Contributory members are able to log private notes and comments about each site
Sites theCAptain has logged. View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone
Gwallon Longstone
Date Added: 29th Oct 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: England (Cornwall)
Visited: Yes on 6th Dec 2014
Gwallon Longstone submitted by theCaptain on 6th Dec 2014. It was easy enough to walk along the public footpath surrounding the college grounds on the south side and see the stone from there, but not so simple to get a decent view because of the high fences.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Gutter Tor north
Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2008
Gutter Tor north submitted by thecaptain on 10th Jun 2008. Right beside the road at SX574672 are the remains of a fairly large cairn, about 22 metres in diameter.
However, this cairn has been well and truly messed around with, no doubt going to make up the road and the nearby walls. In fact, it is perhaps surprising there is anything left of it at all.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Guinivrit
Trip No.203 Entry No.529 Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Guinivrit submitted by thecaptain on 25th Mar 2006. Guinivrit allée couverte.
The remains of this allée couverte clearly show the rise in sea level over the past 4000 odd years. Twice a day it gets a wash.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This really is a nice place to visit, certainly when its quiet and the sun is out. I had hoped to see it with the tide well in tonight, but one thing and another and its now gone 8:00, and the tide is already gone out for two hours, and the water has gone from around it. However, there is still a lot of water flooding out of the bay, and I certainly wouldn't want to try and get a boat in here, as its going at running speed.
The allée couverte is easily found down beside the little harbour, and nowadays is signposted. Its not far at all from the little campsite where I stayed. Despite the fact that it has no capstones, and that some of the large side stones have been broken so it could act as a mole in the water for mooring and protecting boats in the past, it really is surprisingly complete. Most of the stones are still in place, not only of the main chamber, but also the peristalith, which is suitably boat shaped. In fact the whole thing looks rather like a boat pulled up onto the shoreline.
The main chamber is about eleven metres long and 1.5 metres in width, but with the outer stones the full size of the monument is more than double that, perhaps 30 metres by 6 metres. There is both a forward and aft extension to the compartmentalised chamber. Fantastic.
While here, I met a chap out for a bike ride, and we got talking about why I was here and ancient stones. He said he has always lived in the area, and as a boy used to play in the Goazvenn dolmen. He went on to tell me about a large fallen menhir that is almost forgotten, and that nobody ever talks about, and which seems to be in no historical records. He told me how to find it by walking around the coast path, and showed me where it was on my map, fallen onto the rocky shore. I decided that this was one place I had to visit, finding these forgotten stones has much more of a thrill than seeing the well known ones.
Guinivrit
Trip No.214 Entry No.2 Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 16th Apr 2014
Guinivrit submitted by thecaptain on 25th Mar 2006. Guinivrit allée couverte.
The remains of this allée couverte clearly show the rise in sea level over the past 4000 odd years. Twice a day it gets a wash.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Seen from over the estuary from the south, tide out and on the sandy beach.
Gruta do Escoural
Date Added: 29th Oct 2019
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: Portugal (Évora)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 13th Oct 2019
Gruta do Escoural submitted by Magalhaes on 30th Apr 2006. Wall from the neolithic (?) settling, straight uphill from the cave.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Next I go for a quick look at the Escoural caves, which are all fenced off and locked up, with a sign telling how to book a visit with at least 24 hours notice. Hey Ho.
Grouanec stèle
Trip No.203 Entry No.521 Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5
Grouanec stèle submitted by theCaptain on 20th Feb 2012. This is a fantastic iron age stèle by the D.32 roadside just to the east of the village of St Groanec, which has been christainised and turned into a roadside cross.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This is a fantastic iron age stèle by the D.32 roadside just to the east of the village of St Groanec, which has been christainised and turned into a roadside cross. The stèle is about 3.5 metres tall with an extra metre on top for the cross. It is tapered towards the top and carved into an octagonal shape, with each of the faces concave. What a super find.
Grottes et abris préhistoriques de la vallée de la Save
Trip No.200 Entry No.55 Date Added: 17th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2000. My rating: Ambience 4 Access 5
Grottes et abris préhistoriques de la vallée de la Save submitted by TheCaptain on 28th Nov 2010. In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Drive west from Toulouse to explore Gascony. Montmaurin, Mielan, Mirande, Condom, St Puy, Fleurance, Mauvezin, Cologne. Fields of sunflowers, beautiful. An intriguing little road through a gorge with lots of cliff shelters and cave which contained ancient remains.
Grottes et abris préhistoriques de la vallée de la Save
Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 5
Grottes et abris préhistoriques de la vallée de la Save submitted by TheCaptain on 28th Nov 2010. In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago. Below the Chateau de Lespugue, but very difficult to get to due to the steep sides of the gorge and all the undergrowth is the Grotte de Rideaux (not far from the place where there is a rock in the middle of the road) within which was found the Venus de Lespugue figurine. Some of the many other Abris and caves are easily visited, being right by the roadside. This is a fascinating place, and amazing to think about all its long history. Well worth a look.
Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure
Trip No.204 Entry No.220 Date Added: 4th Sep 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Bourgogne:Yonne (89))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 4th Aug 2005
Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure submitted by aolson on 24th Jul 2020. The entrance to the Great Cave, the only one open to the public.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: I drove past these caves, without realising what significance they have. If I had realised, I would have visited.
Grotte-aux-Fées (Tréal)
Trip No.203 Entry No.13 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grotte-aux-Fées (Tréal) submitted by greywether on 27th Jun 2005. From NW. June 1994 - shortly after it was restored.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: A fine lateral entry allée couverte at the top of a hill just to the northwest of the Saint Just megaliths and signposted from there. The main chamber is about 13 metres long 1.2 m wide and oriented 102°. The entrance is on the south side with a couple of laterally set portal stones near the east end. There are 8 capstones in place and all the stones get larger to the west end. The stones are made from the strange lumpy local Schist.
Grotte du Pape
Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Aquitaine:Landes (40))
Visited: Yes on 1st Apr 2007
Grotte du Pape submitted by thecaptain on 1st Apr 2007. The "Dame de Brassempouy".
A female head carved from ivory, found in the Grotte du Pape near to the village of Brassempouy in 1894.
The figure is only 3.6 cm big, and is thought to be the oldest representation of a human face, dating to almost 30,000 years ago.
The figure normally resides in the St Germain-en-Laye prehistory museum, but is seen here in an exhibition of Women in Art throughout history, which I saw at the Bougon Tumuli in 2005.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Grotte des Rideaux
Trip No.205 Entry No.44 Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Ambience 5 Access 3
Grotte des Rideaux submitted by TheCaptain on 28th Nov 2010. In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago.
Below the Chateau de Lespugue, but very difficult to get to due to the steep sides of the gorge and all the undergrowth is the Grotte des Rideaux within which was found the Venus de Lespugue ivory figurine.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: In the gorges of the river Save, just below the village of Lespugue, can be found many caves and shelters which have yielded ancient remains of habitation from up to 30,000 years ago. Below the Chateau de Lespugue, but very difficult to get to due to the steep sides of the gorge and all the undergrowth is the Grotte de Rideaux (not far from the place where there is a rock in the middle of the road) within which was found the Venus de Lespugue figurine.
Grotte des Merveilles
Trip No.203 Entry No.130 Date Added: 7th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 23rd May 2005. My rating: Access 5
Grotte des Merveilles submitted by thecaptain on 5th Jan 2006. The entry building for visits to the Grotte des Merveilles in Rocamadour.
Does it have enough signs pointing to it ?
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Saw the entrance to this at least the ticket office and shop. Does it have enough signs pointing to it ?
Grotte des Combarelles 1
Trip No.203 Entry No.72 Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 18th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 3
Grotte des Combarelles 1 submitted by TheCaptain on 29th Aug 2010. Grotte des Combarelles is a well decorated cave near to Les-Eyzies, with some of the finest original 12000 year old engravings available to be seen.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Its good being here in mid May while its not very busy as I can get to visit places like this. Visits are strictly limited to a couple of groups of up to six people at a time per day and often have to be booked several weeks in advance. But I enquired in the morning and got to be on the afternoon tour. Brilliant.
A couple of kilometres north of Les Eyzies beyond Fonte de Gaume in the base of a cliff face is found this cave entrance which in fact is two caves but with one common enlarged entrance dug out in the last century. The engravings within the cave were discovered by L Capitan D. Peyrony and Abbé Breuil on the 8th September 1901 and at that time there was not much credibility for any of the cave art which had been found as being ancient. But the findings within this cave proved that they were indeed many thousands of years old for sure and the rest is history. What went to prove the ancientness of the artwork in this cave is that the animals are engraved in the calcite coating of the cave walls which of course in places has been calcited over thus proving that they were not recent additions.
The tour of the cave lasts about an hour an on my visit there were just 4 of us including the guide (in French of course). I don’t know when but some time in the fairly recent past the cave has been enlarged by digging downwards below the passage making the visit possible in a stooped walk rather than the hands and knees crawl of the past. After a few hundred metres of twisting turning cave passage we get to the first engraving of a horse. It takes a while to see what is being shown but after a while the outline of a horse engraved into the calcite becomes clear. Then you see another one and another. There are engravings everywhere and just centimetres away. More than 600 engravings have now been identified and dated to between 10000 and 12000 years old. There’s a full zoo down there not only the many horses (which have very stylised zigzag markings on many of them) but bison mammoth cows
Grotte de Rouffignac
Trip No.203 Entry No.79 Date Added: 6th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Aquitaine:Dordogne (24))
Visited: Yes on 19th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4
Grotte de Rouffignac submitted by theCaptain on 5th Jan 2011. The entrance and waiting area for the Grotte de Rouffignac.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This is a strange cave its all very bare and rectangular and seems more like a stone mine than a natural cave although it is completely natural and of which there are 10 kilometres of passage. The guided visit takes place in little electric trains which take you a kilometre underground. There are no stalagmites or stalactites to be seen anywhere but lots and lots of graffiti through the ages as this has always been an easy to access cave.
Of the prehistoric graffiti dated to about 13000 years ago we first see a couple of mammoths engraved into the soft side walls on the left and then some more on the right. The train then moves on to where there are some painted rhinoceros before getting to the frieze of many mammoths walking one behind the other just as elephants do perhaps even holding tails in trunks. The bottom part of the picture has become a bit obscured with calcitic build up but the heads and bodies are fantastic.
Then its back out of that passage and down deeper into the cave where there is a large chamber with a massive flat ceiling absolutely covered in the most magnificent animal paintings. There are horses goats deer reindeer cows bison rhinoceros and of course mammoths. Its not the prettiest cave I have seen recently and I think the train ride spoils the atmosphere a bit so I cant give it full marks for ambience but if you like seeing these ancient paintings then it is a must.
Grotte de Pech-Merle
Trip No.203 Entry No.149 Date Added: 15th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Yes on 25th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4
Grotte de Pech-Merle submitted by thecaptain on 14th Nov 2008. The entrance area to this fantastic cave, which I would thoroughly encourage anybody to visit.
One of the oak trees here (with the white paint) has one of its roots hanging down into the cave, which can be seen looking like a hairy stalactite.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Superb. Not only for the prehistoric stuff, but also for the cave and its stalactites as well. There is some fantastic cave decoration in here, including pearls and a superb "spinninng top", and also some wonderful discs. Amazing.
The prehistoric stuff dates from all ages, 25,000 BC to 10,000 BC when it all got blocked off by a rockfall. The two famous spotted horses have been dated to 24,600 BC from their charcoal black. They are really fantastic, and the way that a natural rock shape has been used for one of the horses heads is incredible. But there are also mammouth, bulls, ibex, aurochs etc etc. There are also human hands in silhouette, and the famous "wounded man" with four spears in him.
Of much more recent date is a wonderful engraved bears head. not to forget the human footprints in the soft clay, from an adolescent person, which are dated to about ?????. Up near the original entrance to the cave are many bear and hyena bones which can still be seen, and what at first looks to be a hairy stalactite, which is in fact a root of one of the oak trees which is growing in the little leisure area outside the cave. this was one of my favourite places of all those I visited this year.
Grotte de Niaux
Trip No.200 Entry No.15 Date Added: 17th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 16th Apr 2000. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4
Grotte de la Petite Caougno submitted by thecaptain on 14th Feb 2005. The main entrance to the fabulous Niaux cave used for visitors is now further up the hillside than it once was. In ancient times, there would have been several lower, smaller entrances. This picture is of one of the small side entrances to a cave shelter in the vicinity, in which ancient remains have been found.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Full guided visit Grotte de Niaux with Sean. Fabulous. So glad I booked this up last week.
Grotte de Niaux
Trip No.200 Entry No.10 Date Added: 15th Jun 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Country: France (Midi:Ariège (09))
Visited: Yes on 2nd Apr 2000. My rating: Access 4
Grotte de Niaux submitted by thecaptain on 14th Aug 2008. Bison inside the Grotte de Niaux.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Grotte de Niaux near Tarascon in Ariège. Check out the world famous Niaux caves for a possible visit soon. The main entrance to the fabulous Niaux cave used for visitors is now further up the hillside than it once was. In ancient times, there would have been several lower, smaller entrances.
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
Grotte de Niaux submitted by thecaptain on 14th Aug 2008. Bison inside the Grotte de Niaux.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
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.
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
Grotte de Mas D'Azil submitted by thecaptain on 13th Dec 2003. The northern, downstream, exit of the Grotte de Mas D'Azil, Ariege, southwest France.
The river has taken a shortcut through the hill and has created a massive and magnificent cave. Artefacts found within this cave include the world famous Faon aux Oiseaux spear thrower, which along with other items has given the Azilian name to an entire prehistoric culture.
There are also several dolmens in the area.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
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.