Along with thirteen centuries of history, the Association "Les Chemins de saint Michel" celebrated its tenth anniversary. The theme of the anniversary was "Friendship", to recall all the encounters that have enabled the Association to restore these paths and bring them to life.
Several groups of miquelots (pilgrims to Saint Michael) walked simultaneously along different routes.
Along the way, the walkers were regularly welcomed by local residents, and their visit was the occasion for many meetings and events.
The groups carried a pennant bearing the logo of the Association "Les Chemins de saint Michel" and a logo illustrating the group's region of origin.
Each group prepared its walk in collaboration with the communities it passed through and the partners with whom the Association had forged links in previous years.
A great deal of work was carried out in advance, with the active participation of the Association's volunteers.
Numerous contacts were made throughout the Lower Normandy region, enabling us to take stock of the Chemins de Saint Michel and develop new projects for the future.
Along the way, the walkers were regularly welcomed by local residents, and their visit was the occasion for many meetings and events.
Each path had its own blog regularly updated by the group of walkers who shared their day-to-day adventures along the way.
Groups of Miquelots on the roads:
- 17 September 2008, from Winchester in England to Le Mont via Cherbourg
A group of 10 French people and 8 English people walked to celebrate the friendship that the Association is forging with its English partners and to reflect on the future projects that it wishes to develop in England.
The group of French Miquelots joined the English on 16 September to start their journey from Winchester Cathedral after a ceremony attended by Hampshire councillors and the Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie.
They passed through Owlesbury, Southwick and Porchester, reaching Cherbourg on 19 September before continuing on to Mont-Saint-Michel via Montebourg, Carentan, Périers, Coutances, Cérences, la Haye-Pesnel, Saint-Jean-le-Thomas and Genêts. At each stopover, they were welcomed and their passage gave rise to numerous events involving the residents of the towns they passed through.
- 27 September, from Mortain on the Grand Chemin to Paris
A small group of 5 walkers covered part of this new Grand Chemin de saint Michel, a first to herald the publication in 2009 of a new guidebook describing the Chemin de saint Michel and the GR 22 between Paris and Mont-Saint-Michel.
- 16 September, from Rouen (leaving from the cathedral)
A group of 6 walkers from Normandy followed this route, which crosses the two Normandy regions, to celebrate the collaboration between the association and its Norman partners.
They passed through Bec-Hellouin Abbey, Bernay, Orbec, Vimoutiers, Falaise, Vire, Avranches and Genêts.
- 21 September, from Caen (leaving from the church of Saint-Michel de Vaucelles)
A small group of 8 miquelots were joined for several stages by visually impaired people. Visually impaired people, with the help of their families and sighted volunteers, chose to get involved by organising activities and taking part in various projects like this one.
Visually impaired people, assisted by their families and sighted volunteers, joined them for their first and final leg.
Our associations have decided to work together to spread a message of solidarity and openness along the way.
During their visit to Villedieu-les-Poêles, the Association and the Communauté de communes laid the foundations for a new partnership with the signing of an agreement between the Communautés de communes/ville-étape and the project for a hiker's halt in Villedieu.
- From Anjou, Brittany, Touraine and Sarthe
Several members of the Friends of Santiago de Compostela associations with which the Association works have also set off. They set off from Le Puy-Notre-Dame, Tours and Le Mans to reach Mont-Saint-Michel and join the pilgrims of Saint Michael to celebrate with us this rich friendship that unites us.
This partnership was born out of a desire to work together on the routes, with two ambitious and unprecedented projects in particular: linking the two major sites of Compostela and Le Mont and double signposting the routes.
Blogs:
Exceptionally this year, the Association joined forces with the Rando Baie, the highlight of which took place from 24 to 29 September.
La Rando Baie sur les chemins de saint Michel opened up the route between Coutances and Mont-Saint-Michel to the public, allowing those who wished to do so to accompany the group of English and French Miquelots on the final stages of their journey.
The initiative was a great success, with between 70 and 150 walkers taking part each day.
The highlight of the third Rando Baie took place over the weekend of 27 and 28 September.
This year's event, which celebrated the history of the paths of Saint Michael and the Mount, revolved around three major sites:
- Genêts, point of arrival of the paths of Saint Michael (from Winchester, Paris, Caen, Rouen...)
- Saint-James, the arrival point for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela
- Roz-sur-Couesnon, end point of the Breton paths
The programme for this event includes around thirty walks over 6 days
with a host of events on each site, including concerts, a local produce market, exhibitions, round-table discussions and a big fest-noz evening on Saturday night.
- 6.00 pm / welcome at La Dierge for groups from Anjou, Tours and Le Mans
by the Saint-James Community of Communes.
Tasting of local products
On Saturday 27 September in Saint-James, the paths of Mont-Saint-Michel, the Council of Europe's new Cultural Route, celebrated their friendship with other European cultural pilgrimage routes, in particular those of Compostela.
Jacquets from the associations of the Friends of Saint-Jacques in Anjou, Brittany, Sarthe and Tours joined forces with the Association to seal this friendship with the symbolic planting of an apple tree and the placing of a commemorative plaque.
The event, which was attended by around fifty people, including pupils from Saint-James schools, took place in the presence of the mayor, Michel Thoury, and a delegation of representatives from Galicia, who had come on an official visit as part of Mont-Saint-Michel's 1,300-year history.
Afterwards, Michel Thoury, Mayor of Saint-James, a stopover on the paths of Saint Michael and Saint James, welcomed us for a drink of friendship. Saint-James is the first stopover in Normandy on the route between Compostela and Mont-Saint-Michel. This route, described in a guidebook as the Plantagenet Way, is the result of an exceptional collaboration between the Chemins de saint Michel and the Amis de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle de Bretagne et d'Anjou, since it is signposted in both directions (Compostellan shell towards Saint-Jacques and Saint Michel beacon towards the Mont).
A meeting organised in the afternoon with representatives of the Way of St James and the Via Francigena, who had travelled specially from Italy, also laid the foundations for a new collaboration to harmonise the routes and their signposting in Europe.
Conferences, round-table discussions, exhibitions, meetings with walkers, historians and writers...
On Sunday 28 September, at the festive Rando Baie village in Genêts, jacquets and miquelots walkers came together for a day of entertainment, exchanges and encounters, with round tables bringing together writers, walkers and tourism professionals for discussion and reflection.
10.30 a.m. Historical talk
Pilgrimages to Mont-Saint-Michel
by Henry Decaëns,
guide and lecturer at Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, chairman of the scientific committee of the "Les Chemins de saint Michel" association
11.00 - 12.30 Meeting and signing with writers
Henry Decaëns, author of numerous works on Mont-Saint-Michel
Pierre Bouet, presentation of the Mont-Saint-Michel cartulary and the collective work Les saints en Normandie (Saints in Normandy)
Jean-Luc Lecervoisier, author of works on the Mont-Saint-Michel manuscripts
1.30 pm Round table
Sharing experiences along the way
in the presence of Jean-Claude Bourlès, Rita Balossino from the Via Francigena, the miquelots and jacquets who walked during the month of September
2.45 - 3.45 pm Meeting and signing with writers
Jean-Claude Bourlès, Breton pilgrim-writer
Jean-Luc Legros, author of books on Mont-Saint-Maurice and the bay
4.15 pm Testimonial from Michel Mabit, a pilgrim who travelled from the chapel of Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe (Le Puy-en-Velay) to Mont-Saint-Michel in 2006 (book project)
Next to our space :
- tent of the Artémis Association whose members made a pilgrimage to the Mont in medieval costume...
Monday 29th September
The following morning, another meeting was held with representatives from Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe (Puy-en-Velay) and St Michael's Mount in England, at which a very concrete plan was drawn up for the networking of sanctuaries dedicated to Saint Michael, with the establishment of agreements between the Association and the sanctuaries concerned. The meeting also provided an opportunity to determine the timetable for the touring exhibition Entre Terre et Ciel.
The gathering ended on 29 September, Saint-Michel's Day, with a crossing of the bay attended by 350 people representing all the Association's partners (walkers, pilgrims, historians, etc.) and a reception at Le Mont Abbey to celebrate ten years of life on the paths together and to look ahead to the projects for the years to come...
16.30 Reception at Mont-Saint-Michel Town Hall for delegations from the other sanctuaries of Saint Michael
5.30 pm Vespers in the abbey church
6.15 pm ceremony in the cloister and refectory of the abbey
for the 10th anniversary of the "Les Chemins de saint Michel" Association
This symbolic day for the association brought together many of its partners:
- the miquelots and jacquets walkers ;
- institutional partners in normandy ;
- representatives of the partner Church ;
- the historians on its scientific committee (present at the Cerisy-la-Salle international colloquium on "Representations of Mount Michael and the Archangel Saint Michael in literature and the arts", which began that same evening);
- the representatives of the other shrines of Saint Michael present;
- representatives of the Council of Europe's cultural pilgrimage routes.
All these contacts have been extremely important for us, as they have enabled us to celebrate the more than 2,000 km of Saint Michael's Way that have been waymarked to date. They have also enabled us to prepare for future projects, such as the development of Saint Michael's Ways in other countries (in Italy, of course, in collaboration with the Via Francigena, and in England) and our rapprochement with the other major sanctuaries of Saint Michael in Europe.