Carnac Pyrénéen

Trip No.205  Entry No.65  Date Added: 26th Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 9th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Blimey, its almost sunny. In fact it is sunny at the tops of the mountains. I'd better get a move on. A bakers van comes round the camp site which is a help. Put last nights wet stuff outside to dry off. Leave the campsite by 10:00 and drive to Benque. Unfortunately I cannot park where I want to. Look at the maps and go elsewhere where I can park at the edge of the main road a bit further up the valley, and start walking up a different path. It is now warm and sunny, so I change back into shorts and techno shirt. Pack bag, boots on and away by 10 to 11.

The route is along a flat track at first, and then it joins with the path I would have been on at the edge of the village. The path is now quite steep, zig zagging up the side of the mountain, but its a well used track with occasional signs. I get to the first set of cromlechs at 11:45. The views from up here are beautiful all around, and there are all sorts of big birds flying around, and mushrooms etc. There are a few of the autumn crocus flowers looking to poke their heads out and bloom. The only other people around are 4 English people, who I saw parking where I had wanted to in the village. Cars will fit there, but not camper vans.

The 4 English people join me at the circles and we chat a bit. They are out walking and looking at the birds. Probably about my age and out here on a months holiday! There are lots of vultures about just above us. There is a sheep carcas further up the hill that they are after, but there is a dog up there also, so the vultures are circling, waiting... They have counted over 60 of them. A fantastic sight.

On the way back from here there are lots of those lovely flat thistle flowers out, and also some of the autumn crocus. This morning they were just pushing their heads through the soil, but now they are in full flower. Beautiful. It was a wonderful few hours up here in the hills, but now I have to get on. The weather has now cleared enough that I can see some glaciers up on the distant ridge. I get back down to the van just after 4:00, and decide to move on. I decide to head for Spain, over the Col du Portillon, which doesn't seem too far up, but its a massive drop down the other side into Spain.

L'alignement d'Espiaub

Trip No.205  Entry No.68  Date Added: 26th Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 9th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: I have seen nothing definite about what is to be found up here, but it is possible to imagine/envisage that there are perhaps 4 or 5 lines of stones running across the hillside, with one or more crossing them, but it is very difficult to know exactly what is what. I walked down from the second set of cromlechs to something I could see, and found a manhole cover for a little cattle trough reservoir !

Looking back up the hillside from here, I would swear that I can see lines of stones coming down the hill from the first set of cromlechs. The stones are all in the bracken, but the bigger stones stand out above this. I think I can see 4 or 5 parallel rows of stones running down the hillside, with the stones looking evenly spaced. They extend to beyond where I am - perhaps 500 metres or more in total length, and I would estimate about 20 metres between rows. This is very difficult to photograph. But am I seeing things ? Not for nothing is there something up here called the Espiaube alignments.

While searching around on the slopes for closer signs of the parallel rows, and I still believe that I can see them, I clearly see a row running up and down the slope, across the lines of possible alignments. The top of the row starts at a spring, which has several large stones standing within a little pool, and continues downslope for about 100 metres, with perhaps more lost in the thick bracken. The stones are spaced evenly, about 8 metres apart from each other. I started to count the stones while walking up from the bottom, but part way up I am sure I saw another line running in parallel with the obvious one. The second line is in the bracken, while the first is in clear grass, as if lots of people have walked up and down here. This all reminds me very much of various Dartmoor and Exmoor rows.

Mail de Soupène Cromlechs

Trip No.205  Entry No.67  Date Added: 26th Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 9th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Wow ! A bit further down the hill to the east, on a little upland ridge, is a row of stone circles all interlocking with each other. I counted 14 cairn circles up here, sort of joined together in a line along a little hillock. Fantastic. The largest one is on the top of the hillock, and there a row of others running from it down the ridgetop. Then there are other smaller circles built in between the larger ones.

Some of these circles have very well defined cists in their centre - indeed a couple of the smaller, lower circles still have slab lined boxes with both floor and capstones still in place. The top circle has a diameter of 7 metres, and is nicely formed with 23 stones making up the circumference with just a few gaps. There is nice flat grass within but no other obvious features. There are too many circles to write about individually, so I will just list the basic details of the circles I saw in a table below, with numbers matching the little sketch plan.

There is possibly a lot more remains here in the bracken, and not so well defined, and difficult to find.

Peyro-Hitto

Date Added: 26th Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Sep 2005

Log Text: Drive north up the Garonne to St Gaudens. Its still not too late so I head on, and decide to head for St Girons. I miss a turn and end up in St Martory, I think there's a stone here. Having spent ages trying to park, I wasn't thinking straight because it was getting late and I had a fairly long way to travel.

No mention of it on the village maps, and I didn’t read my notes first, and thought it to be near the bridge, but found nothing. I didn’t think of looking at the obvious place by church, where it supposedly is.

It is a nice old bridge though.

Sarrat de Cousseillot Cromlechs

Trip No.205  Entry No.66  Date Added: 26th Oct 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 9th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: The first cromlechs I arrive at are about 200 metres from the track, and signposted down a little footpath past some sheep pens at 1345 metres altitude. I saw 4 cairn circles up here, plus perhaps one large open circle. At first I thought I had seen a big open circle, but I am not completely sure. If it is one, it is made of natural rocks pushed into position, with a diameter of about 40 metres, and the stones 8 to 10 metres apart. I will look at this more later.

Just beyond the first fence is a group of 4 cromlechs on the ridgetop. The uppermost is diameter 6 metres and a nicely formed circle using a couple of large natural rocks. There are 19 tightly packed stones around the circumference, and the ground level is substantially higher within. The next nearest cromlech is a small circle 2.5 metres in diameter, with 12 stones around the circumference, and again the ground level is higher within than outside. This is right adjacent to the third cromlech, again 6 metres in diameter and there are 17 visible stones surrounding slightly higher ground within. In the centre of this ring are a few stones which probably once made up a burial cist. One or two of the stones in this circle are quite large, up to 1 metre high.

The fourth cromlech, a bit further down the hillside, is a bit ruinous. 5 metres in diameter, the upper half is well defined, but the lower half is just big natural rocks and a few packing stones. There are 18 stones still to be seen making up this circle, and again a possible burial cist in the middle.

Grotte de Mas D'Azil

Trip No.205  Entry No.70  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 10th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Parked at the upstream end of the Mas d'Azil cave, and it hits home again just how MASSIVE this cave is. I walk through the cave again, partly to check where the low bits are for the van. I have forgotten that you can see all sorts of bits and pieces of passages inside.

Decided not to bother with the paid visit, although perhaps I should have, cos I spent enough other time here anyway. A bungy jump has been set up outside the south entrance to the cave, and I watch people doing this for a while - seeing people dropping and hanging in front of the cave entrance really shows the scale. Eventually leave and drive through the cave to the village.

Musée de Mas-d'Azil

Trip No.205  Entry No.73  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 10th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 5

Log Text: In the village of Mas d'Azil is the natural history museum. Its in a nicely kept building just off the main village square, opposite the roofed market place right outside the church. As it was late in the day I didn’t go in. I think that if you do the caves tour, the museum visit is included for free.

Brillaud Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.72  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 10th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: At Cap-Del Pouech, I looked carefully at my maps and found that I could drive halfway to this dolmen and hopefully park up by La Page farm, which will save on the walking. From there, it was a 25 minute walk along a well maintained and signed footpath along a lovely ridgetop, but difficult underfoot on the bare and slippery limestone and mud.

It is in fact two dolmens, both within most of their stony mounds which are adjoined. The east dolmen has a chamber 3 metres by 1.5 metres, open towards the east, with two side slabs and a capstone still in place. The back stone has broken and fallen. The western dolmen is a bit of a wreck, and only faint remains of the chamber can be seen. The overall mound is about 20 metres in length, by 10 metres wide, and seems to have some large slabs in its perimeter, defining the outside shape.

On a good day, the views from up here would be superb, the high Pyrenees to the south, and the plain of Toulouse to the north, but today its just clouds. Good job I didnt try and get to the third (Couminges) dolmen on the walk, as its already 5:30 by the time I get back to the van !

Cap-Del Pouech Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.71  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 10th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Decided its silly to have come to Mas d'Azil and not gone to visit the dolmen, as it is signposted from the village, and you can drive up a narrow windy lane almost right to it, and theres a place to park just a few hundred metres from the dolmen.

It looks to me to have been re-erected at some point in the past, with one of its little supports possibly being concreted in. A large limestone capstone, 3.5 metres by 2.5 metres, sits high on top of 4 support stones, one backstone, one large and two smaller side stones. The chamber is 2.5 by 1.5 metres, and positioned on a little limestone outcrop with possibly some traces of a cairn around it.

Unfortunately, the poor thing has succumbed to the usual problems of graffitti and broken beer bottles. The dolmen de Brillaud is signposted from here, and I am tempted.....

Parc Pyrénéen de l'Art Préhistorique

Trip No.205  Entry No.75  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 11th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: This is a wonderful day out, in a beautifully landscaped park in the wonderful Pyrenees. The visit starts in the Grand Atelier, a sort of museum of prehistoric artwhich explains all the whys and wheres of prehistoric art, not only in this region, but all over the world.

There is a special emphasis on the nearby Grotte de Niaux, and there is an excellent model of the cave to be seen. There are all sorts of audiovisual items to be seen, and the visitor is guided round with a pair of infrared headphones which pick up signals from each display. There are lots of full size recreations of parts of Niaux, including the footprints in one deep section which are not seen in the real cave visit, and copies of many of the animal paintings, including the solitary known weasel. The visit round this museum part (in my case a very interesting hour and a half) with a full size recreation of the Salon Noir from the Grotte de Niaux, with all its Buffalo and other animals. Fantastic.

Outside, in the wonderfully landscaped park, are all sorts of activities for all to take part in. There are demonstrations of archaeological techniques, footprint recognition, a musical maze, a prehistoric camp with many types of shelter recreated, with firemaking and flint knapping. Then there are hunting displays which include types of propulseur from around the world (and have a go at throwing your own spear using one - and yes, I would have gone home with dinner!), and even have a go yourself at cave painting, with demonstrations of the various techniques. This sort of museum is something I am realising that the French do very well.

All of this takes you on a lovely walk through beautiful scenery too, with grasslands, woodland, lakes and a lovely cave section - complete with footprints, fossils, idols and waterfalls. I just loved it here. I thought that I would quickly rush round the place, but spent nearly all day here. It even has a decent restaurant and a good shop, which unfortunately means buying more books! Thoroughly recommended as a top day out for all.

Grotte de La Vache

Trip No.205  Entry No.76  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 11th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Just opposite to the Grotte de Niaux, on the other side of the valley, is the Grotte de la Vache, with its celebrated Salle de Monique. The cave is open for visits at €8 a time, but because I had spent so long at the nearby Parc Pyrénéen de l'Art Préhistorique, the visits had finished for the day when I arrived.

The information at the cave states that it is the smallest cave open for visits in the Pyrenees, but has had the most finds and articles taken from it. Amongst these are many engraved bones and antlers, including the famous lions. Within the cave is a description of life during the Magdaleinean, 13,000 years ago, with workshops etc held around the fireplace.

To get here, park in the village of Alliat, and then its about a 500 metre easy walk around the hillside. The cave is signposted from all around.

Source de Fontestorbes

Trip No.205  Entry No.78  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 11th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a very interesting place, one of only a few known examples in the world, with its intermittant spring gushing from a cave in a cliff face beside the road, well signposted a kilometre or so to the south of the little Pyrenean town of Belesta. In the dry summer months, due to a complex and not fully understood syphoning mechanism, the spring alternates between full flowing river, and barely a trickle, on an approximately hourly cycle for about 4 months of the year.

The place has been well done up since I was last here 5 years ago, with new parking area, a pedestrian bridge built over the stream, and a building with shop and cafe facilities, with more planned such as a picnic site and nature walk, and there were quite a lot of people here.

When I arrived, the spring was gushing quite a lot, the water easily covering the little steps across the entrance into the cave, just as it was every other time I have visited here in the past (I think I have been here about 4 times before, and never seen the spring dry up). So I went for a look round the little info centre, which now has a bar and lots of information about various tourist places and things, and was being run by a nice friendly couple, and it even has information leaflets about the spring in English these days. This explains the best understanding of the springs working, and states that it does not start cycling until after a long dry spell in the summer (I had always been in spring or early summer before).

As I left the centre, and had another look at the spring, it seemed to be slowing down. After another 5 minutes, the flow had lowered enough that a chap could walk across the steps and into the cave. Ten minutes later, it had slowed right down to a trickle, allowing people to walk across the stepping stones into the cave. It was not easy to see where the water comes from, it must be somewhere under the floor of the pond.

As would be expected of such a strange place, it has been revered since time immemorial, and of course there are many legends and stories associated with it. Excellent, I have at last seen this thing at work !

Grotte de Lombrives

Trip No.205  Entry No.74  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 11th Sep 2005

Log Text: This is said to be the biggest cave in Europe, and has a complex arrangement of 25 different types of visit. Or in my case, none at all !

Grotte de Niaux

Trip No.205  Entry No.77  Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 11th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: The world famous cave, known for its tremendous paintings of bison and horses, is easily found just up a small valley to the west of Tarascon, and is signposted from all around, you can hardly miss it. The cave is up the hillside from the village of Niaux with its museum, and is situated opposite to the Grotte de la Vache.

The modern day entrance, with its rusting iron "artwork" is high up the hillside in an enormous opening, which was not the original entrance to the cave in ancient times, which was further down in the valley. Visits are year round, but only a few people are allowed in on any day to help preserve the conditions inside, so it is usually necessary to book your visit in advance.

Grand Menhir de Counozouls

Trip No.205  Entry No.84  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Aude (11))
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: After a seemingly very long drive south from Quillan, along roads hacked into cliff faces, passing through numerous massive gorges which at times I never thought the campervan would fit through, I arrived at the village of Ste Colombe-sur-Guette. A few more miles south along the road in the valley, then climbing steeply up the side of the gorge, all the time bearing in mind theres a 3 metre height limit signposted, but which thankfully turns out to be only at one side of the road. Turn left and cross the bridge towards Cournozouls, and go a further 1.7 kilometres, until you come to a double right hand bend.

There is room to park here on the outside of the curve, and just here can be found this massive menhir, standing below the road on the steep hillside, with a little path leading down to it, and thankfully the trees around it now cleared. The stone now stands proudly in the open, with a lovely view of the village across the valley. The stone stands over 8 metres in height, making it the biggest in southern France, and one of the tallest in the entire country. It is a large granite lump, and initially looks a bit like it might be a natural lump fallen down the mountain. However it certainly looks to have been shaped, and wedged into its upright position, and I am assured it is a proper menhir.

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.

Tautavel Musee de Prehistoire

Trip No.205  Entry No.85  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Languedoc:Pyrénées-Orientales 66)
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: I only came here to get a photo, assuming the museum would be closed on a Monday, but it was open, so thought I'd better go in. The museum contains hundreds of thousands of items found at the nearby Caune de l'Arago cave, where the remains of a human skull was found in July 1971, the skull being known as Arago item 21. Since then many others have been found, along with items of their food, tools etc etc. The finds have been dated to about 450,000 BC, and thus are amongst the earliest remains of humans found in Europe.

Tautavel man lead a life of hunting, and this is all displayed here also, with remains of many animals and suchlike which would have been around at that time. Tautavel man, however, is not an ancester of ours, as he lead up to Neanderthal man, which died out 30,000 years ago, to be replaced by Cro Magnon man.

While this should all have been very interesting, I have to admit to finding many of the displays quite dull and repetitive, and the awful American voice talking down to me in the audio guide was enough to put me right off. The whole museum seemed a bit 1970's and showing signs of age. The displays mostly consisted of bones and tools in glass cases, video presentations of certain things, and staged scenes using mannequins, with lots of keep off and don't touch signs. In my recent travels, I have seen many much better presented museums which bring the subject to life.

Bélesta Museum of prehistory

Trip No.205  Entry No.88  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Languedoc:Pyrénées-Orientales 66)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 12th Sep 2005

Log Text: Blimey, the roads round here are twisty and tight. There was no way I was able to park the van anywhere near the village for a look at this. So I had to give up totally on any thoughts of a visit to this supposedly excellent museum.

Peyro Dreta

Trip No.205  Entry No.90  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Pyrénées-Orientales 66)
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This fallen and broken menhir, once more than 4 metres tall, has beautiful views over the Fenouillades valley to the north, with Queribus castle and Tautavel clearly visible. The menhir can be found about a kilometres walk down a dirt track amongst the vines, about 0.7 kilometres to the west of the Col de Bataille. The start of the track is easy to find, as it is marked with a large menhir like stone at the junction beside the vineyards. Perhaps this stone itself was once a proper menhir, which has now been re-erected.

Moli del Vent

Trip No.205  Entry No.89  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Pyrénées-Orientales 66)
Visited: Yes on 12th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: At the top of the hill to the north west of the village of Bélesta can be found the superb but restored remains of this lovely little dolmen-a-couloir. The little chamber is about 2 metres by 1 metre, and the south side is approached by a corridor 5 metres long from the edge of the cairn, made with a few upright slabs and drystone walling. The chamber has an upright slab at each side, and two back slabs, topped by a gorgeously shaped capstone about 3m by 2m. The whole thing is contained within a round cairn, about 9 metres in diameter and 0.5 metres high.

The views from up here are superb, the Fenouillades valley to the north, and the Canigou brooding in amongst the clouds to the south west today. The dolmen is less than a kilometre walk up a good track from a junction of minor roads with plenty of space for parking, and is well worth the effort. It is possible that there are remains of other monuments round the area.