saint michael — in the year 708. then it took off. you know, the pilgrims started to come. they had to come across the bay, so walk through the sands, and then it developed in the 11th century with the construction of the church. the abbey sits at the top of the cliff, surrounded by the village below. even nowadays, there are quicksands out there. there are a lot of strong currents. so it must have been a really important site for people to want to make that kind ofjourney to see this place. yeah. it was the journey of a lifetime. it's just quite funny to come in here and the contrast with the medieval look and then you've got shops. people are often surprised, but, don't forget, there were pilgrims coming here. yeah. and they needed to be housed for one or two nights. so there's been inns and souvenir shops, even, for hundreds of years. yeah.

of course, they were a religious kind of souvenirs — medals, you know, rosaries, these kinds of things. so what's it like taking tourists around here, then? well, it depends on the time of the of the year, really. it can be a very nice, peaceful time, you know? but i tend to like less and less working here in the middle of summer. because? why's that? because there's too many people. but it's beautiful, of course. a new governing body recently took over the running of mont saint—michel with plans to improve the tourist experience. viking helmets, crossbows, the eiffel tower. you see? they're encouraging people to visit off season and steering them away from the souvenir stores towards more of the surrounding area. but accessibility is still a bit of a problem. it's so steep and so slippery that even this electric attachment is struggling to get up there.

so my strategy is to get as much speed as possible up that hill, and as soon as i start slowing down a bit, i'll be like, "solwenn, save me!" on yva? she replies in french. excusez—moi. attention. attention! coming through. solwenn! oui. we got it. come on! she pants. the islands governing body told us that making any changes to this protected historic site is difficult. but they they're hoping to find a solution within the next few years. only around 30 people live here on mont saint—michel. bonjour! bonjour, ade. ca va? ines and jean are two of them. their home has been injean's family

since before the 17th century and is full of trinkets and antiques. tell me about this. this is your house? oui. and what is it like to live in this place day to day?

up in the abbey, the bell is rung for evening prayer. the abbey is home to a small number of monks and nuns. members of the monastic fraternities ofjerusalem. some of them spend their mornings down in the village tending to their guesthouse or working part—time jobs to help cover the order�*s expenses. yes. it's really a unique place. and, you know, also, we are here to say that this place has been made first for god and for worship. would you just like it just to be purely holy? no, that's... you know, that's the way it is. you cannot change the reality. when we come here in mont saint—michel, we know that there is going to be a lot of noise during the services, that some groups are going to walk during the mass or whatever, but we are here for them also. it's a question of balance.

we have to find, in the different times of the day, the moments where we are going to be in solitude and alone to restore ourselves and have a real, deep, contact with god. back outside, i've taken to my crutches. these are the last steps, ade. are you sure? yes. they are the last steps. is there champagne up here for me? and now we have to go down?! and now we have to go down. ha! oh, my days. that view is pretty amazing. and look at this. wow. look at the... there's the shadow of mont saint—michel on the sand. oh, yeah. that's the best time of the day. when i come to this place, in particular, the north tower, as we call it, for me, it sums it all up.

i often compare the mont saint—michel as being the jewel and the bay, the box. so that's the jewel in the box. you've got it all. nice. and that image has been there for 1,000 years. yeah. and if you're thinking of coming to france this year, here's some things to look out for. the loire valley is among the best places to see classic france — vineyards, medieval towns and more than 300 chateau. the city of blois is the best jumping off point for the wider region and is itself home to two of the most popular castles, including the chateau de chambord, a 16th century masterpiece that many think leonardo da vinci had a hand in designing. in the summer months,

you can head for nantes in brittany, which every year, hosts a huge citywide art trail. it's 30 stages, taking the big attractions at thejules verne—inspired machines de l'ile theme park. you have to pay to ride the great elephant — or sea world carousel. but many other sites on the route are free. the beach town of boulogne is home to europe's biggest aquarium. and its vast. there are about 1,600 species at nausicaa and the main tank's so big it takes about six weeks to fill. there are rotating exhibitions. right now, augmented reality allows you to experience what life is like for creatures in the open seas. i'm in mont saint—michel,

in northern france, where an unlikely dish has become something of a tourist attraction. i'm getting into the beat here! the mere de poulard omelette has been served here since the 19th century, when the owners were in need of a quick and easy recipe to serve to the island's many visitors. since then, it's become a strange staple of the french election cycle. if a presidential candidate visits mont saint—michel and doesn't eat the omelette, superstition says they're doomed to failure. and some people might say that you have to be pretty importantjust to afford it because prices start at 32 euro just for an omelette! you do get entertained, though. the moment of truth. time to see if this lives

up to all the hype. i like it. really light and fluffy. i'm feeling presidential already. and don't forget, you can catch up with all our adventures on bbc iplayer. but for now, i'm off to get warm. because it's freezing! bye— bye! hello there. the weather this march has been very wet, really, across a good part of the country. there are many areas that have already seen over a month's worth of rainfall. even though we're nowhere

near the end of march, the wettest places have had nearly one and one half times as much rainfall as we've seen in an average march, and there's a lot more to come. as we look at the weather forecast over the next five days, you can see the largest rainfall totals will be across western and particularly northwestern areas of the country. so i think by the end of the month, there'll be some areas that see over double the amounts of march rain. now, sunday, we did have some spells of sunshine initially — however, things did tend to cloud over from the west as the day went by, with rain arriving across western areas as this weather front started to push its way in. now, this weather front is going to be with us as we head into monday, pushing its way northwards, followed by further weather fronts over the next few days. it is looking like a wet weather pattern with outbreaks of rain and some fairly brisk winds around as well. now, for monday, some of the heaviest rain will be working across from northern ireland into scotland. further southwards, the cloud could be thick enough for a patch of light rain or drizzle with potentially some heavy rain working into wales and western england later in the day. all the while, eastern england not

seeing too much in the way of rain. this would be one of the driest parts of the country and given a few bright spells coming through the cloud, we could see temperatures reach as high as 16 degrees. now, monday nights will continue with that theme of further outbreaks of rain quite extensively, some of the rain will be quite heavy as well. temperatures with all the cloud and rain around not falling any lower than around 9—10 celsius, so we're looking at a mild start to tuesday morning. now, tuesday, we still have more heavy rain to come across scotland, so a wet day here. elsewhere, generally, actually, it should be a little bit brighter. the winds a bit stronger, but it will be some showers around. some of them could be heavy and thundery. and then through the afternoon, the next weather system quickly working into the west will bring outbreaks of rain back into northern ireland. temperatures for most between 12—15 degrees. so, again, another mild day then for the middle part of the week, still unsettled, but this time we've got some closely packed easter balls working in across the uk,

so the winds will be picking up in strength. we could see gusts of wind reaching 40—50, even 60 mph across the northwest of the country. and there will be a day on wednesday of sunshine and frequent heavy thundery showers, some of them with hail mixed in and some of the showers across western areas might actually clump together to give some lengthier outbreaks of heavy rain temperatures about 12 or 13 degrees for thursday. it's a similar weather picture. again, it's very showery in nature. some of the showers heavy with hail and thunder, most frequent across western parts and still very windy across parts of the northwest. gusts of 40, even 50 mph, so still around about gale—force gusts across exposed north western areas. temperatures still in the double figures, but it's friday again. there's plenty of showers around. signs that the winds are just starting to ease down a little bit, but that said, it will still be quite a windy kind of day. sunshine and passing showers, temperatures 10—13 degrees for many, starting to get a bit cooler in scotland. we might see a little bit of snow over the very highest scottish

mountains then through friday, the weekend and into next week. we're just going to continue with that rather unsettled weather pattern with the winds often coming in from a west or south westerly direction. so, as i say, those rainfall totals really will mount up through the rest of the month.

this is bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm celia hatton. the headlines. switzerland's largest bank, ubs, has taken over its struggling rival, credit suisse, in an emergency measure designed to protect the swiss economy. this difficult situation, the takeover of credit suisse in this difficult situation, the takeover of credit suisse by ubs, is the best solution for restoring the confidence that has been lacking in financial markets recently. ukraine condemns vladimir putin's visit to mariupol, a devastated city which was captured by russian forces.