La Chaise de César

Trip No.203  Entry No.400  Date Added: 14th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Travelling along the Chemin des Megalithes, I was wondering what would surprise me next, and the first thing I come to along this path has done it already. What on Earth is this ? Loads of big stones in a wood just off the track.

At first it looked like another rectangle, but then I saw more stones. And more. And More. Some of them are quite big and well over 3 metres tall. Some are lined up, perhaps about 10 rows, with the biggest stone in each row lined up perpendicular to each other, making a massive checkerboard formation. But they are not all in straight lines. It is wonderful, I think I could spend hours here, but its already 6:00pm and I am getting further away, and not nearer to the van! Must get on.

The Chaise de César is no doubt the large chair like menhir at the end of one of the rows. I couldnt get up there to have a sit down - its too high for me alone. I have just had a look at the maps, and none of this is marked on there.

Mané Braz tumulus

Trip No.203  Entry No.401  Date Added: 14th May 2020
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I am surprised yet again. Up on a hilltop a few hundred metres from the Chemin des Megalithes trackway (use off road bike) is signposted Mané Braz, up a little footpath.

The first thing you see is a lot of stones, which upon inspection are a double transepted passage grave similar to Mané Groh dolmen. The main passage is about 7 metres long facing south east, and has 4 chambers at the northwestern end, which are about 2 m by 1.5 m each. Most of the capstones are in place, except for the largest central one at the junction of all the chambers. The main entrance is a bit low, and a crawl to get through, but entry is easily possible through the end of one of the side chambers. Terrific.

A bit further up the hill from Mané Braz dolmen 1 can be seen more stones. This is a more straightforward passage grave dolmen, with a 3 metre by 2.5 metre chamber covered with a large slab, and an entrance passageway curving off towards the south, about 5 metres long. The first capstone to the passage is still in place.

Just next to the Mané Braz dolmen 2 at the top of the hill, are two more, smaller passage graves, each with curving passages about 6 metres long, and smaller slab sided chambers. The third grave still has a couple of capstones on an extension to the original oval chamber, but they are very low. The fourth grave is an oval slab sided chamber and curving entrance, but it has no remaining cover stones at all. It is very low, only about 30 cm in depth.

Surrounding the area are several standing stones. I can only assume that these are various rebuilds of newer larger burial chambers as the years went on, the bigger newer versions getting progressively further east. I may well be wrong of course. I wonder if it was all in one big mound at some point. But what a fantastic place, Do come here.

Kergavat Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.408  Date Added: 14th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Right beside the busy D.781 road just to the south of Plouharnel, can be found this dolmen. In fact, the road has cut through the entrance corridor. This would have been a fairly big standard dolmen with a 4 metre or 3 metre chamber with a corridor to the south east. The single capstone sits on several supports, but its hard to think of this as a good one, being cut by the road, adjacent to a house, overgrown with oats and underneath some powerlines.

Carnac Musée de Préhistoire

Trip No.203  Entry No.413  Date Added: 21st May 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 14th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: There is lots of stuff in here, found at various places in the locality. Some good explanations of the various types of dolmen and tumulus to be found, and some lovely replicas of many of the engraved stones to be found. Seems like I have seen most of these now.

Menhir de Goulvars

Trip No.203  Entry No.429  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: This massive menhir is now sadly fenced in behind the SNCF holiday complex near to Pointe du Conguel out at the tip of the Quiberon peninsular. It can be found by taking the road beside the SNCF complex until it reaches the grassland behind them, and then taking the trackway to the left. The menhir is hidden behind some large trees and a hedge, and it took me two visits before I found it, my previous visit having taken the wrong track. It really is a lovely stone, well over 5 metres tall and 2 metres in width, and it has been shaped and smoothed. Finding this was a good start to a grotty looking day.

Vieux-Moulin Alignement

Trip No.203  Entry No.433  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice little row of 6 menhirs, up to 4 metres in height, standing on the slopes of a field just near to the busy D.781 Carnac to Erdeven road, just to the north of Plouharnel station. These are nicely shaped and positioned stones.

Géants de Kerzerho

Trip No.203  Entry No.405  Date Added: 14th May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Coming along the Chemin des Megalithes from the east, the first thing you see is a large menhir, more than 4 metres tall, at the side of the path, with a couple of smaller stones fallen beside it. Then you notice the fallen giant of the Pierre des Sacrifices, 6 metres long and nicely smoothed, upon which I sat writing this.

Then you see a path going behind this, which opens up through the undergrowth to reveal the whole row of Giants. It would seem that the two massive stones at this northern end of the row are not on the same line. Could they have been from a second row of alignements ? This was another pleasant surprise.

Further along are the real giants. Two standing and two fallen, more than six metres tall I would think. It looks like one of the flat fallen stones may have been used as a dolmen with a chamber underneath it. Perhaps they are not fallen giants. Maybe this is the true Pierre des Sacrifices. Whatever this all is here, its a wonderful place.

I must have been having too much fun and am being punished. I am feeling the start of gout coming on and I don't have any tablets with me. And when I get back to my bike I find I have a puncture. ARSE. Mend the puncture at the Kerzerho Alignements.

Rondossec Dolmens

Trip No.203  Entry No.432  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a remarkably complete monument with three passage dolmens facing eastwards contained within a 20 metre diameter cairn, right near to the centre of the village.

The southernmost chamber is the smallest, a collapsed oval chamber of about 3 m by 2 m with a 5 metre long corridor leading to it, which is still mostly covered. The central chamber is one of those widening of the corridor types, up to 3 metres wide at the back and 5 metres in length, with a 6 metre long corridor. It is all still mostly covered, with two large capstones over the massive chamber.

The northern chamber is rectangular 4 m by 3 m with a 10 metre long entry passageway. It also has a small 2 m by 1 m side chamber off of its southern side, which is very unusual. Although one capstone is missing, the rest are still mostly in place. The two large chambers are high enough to stand up in. This monument had a steady stream of visitors while I was there.

Sainte-Barbe alignement

Trip No.203  Entry No.434  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is an interesting and strange place, slightly off the tourist trails to the west of the D.781 Carnac to Erdeven road near to the village of Ste Barbe. It seems to be two long, widely spaced rows of menhirs heading off parallel to each other at 120°, approximately 40 metres apart from each other. At the western end is a row of really massive stones running across between the rows, normal to them, creating a sort of horseshoe shape. There are just 4 stones, but two of them are the biggest standing stones I have seen anywhere, more than 5 metres in height, possibly 4 to 5 metres in width, and up to 2 metres thick. These must have taken some effort to get into position. It has probably all been altered over the years, and walls have been built into it, but its all most impressive.

Further walking around makes me think that it might not have been a massive horseshoe shape at all, as the presence of other stones in hedges etc suggests that there may have been more parallel lines of stones, about equally spaced either side. Its an intriguing place. I later read that there was once eight lines of stones here, in what was once a set of alignments of major importance. The weather is horribly humid at the moment.

Kerzerho Alignements

Trip No.203  Entry No.435  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Such wonderful stones, I just had to stop and wander around them again.

Géants de Kerzerho

Trip No.203  Entry No.436  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Fantastic.

Dolmens des Sept Saints

Trip No.203  Entry No.439  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: This is a site which until a few days before I visited would have been completely overgrown, but thankfully has had all the gorse, blackthorn etc cut back and cleared.

What you get is a round mound, about 20 to 25 metres in diameter, with the very ruinous remains of three chambers with entry corridors. The central was probably the largest, but this is not much more than a depression in the mound. The northern still has its capstone and a recogniseable passageway, while the southern has an entry passage with one capstone still in place, but only half of a recognisable chamber.

Kerguerhan Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.442  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a pleasant little dolmen sitting in a green area on the outskirts of the village of St Cado near Belz. It has a 3m by 2.5m oval chamber with its capstone still in place, and the first couple of rows of its entrance corridor with a capstone on top of them. Access to it would be possible by car, but my camper van wouldnt fit between the houses and round the corner, so it was a 600 metre walk from the village centre for me.

Alignements de Gueldro

Trip No.203  Entry No.446  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 16th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had three attempts at finding the remnants of this once important set of eight parallel rows, but found nothing. The best I found was a bit of uncultivated land, completely covered in gorse and not possible to get to, which was in about the right place, so that was probably it. I found no signs or any other reference to it until afterwards, and the place I found was definately the right place.

Kerhuen Dolmens

Trip No.203  Entry No.440  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice find, pleasantly situated at the top of the hill on the village green, with a view over the Etel estuary and its oysterbeds. It's a dolmen with entry passageway, with an oval chamber about 4 metres by 3 metres. The capstone sits on several of the eight side slabs, but is no longer high enough to stand up in, having slipped down on one side. The remains of the passageway are only about 3 metres long, with one capstone surviving, but the road has cut through any more there may once have been. It faces about 140°. The weather is definitely clearing now.

Just 40 metres further up the village green to the south from the obvious dolmen, and hidden by a large oak tree, are the remains of another chamber. It was probably very similar to the northern one but now has no capstones at all, and the remains today are just an oval of slabs, with a couple of passage stones. Less than a hundred years ago, there were the remains of two more dolmens here, but which are now completely destroyed, their only remains now being slight depressions within the village green.

Saint-Michel tumulus

Trip No.187  Entry No.36  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Sep 1987. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Brittany. Day 4.
Get to visit inside the huge Tumulus St Michel, and see the ancient burial sections within it.

La Pièce Couverte

Trip No.204  Entry No.5  Date Added: 22nd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Jul 2005

Log Text: This is now not much more than a line of a dozen or so slabs positoned in a line of about 10 metres length, and is probably the remains of an allée couverte. Several of the slabs are marked with cupules and symbols.

Chomet de Coëtplan

Trip No.204  Entry No.9  Date Added: 4th Jul 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 10th Jul 2005

Log Text: Despite being on the signposts of the megalithic walk, I could not find this 4 metre tall menhir and its fallen companions. The menhir is the only one now standing of a little alignment, the other stones small and fallen, but it is on private property which is probably why I missed it, despite a very long walk towards it from at least two directions.

La Loge au Loup

Trip No.204  Entry No.18  Date Added: 6th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 11th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Easily found a few kilometres south of Trédion just to the west of the D.1 road to Elven, this nice site is signposted and has a parking place from where it’s a couple of hundred metres walk up into the lovely woodland on the ridgetop. I thought it to be a strange monument, which looks in some ways to be an Arc Boutté type allée couverte with a V dolmen built on top of it!

The passageway is about 9 metres long and faces 120°, with its paired stones leaning against each other. At the west end is a large capstone, 4 m by 3 m, sitting on top of extra support stones making a sort of chamber 2,5 metres wide, but it is filled up with the leaning stones of the passage. Its almost as if there is a complete V form dolmen built on top of the allée couverte using the same entrance, as there are extra rows of stones outside the passageway. Perhaps the allée couverte was built within the V dolmen. Around the outside are several other shaped stones, no doubt a peristalith of the original mound, of which much remains.

This is a lovely little place to sit in the shade on a hot day, and well worth a visit.

La Pierre Branlante (Trédion)

Trip No.204  Entry No.19  Date Added: 6th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 11th Jul 2005

Log Text: The track up to this from the road between Tredion and Ervan was gated and with a keep out sign. I hoped I would be able to perhaps get to this later from the other side in the forest, but there was no such luck.