On a par with Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem, and Rome, Mont-Saint-Michel is one of the most renowned places of pilgrimage in the West. For more than 1,200 years, pilgrims (or miquelots) have followed the paths of Heaven on foot, small roads that wind through the hinterland before the perilous crossing of the bay. They were mostly humble people unable to go all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Saint Louis, and all the Kings of France until the 16th century traveled to Mont-Saint-Michel to do penance.