L'Armoirie menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.62  Date Added: 11th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 13th Jul 2005

Log Text: I could not find the forest track which leads to this menhir, again there are no signposts obvious, and this stone is not even marked on the ign 1:25000 map, so I didn’t spend long looking.

Supposedly it’s a 1.5 metre tall menhir that has been broken, standing to the southwest of the alignement, between the D.779 and L'Armorie crossroads. So the menhir would be less imposing than most of the stones in the alignement.

L'Armor menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.567  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Couldn't find on 24th Jun 2005

Log Text: This menhir is in a private garden with a massive thick hedge surrounding it. I didn't get to see the stone, but it is supposedly about 2 metres in height.

L'Armor menhir

Trip No.214  Entry No.21  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 17th Apr 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This menhir is in a private garden which had a huge and thick hedge around it, making the menhir difficult, if not impossible to see. However, since my last visit, the (presumably new) owners of the house have cut the hedge beside the road, and indeed made a gap through which the menhir can now be clearly seen. The menhir is a pointed piece of granite, between 2 and 3 metres tall. A win for all.

L'Aurière menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.310  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Couldn't find on 12th Aug 2005

Log Text: This menhir is by the little picnic area at the place where I was stopped from turning by another car going into there.

L'Eléphant

Trip No.200  Entry No.84  Date Added: 18th Jun 2020
Site Type: Rock Outcrop Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 24th Sep 2000. My rating: Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Celebrated rock formation thought to represent an elephant, in the Sidobre region to the east of Castres.

L'Etoile allée couverte

Trip No.204  Entry No.58  Date Added: 11th Jul 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 13th Jul 2005

Log Text: After all the time spent looking for the previous stones, I thought that I'd best not go on another long walk through the forest to try and find this one. My notes and books say that it is difficult to find, so I left it alone.

L'Hotié de Viviane

Trip No.204  Entry No.12  Date Added: 4th Jul 2020
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: This can be found about a kilometre walk from the same car park that is used to visit the Tombeau des Géants, but in the other direction. It is signposted. Just below and to the north of a ridge with tremendous views can be found this little grave, about 3 metres long and 1 metre wide, made with 1.5 metre tall side slabs. It is enclosed within a 12 metre diameter stone cairn with a ring of stones around the outside. It is supposedly a rarity in Brittany, but reminds me of a more complete version of the smaller tombelles near to the Rocher de Bono.

The site was excavated in 1982/1983, when pottery and polished axes were found, and it was carbon dated to about 3000 BC. It is also know b ythe name "Tombeau des Druides.

L'Oeuf de Gargantua

Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Manche (50))
Visited: Yes on 26th Apr 2007

Log Text: None

L'Usteau du Loup

Trip No.204  Entry No.196  Date Added: 24th Aug 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Auvergne:Puy-de-Dôme (63))
Visited: Yes on 27th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of St-Gervazy, near to the hamlet of Unsac, can be found the remains of this fine dolmen, perhaps the largest in the region, and which is signposted from nearby. On a little granite outcrop, near to the village sports ground, surrounded by high hills, it sits under an oak tree.

The chamber is rectangular, 5 metres long by 3 metres wide, is constructed with three granite side slabs each side, and opens to the east. There is in place one very large backstone, along with one smaller one. Unfortunately there are no capstones in place, although one lays fallen behind the chamber with another one nearby. The dolmen would have been almost tall enough to stand up in, and is much larger than any other dolmens I have seen round here.

This is a fine place for a wolf to live, and there are many legends and stories associated to the place. This is also a megalithic monument which has been used for thousands of years, and was used until recently as a sort of changing room for the village football team which plays on the nearby sports field !

La Baraque de l'Estrade

Trip No.205  Entry No.222  Date Added: 6th Dec 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Lozère (48))
Visited: Yes on 25th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Further along the D.35 from Montmirat, just before the junction with the D.31, a decent sized tumulus can be seen in the fields on the left, about 80 metres from the road. The mound is oval, about 15m by 12m and up to 2 m high. In the centre of this is a sort of double dolmen, with two joined chambers, each having two side slabs and a capstone. The western of the two has a backstone, while the eastern has a drystone walled end. The total length of the chamber is about 6 metres, and up to 2 metres wide at the centre. The floor to the chambers is paved, and there is not much more than a metre in height below the capstones. The two chambers do not align directly, but the general orientation is east to west, at about 100°, and the chambers are completely contained within the mound. This has of course been restored, but a very nice find.

La Baraque Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.182  Date Added: 19th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 28th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice little dolmen still well contained within its mound which can be found about 150 metres down the footpath to the north of the road to Baraque Farm / Gite about 150 metres before you reach it. The chamber is only about 2 metres in length, 1 metre wide and 1 metre high, much smaller than a lot round here, but it is very neat, and has a little information sign.

La Berthellière

Trip No.202  Entry No.33  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Mayenne (53))
Visited: Yes on 29th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A lovely polissoir stone found a couple of kilometres southeast of the village of Montenay near to the town of Ernée in Mayenne. The stone is signposted and found in a little wooded area about 50 metres down a lane from the farm of the same name.

The stone is flat on the ground about 2 metres in length and about half to three quarters of a metre wide. It has 3 big polishing bowls several sharpening grooves and several other polished features. It is a very hard looking stone which has been polished fantastically smooth by thousands of years of stone tool making.

I am starting to really like these polissoir stones they really bring the ancient people to life sitting here polishing away at their axes and tools. They say far more than any dolmen or menhir to me.

La Bertinière

Trip No.202  Entry No.53  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 1st May 2005

Log Text: Despite being a monument of national historic importance and signposted as such half a kilometre walk from the main road I assume a new farmer has taken up residence and all the fields are now well fenced off with barbed and electric wire and countless signs so I wasn’t able to pay a proper visit. It can however be seen to the south of the main road west of the village and was in a field of cows. It looks to be a fairly large monument much bigger than most in these parts. I estimate it to be about 10 cow lengths long and a cow high.

La Bertrandoune Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.113  Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Yes on 22nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Further still round the “Circuit des Dolmens” after driving for miles along the rough stone mountain tracks and bashing my way through the undergrowth after several signposted things to see including several of the little huts they have round here and I come to this dolmen. By now I have realised that this “Circuit des Dolmens” is a walking circuit and not for driving round let alone doing it in reverse in a campervan and am getting desperate to get out of these woods and onto a proper road again which rather spoiled the enjoyment of what would be a lovely afternoons walk !.

This is a big single chambered dolmen about 3 m by 2 m a single capstone sitting on top of three uprights with still a good amount of its mound surrounding it. But there's no time to enjoy it I want to get down !

La Borne-Percée

Trip No.204  Entry No.222  Date Added: 4th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bourgogne:Yonne (89))
Visited: Yes on 4th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: In the Houssaye forests, high above the Yonne river southeast of Sens, and near to the village of Les Auberts can be found this menhir at a junction of forest tracks. Its very small, only 1.3 metres tall, but mounted on a plinth and easy to find. Near to the top is a hole which has been cut through it, to which legends and stories are aplenty.

La Butte du Hu

Trip No.202  Entry No.10  Date Added: 25th Mar 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Normandie:Calvados (14))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 23rd Apr 2005

Log Text: North of the village of Ernes several hundred metres up a farm track from the hamlet of Vey d’Ifs on the top of the ridge this large chambered tumulus can be seen just within a field growing crops so I did not enter.

La Caune de l'Arago

Trip No.205  Entry No.86  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Languedoc:Pyrénées-Orientales 66)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 12th Sep 2005

Log Text: In a very pretty part of the world up on a cliff face above the vinyards, this is the cave where Tautavel man was found. Its a kilometer or so south of the town, up on a rugged hill near where the river cuts a gorge through the hills. This is of course all shut off to the public with buildings and shelters around it, as the excavations and research continue, 35 years after the finding of the ancient skull.

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.

La Chaise du Diable

Trip No.202  Entry No.42  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Mayenne (53))
Visited: Yes on 30th Apr 2005

Log Text: 2 kilometres east of the village of Sainte Gemmes- le-Robert are marked two dolmens or megalithic monuments on my ign map one north and the other south of a little crossroads. The southern one I could not determine fully as I could not gain full access to any of the possible sites. It could be some large stones in a wooded area or alternatively and I think more likely another large tor like hillock with many stones scattered about on its slopes many of which don’t look to be in natural positions.

La Contrie du Rocher

Trip No.202  Entry No.34  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Mayenne (53))
Visited: Yes on 29th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Another little Mayenne Allée Couverte a couple of kilometres north of Ernée which is signposted from there. It is found in the bottom of a little valley by a bend in a stream in a little woodland a few hundred metres walk along a little track from a farm.

The main chamber consists of 3 very large capstones resting on 6 pairs of uprights aligned on a bearing of 036° which sort of looks along the valley. The remains are about 6 metres in length but there are some remains which take the length of the structure to about 10 metres The entrance appears to be at the northeastern end but it is not definite as that end is quite ruined. It is quite low perhaps not much more than a metre at the current time and about 1.5 metres in width.

Some of the stones are very crude and massive blocks rather than nicely shaped slabs. There are many other large stones scattered around in this lovely little place. I give an ambience rating of 5 because at the time of my visit it was an enchanting place. The sun was going down and the birds were singing loudly. The stream which curves around the tomb was babbling away merrily and the whole wooded area was filled with wildflowers of all sorts bluebells aplenty and lots of purple flowers I didn’t recognise which looked like a sort of crocus. A marvellous little place I wish I could have spent more time at.