<< Our Photo Pages >> Lou Couraus Cromlechs - Stone Circle in France in Aquitaine:Pyrénées-Atlantiques 64
Submitted by thecaptain on Wednesday, 25 July 2007 Page Views: 10280
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Lou Couraus Cromlechs Alternative Name: Cromlech de Lou Couraus, Cromlechs d'AccaousCountry: France
NOTE: This site is 1.833 km away from the location you searched for.
Département: Aquitaine:Pyrénées-Atlantiques 64 Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Oloron-Saint-Marie Nearest Village: Bilhères
Latitude: 43.067400N Longitude: 0.4469W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
oldman visited on 22nd Sep 2019 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3 The rain had eased a little after our visit to the dolmen near Buzy so we decided to take the track up to these stone circles. What a magical place even with rain and poor visibility the hike was worth the trouble.
TheCaptain visited on 7th Sep 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3 High up above the Ossau valley above the village of Bielle can be found several circles of stones, on a little shelf of land halfway up the mountainside, and in a wonderful viewpoint above the valley. From the village take the road up towards Col de Marie Blanc, and park at the Chapelle de Houndas after about 5 kilometres, and about 8 km before the Col. From here the cromlechs are easily reached, on a signposted walk along mountain trackways. Allow three hours for the return visit round the signposted footpath.
Unfortunately, the day I am here is not good for the weather, and I am mostly enveloped in cloud, so I am not getting the fantastic views, in fact most of my walk up the visibility is only 50 metres, which is a pity, because the big mountains around Col D'Aubisque should all be visible from here. After following the trackway for a couple of kilometres, the cromlechs are found a short distance up a steepish path to the left, and after lots of exploring, I counted what I thought to be 16 circles of various sizes.
The first cromlech I found, which I shall call Cromlech A (4), is right beside the track, and has a diameter of 6 metres, with 26 stones still in position, mostly contiguous around the outside, but with about 4 or 5 gaps. Within the circle are lots more stones, and perhaps the remnants of a central burial area, circular and about one metre in diameter. It is of course possible that these stones are the remains of a cairn, and the circular structure is a fluke (although after seeing more of these Pyrenean cromlechs later on my tour, the remains of burial cairns and cists in the centre of these circles is fairly common). A further look suggests that it may have had an entrance to the east, on 065°, between two larger white stones, with a dark one in between. This circle reminded me in many ways of that at Belstone on Dartmoor.
Cromlech B (2). This is a smaller circle, but very well formed, 4 metres in diameter, consisting of about 20 stones, with many more smaller pieces in place. The largest stone is about 0.7 metres high.
Cromlech C (1). This is about 9 metres in diameter with about 18 stones in place, with many more fallen. Some of these stones stand over a metre in height. The ground within is stony and slightly raised, suggesting the remains of a cairn. This circle is just 3 metres away from circle B at the closest point.
Cromlech D and more (6 to 15). Walking eastwards along the shelf of land from Cromlech A for 50 metres, and in a place where some of the vegetation has been cleared back can be seen many more circles of stone. It is not easy to count them, as although some are complete, several are partial, and many are buried in the undergrowth. Suffice to say that there are about a dozen circles here, made with smaller stones, and ranging in diameter from 2.5 metres to 5 metres. What I shall call circle 8 is a nicely formed circle 5 metres in diameter and with about 24 readily identifiable stones. It doesn't photograph well as it is underneath some bushes.
At last, after sitting and spending ages up here, the cloud has risen above me, and in fact there are patches of blue sky, although not as yet above the mountains. Its really beautiful up here, with birdies tweeting and bells ringing all around. How much longer should I stay though ? Perhaps its better to be getting back now, its gone 3:00pm. Ahhh, the cows have arrived. I can go back now the cows have come home ! Take many more pictures with the cows n them, the stones make good scratching posts. I get down to the van at 4:00, and its now mostly sunny. Time to tackle Aubisque and Soulor.
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 5 Access: 3
From the village take the road up towards Col de Marie Blanque, and park near the Chapelle de Houndas after about 5 kilometres, and about 8 km before the Col. From here the cromlechs are easily reached, on a signposted walk (Sentiers d'Émilie) along mountain trackways. Allow three hours for the return visit round the signposted footpath, but expect to take much longer in order to fully take in the surroundings.
After following the trackway for a couple of kilometres, the cromlechs are found a short distance up a steepish path to the left, and after lots of exploring, I counted what I thought to be 16 circles of various sizes. Unfortunately, the day I visited here was not good for the weather, and I was mostly enveloped in cloud, so I didn't get the fantastic views, in fact most of my walk up the visibility was only 50 metres, which was a pity, because the big mountains around Col D'Aubisque should all be visible from here.
The first cromlech I found, which I shall call Cromlech (4), is right beside the track, and has a diameter of 6 metres, with 26 stones still in position, mostly contiguous around the outside, but with about 4 or 5 gaps. Within the circle are lots more stones, and perhaps the remnants of a central burial area, circular and about one metre in diameter (after seeing more of these Pyrenean cromlechs later on my tour, the remains of burial cairns and cists in the centre of these circles is fairly common). A further look suggests that it may have had an entrance to the east, on 065°, between two larger white stones, with a dark one in between. This circle reminded me in many ways of that at Belstone on Dartmoor.
Cromlech (2). This is a smaller circle, but very well formed, 4 metres in diameter, consisting of about 20 contiguous stones, with many more smaller pieces in place. The largest stone is about 0.7 metres high.
Cromlech (1). This is about 9 metres in diameter with about 18 stones in place, with many more fallen. Some of these stones stand over a metre in height. The ground within is stony and slightly raised, suggesting the remains of a cairn. This circle is just 3 metres away from circle (2) at the closest point.
Cromlechs (3) and (5) are lost in the undergrowth.
Cromlechs (6 to 16). Walking eastwards along the shelf of land from Cromlech (4) for 50 metres, and in a place where some of the vegetation has been cleared back can be seen many more circles of stone. It is not easy to count them, as although some are complete, several are partial, and many are buried in the undergrowth. Suffice to say that there are about a dozen circles here, made with smaller stones, and ranging in diameter from 2.5 metres to 5 metres.
What I shall call circle (8) is a nicely formed circle 5 metres in diameter and with about 24 readily identifyable stones. It doesnt photograph well as it is underneath some bushes. Circles 6 to 15 are all very close together, and practically adjoined to each other. Some basics of the circles I saw will be recorded below.
(6) - 6 m diam, 13 stones. Half under the undergrowth.
(7) - 4 m diam, 16 stones.
(8) - 5 m diam, 24 stones. Nicely circular and well formed.
(9) - 4 m diam, 12 stones. Constructed between circles 8 and 10, using many of their stones.
(10) - 3 m diam.
(11) - 3 m diam.
(12) - 4 m diam, 17 stones. Made using a mix of Black and White stones.
(13) - 3 m diam.
(14) - 3.5/2 m diam, A double ring, the outer ring made using white stones, the inner ring made of black stones.
(15) - 5 m diam, Very small stones here now.
(16) - 4 m diam, 7 stones, Spaced further away from 15, and using larger stones.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Positional co-ordinates taken from a gps receiver.
Note: As the Tour-de-France passes over the Col de Marie Blanque today, it will pass just below the Lou Couraus cromlechs, which would probably be a good place to watch from. So I thought it was time to update the details and add to the pictures of this beautiful place.
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