Lorient - Auray: Standing stones - Brittany - Loire Valley - Burgundy 2010

June 12, 2010

Lorient - Auray: Standing stones

We're in luck, we have fine weather for today's agenda - a visit to the "standing stones" of Carnac. It's a lovely ride from Lorient through fresh green countryside to the first of the megalithic sites.

Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) lines the roads at this time of year.

Crossing the Étel River inlet at Kergo at low tide: The rows to the left I believe are oyster banks, the three men clam diggers.

The Étel River flowing out to the sea meets the powerful incoming tide.

The "Carnac stones", more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany, are an exceptionally dense collection of alignments, dolmens and tumuli.

Alignments? Dolmen? Tumuli?

Alignments are rows of standing stones or menhirs, ranging from one row of a few stones to several rows of hundreds of stones.

Rows of menhirs or alignments at Erdeven, the first menhirs we see before we reach the larger fields of alignments at Ménec.

Alignments. The Ménec alignments of some 1,100 stones in 11 columns

The never-ending rows of stones that have ruled the countryside for more than 6,000 years have been fenced in. How can one not feel moral indignation? During the summer months the alignments must be protected from damage by the many visitors they attract - a pity.

Tumuli are mounds of earth built up over a grave, generally featuring a passage leading to a central chamber which once held neolithic artefacts.

Tumulus. The relatively new Chapel Saint-Michel in Carnac, only 500 years old, was built on top of the largest tumulus ever discovered in France, constructed between 5000 BC and 3400 BC. Its function was the same as that of the pyramids of Egypt: a tomb for the members of the ruling class.

Dolmen are also megalithic tombs built of stone. They were probably covered by a mound of earth or stone, not as big as the tumuli. The oldest dolmen in the Carnac area was built 1000 years before the pyramids in Egypt.

Dolmen. These dolmen are generally considered to have been tombs, however the acidic soil of Brittany has eroded away the bones.

Dolmen. They were constructed with several large stones supporting a "capstone", then buried under a mound of earth. In many cases, the mound is no longer present and only the large stones remain, in various states of ruin.

In recent centuries, many of the sites have been neglected, with reports of dolmens being used as sheep shelters, chicken sheds or even ovens. Even more commonly, stones have been removed to make way for roads or as building materials.

Visiting the standing stones of Carnac is not the end of the day, but it should have been. We could have easily enjoyed another day discovering some of the smaller sites near Carnac but instead we decide to move on. We haven't done many kilometers and feel we aren't "getting anywhere". Actually, we are "there", in this case at the site of the mysterious and awe-inspiring "megalithic wonderland" (Aubrey Burl's term). Same old problem - we are in a rush to be somewhere else - and we only recognize our folly in retrospect. I want to go back and do it right.

On the way to Auray the week-end traffic, vacationers and many motorhomes, is heavy and tiring, the narrow shoulder requires concentration. In Auray we are in the upper part of the town, the following morning we discover the historic town down the hill around the port.

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 340 km (211 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0