did not get the photos that they wanted.  (BTW-This was one of the only trips I have taken where there were other people with actual cameras!  About half of us were photographing.) 

As I walked, I was testing with my pendulum.  No motion meant no energy present, a straight line up and down meant that I was walking on an energetic pathway, and a circle meant that I was detecting positive energy.   The whole way around the enclosure my pendulum was moving clockwise, meaning that the energy coming from the center where the stones were was radiating far out from there.  In Maria Wheatley’s book, she shows a map of the underground streams that converge into the center of Stonehenge where there is an aquifer, thus creating an energy vortex.  Clearly this is why the ancient people chose this spot.  Now what method they used is not known.  It could have been dowsing with a pendulum or rods, or even some sort of spiritual guidance.  So even the casual tourist there would be exposed to a higher dimensional and undoubtedly healing energy. 

After a quick dinner in the area, we went back with special permission for our private evening experience.  We were then allowed to go into the actual monument, but were cautioned not to touch any of the stones.  I took with me in addition to my pendulum, my crystal skull “The Traveler” to be energized, and the blue stone sphere that I had purchased earlier in the afternoon.  The Traveler has gone with me to every sacred site I have visited with the purpose of being imprinted by the energy and then transmitting that energy to all of my other skulls once I get back home. 

For whatever reason, after reading Maria’s book, I was very interested in testing the energy of the Altar Stone.  This stone is one of the bluestones and is lying on the ground partially buried after being knocked over by a fallen sarsen stone.  The whole inner area yielded a big and strong clockwise motion of the pendulum, but when I asked about and located the Altar Stone, the pendulum just went nuts with an extremely strong motion.  Below are photos of this stone with my skull and the bluestone sphere next to it.  They were positioned just at the edge of the stone, and not on top of it, but that did not seem to matter.

 

After I left them there to soak up the energy for a bit, I picked them up and proceeded to walk around, still testing, and occasionally touching the various stones with The Traveler.  I guess I was pretty sneaky doing that, as none of the guards saw me!  Below are some photos.  The smaller skinny stones are the bluestones, and the big ones are the sarsens.

After my encounter with Stonehenge, The Traveler informed me that he was complete with his trip and didn’t want to be energized by the other sites that we were visiting.  He did not want his Stonehenge energy tainted or diluted in any way.  So for the rest of the trip he stayed on a red cloth in my hotel room.  I did not opt for maid service, so there was no one to freak out upon seeing him!