La Roche Vernaise

Trip No.204  Entry No.106  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Couldn't find on 17th May 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: On top of a hillock near a junction of lanes to the west of La Roche Vernaise is a big jumble of large stones. It is hard to know whether this is the actual dolmen, or just a load of field clearance stones, but it was the only likely candidate I found in this area. Perhaps it has all been fairly recently all moved to the edges of the fields. There is a lot of stone, so perhaps it was a fairly big dolmen, at least 10 metres in length. It is difficult to know. I don't think I actually found the real dolmen, which is perhaps a bit to the north of here.

La Roque-Saint-Christophe

Trip No.203  Entry No.74  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: In the gigantic cliff face on the opposite side of the river Vézère to the delightful village of Le Moustoir is found this World Heritage Site. It's an entire troglodytic city which was inhabited continuously from 50000 years ago until a few centuries ago. It's massive. Even knowing it is five levels high and having visited it 27 years ago doesn’t stop it being mind blowing. It's really awe inspiring.

I guess most of what is seen today dates back to the middle ages with all the rock hewn staircases and houses but even so the basic layout of the cliff face city hasn’t changed in millennia. It even has its own little harbour in the river.

La Roque-Saint-Christophe

Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1978

Log Text: Hitch Hiking Trip round France in the summer of 1978. Camped for a couple of days at Les Eyzies to visit and wonder at the ancient sites here.

La Sulette Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.273  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a pleasant find, as it has been fully excavated and restored in 1989 to 1991, and is now found completely within its mound. It is a small Angevin dolmen, with a 2 metre by 2 metre chamber made using 4 side stones with drystone walling between them. It has a single capstone, and again, it has a smoothed slab on the floor. The chamber opens to the outside at the east, where there is a small entrance portal.

La Table au Loup

Trip No.205  Entry No.255  Date Added: 13th Dec 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Auvergne:Cantal (15))
Visited: Yes on 26th Sep 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: West of the village of Sériers, along the new D.990 road towards Pierrefort, about 500 metres from the junction with the D.921 is a sign for the dolmen. It is then about an 800 metre walk along a signposted gravel trackway across marshy land before you reach the dolmen, or as I found, a fenced off plastic sheeting covered area! The dolmen was undergoing excavation, and apart from a large side slab sticking up out of the middle, and obvious remains of a mound, there was nothing I could see here.

La Table aux Diables (Passais)

Trip No.202  Entry No.19  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 24th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Blimey what a pleasure to find this monument signposted from the Mantilly to Passais road as well as marked on the ign map. Heading south along the small road just west of Passais and turn right just before a little fishing lake is reached. A few hundred yards up a small track and the monument is found in a field to the right.

A surprise find this is a smashing little lateral entry Allée Couvert is about 12 or 13 metres in length with an orientation of 049° Magnetic. The main chamber is about 1.5 metres in width with 4 large capstones still remaining on 6 pairs of uprights at the western end with a height of 2 metres at the end dropping to 1.5 metres at the open end. The eastern end is more ruinous and the entrance is near the eastern end on the south side. The internal faces of the chamber stones have been nicely smoothed and are very well aligned with each other the gaps being filled with drystone walling. The outer walling of the peristalith is almost complete around the northern side and there are many stones remaining of the cairn filling between the inner and outer walls in the northwest quadrant. Only about half of the outer wall of stones remain on the southern side.

La Table des Diables

Trip No.202  Entry No.47  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Mayenne (53))
Visited: Yes on 30th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Also known as La Pierre au Diable this site is an 800 metre signposted uphill walk southwards from a parking place near to la Vallette. As with many of these monuments this is at the top of a ridge within an enchanting forest full of birdsong and wildflowers – a cuckoo being particularly prominent here. The stones are surrounded by wizened old oak trees and large pines without which the views would be superb.

A lot of this site looks natural until you look closely. Apart from the very large (4 m by 2 m) stone sat on top of a rocky outcrop with a couple of small supports just west of this are remains of what looks to me like a wrecked allée couverte with two rows of parallel edge set stones about a metre apart. Perhaps the large rock on top of the outcrop was once a capstone for this ruined monument.

La Table des Fées, Chêneduit

Trip No.202  Entry No.57  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Although marked on my ign map there are no signs to this in an area of small fields and many rocky outcrops. I asked a lady in a house with a small imitation dolmen in the garden and she seemed pleased that somebody was looking for it. I was informed that it was called the Table-des-Fées and she pointed me to it over a couple of fields.

It is a small dolmen which has been built into a field wall. The remains consist of a capstone which is sitting on top of a pair of uprights in a somewhat unlikely position on a steep slope above a small stream. The capstone is about 2 metres and rounded more than a metre off the ground. There are many other large stones here and I suspect that there was once a lot more to it.

La Table des Marchands

Trip No.203  Entry No.351  Date Added: 10th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 11th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Much has been written about this place by others already, and I wont spend valuable daylight by sitting and writing anymore for myself, except to say that it is all very different to what it was in 1987, and that the current thinking is that the Grand Menhir was once just one of 19 stood up in a row, and was toppled deliberately after only a couple of hundred years. The other menhirs were broken and used for other purposes.

La Table du Sacrifice

Trip No.203  Entry No.406  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 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Pretty much in the middle of the Géants de Kerzerho are two fallen giants, more than six metres long. 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. Maybe it was a fallen giant then used in later times for other purposes.

Whatever this all is here, its a wonderful place.

La Table Submergée

Trip No.203  Entry No.292  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 8th Jun 2005

Log Text: Out in the sea and mudflats, a kilometre or two off from the northeastern coast of Ile Noirmoutier, is a dolmen which can be seen at low tide. I reckon I can see it through my binoculars, there's a very table like rock out there, and nothing else to be seen. There is a boat moored nearby, probably fishing.

La Tardivière

Trip No.202  Entry No.35  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Mayenne (53))
Visited: Yes on 29th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Another little Mayenne allée couverte about 6 or 7 metres in length facing uphill and eastwards. It is in fairly ruinous condition with only one capstone remaining at the top end of about 8 pairs of upright stones. There is a large end stone at the lower western end.

It is found in open rolling countryside marked on my ign map but not signposted. At the time of my visit it was in an open field about a hundred metres down the farm track from the country lane where I parked. About 30 metres down from the dolmen was a fairly large stone at the side of the farmtrack. Possibly a marker stone for the tomb but I suspect more likely one of the stones from the allée couverte moved away and dumped at some point.

La Tête de Mort

Trip No.193  Entry No.8  Date Added: 13th Jul 2020
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 1993. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Cycling camping trip of north Brittany, day 2. Tregastel, Ile Grande, Tel Star Satellite place. Snake! Lots of ancient stones. At the northern end of Coz Pors beach is a large granite outcrop which viewed from some angles resembles a giant skull, known as La Tête de Mort.

La Vacherie Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.97  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice little site, and easy to find to the south of Distré, as it is signposted. The dolmenis in a little woodland clearing in a marshy area, which makes it nice and green and shady on this hot afternoon. The dolmen is what I am now taking to be a standard Angevine dolmen, with a 4m by 3m rectangular chamber, with a 2 metre long entranceway at the eastern end. The main chamber is capped by a single capstone which rests on two side slabs each side, one of which on the northern side has collapsed. The cover slab for the entranceway has unfortunately fallen. It's a shame, but as is often the case, the dolmen is used for beer drinking, smoking and fires, by I assume the local youths, and the pleasant green grassy area is littered with broken bottles and other rubbish.

La Verrie menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.10  Date Added: 4th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice stone, fairly easily found near to the farm of La Verrie a kilometre or so to the northeast of Monteneuf. The stone is nearly 5 metres tall and 4.5 metres in width, but is less than 0.5 metre thick. It resembles the comb of a cockerel the way the top edge has become serrated. The stone is near to the corner of a field, only 20 metres from the lane, but also only 30 metres from the farm, with all sorts of buildings and machinery around, which detracts from the atmosphere of the stone.

Lacam de la Rigalderie

Trip No.205  Entry No.168  Date Added: 24th Nov 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Just to the south of the D.843 road between Blandas and Rigalderie, slightly to the west of what looks like a little airstrip, the remains of this lovely cromlech can be found on the slopes rising to a little hilltop. Unlike Lacam de Peyrarines, this one has a little parking area and a gated path to the cromlech, which is about 200 metres from the road across a field.

The circle is about 90 metres in diameter, and I counted 36 stones, either standing or fallen, with 20 or so properly standing upright. There are probably a few more stones in the lower part of the circle which is enveloped in bushes and undergrowth, where the circle seems to be embanked. Most of the stones are of the pale local limestone, but again as with Lacam de Peyrarines, one or two are of a brownish coloured stone. The height varies from half a metre to about 1.8 metres, except for a beautiful stone at the uppermost part of the circle which is about 2.5 metres in height, and a lovely shape.

The stones are mostly pillar shaped, but there are one or two triangles and pointy topped stones. The spacing is pretty even, at about 6 metres between stones, similar to Peyrarines. There is no evidence of a central pillar here.

Lacam de la Rigalderie 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.169  Date Added: 24th Nov 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Access 3

Log Text: There is supposedly another stone circle near to the top of the hill, but in a ruinous state. I had a good look around, but with all the bushes and undergrowth growing here near the top of the hill, there was nothing that I could find which could be said to be the remains of a stone circle.

Lacam de Peyrarines

Trip No.205  Entry No.162  Date Added: 15th Nov 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Take the road towards Blandas from Montdardier, and after a few kilometres there is a big junction of ways. About 600 metres down the road towards Blandas from the junction, and in the field to the right can be seen this tremendous cromlech.

This is a proper circle of stones, with 52 standing stones up to about 1.8 metres high making a circle of about 120 metres diameter. At the centre is a large menhir, well over two metres high. There are gaps in the circle, and several more stones which were possibly part of the circle are laying down. The stones which make up the circle are all different shapes and sizes, of this fragile and pockmarked limestone. There are tall thin ones, big rectangular stumps, short squat blocks, diamonds, triangles, slanted top stones and a few almonds.

Just sat at the centre of this circle looking at all the stones around me it feels wonderful. One of the stones has like a giant finger pointing upwards. One of them is full of holes (number 35 in my counting !). Most of them are very evenly spaced, but it is not all that way. This really is a special place. Most of the stones are of the local crumbly flaky pale limestone, but not all, as a few of the large stones are a dark brown gritty sort of rock.

Lacam de Rogues 1

Trip No.205  Entry No.174  Date Added: 24th Nov 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: From the main road passing the village of Rogues, take the dirt track leading northwest from near the electrical transformer, opposite the road to the village. After 300 metres walking down this track, there is a little mound on the right side, of which the centre has been dug out. To the other side of the track here are the remains of the first Cromlech de Rogues. There is not much here to be seen, but there are a few larger lumps of stone laying around, and with an eye of faith, an arc can possibly be made out with some of them.

Lacam de Rogues 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.175  Date Added: 24th Nov 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: From the main road passing the village of Rogues, take the dirt track leading northwest from near the electrical transformer, opposite the road to the village. Walk about 600 metres along this track, always keeping to the right when there is a choice. There is then a little cultivated field in the valley to the right, go around this and to the top of the higher ground beyond it, and continue for another 300 metres.

At the highest point is a little tree growing, with the central pillar for this cromlech standing beside it. This central pillar is the only stone of this circle still standing, and it is not much more than a metre high. The circle of stones around it is about 90 metres in diameter, and there are many stones remaining, but all fallen and crumbling, as is the wont of this fragile pale limestone. I would imagine there to be bits of at least 30 stones still in evidence, most of them being in the northern half of the circle. The southern half is practically barren, and there has been a wall, or field clearance line of stones created where a big one of the circle would have been.

Apart from the cold wind blowing across this plateau, the clouds have now mostly cleared, and it is becoming a clear blue sky with great visibility. It really is special up here, with magnificent views all around over the Causse, with hills and mountains in the distance all around. The Cevennes to the north look particularly enchanting in the low golden sunlight.