Genévrier Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.153  Date Added: 16th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Up on the causse above Salles-la-Sources are supposed to be 66 dolmens. There is supposed to be a dolmen trail with map and information available. But I found no such thing. I couldn’t even buy a 1:25000 map of the area (which is notably right on the corner of four. But there is a lovely cascade down over a cliff edge, with a splendid pool at the bottom, and caves going back into the rock. Theres lots of that calcitic stuff that you get like those falls in Croatia. I spent quite some time here in the shade, watching the swallows building and feeding young on the cliffs.

There is a signpost towards this dolmen, but when you get nearby, there are no more signs. I found a mound nearby the road which was larger than most of the other multitudes of mounds round here, so stopped for a look. The mound is probably about 25 metres in diameter, and up to 4 metres high. There is the remains of a chamber in the centre, about 5 metres in length, 1.5 metres wide, with a nice capstone in place. it opens to the east at 085°.

Gelligaer Common Standing Stone

Date Added: 29th Oct 2019
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Wales (Mid Glamorgan)
Visited: Yes on 18th Nov 2017

Log Text: None

Geffosses Ecole-des-Filles

Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Manche (50))
Visited: Yes on 25th Apr 2007

Log Text: None

Géants de Kerzerho

Trip No.203  Entry No.436  Date Added: 23rd May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 15th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Fantastic.

Géants de Kerzerho

Trip No.203  Entry No.405  Date Added: 14th May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Coming along the Chemin des Megalithes from the east, the first thing you see is a large menhir, more than 4 metres tall, at the side of the path, with a couple of smaller stones fallen beside it. Then you notice the fallen giant of the Pierre des Sacrifices, 6 metres long and nicely smoothed, upon which I sat writing this.

Then you see a path going behind this, which opens up through the undergrowth to reveal the whole row of Giants. It would seem that the two massive stones at this northern end of the row are not on the same line. Could they have been from a second row of alignements ? This was another pleasant surprise.

Further along are the real giants. Two standing and two fallen, more than six metres tall I would think. 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. Whatever this all is here, its a wonderful place.

I must have been having too much fun and am being punished. I am feeling the start of gout coming on and I don't have any tablets with me. And when I get back to my bike I find I have a puncture. ARSE. Mend the puncture at the Kerzerho Alignements.

Geant du Manio

Trip No.203  Entry No.385  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 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a 5 metre high menhir, fairly easily found and obviously very popular because of all the erosion around it. It is only 50 metres from the quadrilateral. It’s a very nice stone in the woodland, but I guess it can become a bit of a nightmare when crowded.

Gavrinis Cairn

Trip No.203  Entry No.332  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 10th Jun 2005

Log Text: I took a walk out to the Pointe de Penbert, from where the entrance to the Golfe de Morbihan can clearly be seen, and all the many islands within the gulf. It is a smashing day with a good breeze, and lots and lots of sailing boats are out having fun. There's a cracking tacking duel going on between two large single handed craft as I was writing. It all looks lots and lots of fun.

Just offshore can be seen the islet of Er Lannic, with its double cromlech. Many of the stones stand proud of the island, and indeed the sea, where these half submerged circles are situated, and can clearly be seen from here.

Just beyond that is Gavrinis, with its large cairn and entrance overlooking the whole scene. The entrance seems to be looking directly towards me, although in reality it is probably looking a bit more towards the east. The cairn is clearly visible, looking pale against the dark background of a pinewood. A boat trip of people has just landed on the island for the guided visit to the cairn, with its magnificent carvings.

Gaudinais megalithes

Trip No.203  Entry No.15  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Long Barrow Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A signpost to Vestiges Megalithiques de La Gaudinais points down a gravel track to this from the main street on the west side of the village of Langon so I just had to go and have a look. I have no idea what I found or even whether it is the proper megalithic remains but I had a good look around.

What I found was a sort of embanked rectangle of stones in woodland a bit like a small version of King Arthur’s Hall on Bodmin Moor. The dimensions of this rectangle are about 16 metres by 6 metres with the long axis on an alignment of 090°. I later found that this is the remains of a rectangular tumulus, with stones set around the outside, similar to that at Les Demoiselles. There are also the remains of two further tumulus mounds here, but in muxch less well preserved condition.

Gâts-Fleuris Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.295  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loire-et-Cher (41))
Visited: Yes on 9th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Just to the side of Rue des Dolmens, to the north of the village of Huisseau-en-Beauce, can be found the remains of this dolmen or dolmens. Unfortunately it really is no more than a pile of stones at the roadside these days, although with the knowledge of what was once there, it is possible to make out the remains of two capstones still partly resting on their supports.

Apparently, in the 1920s, not only were the dolmens quite complete, but also still largely covered by their tumulus. All of the stones are of a flinty gravelly puddingstone, some of which is crumbling.

Gatcombe Lodge

Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Long Barrow Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 24th Mar 2009

Log Text: None

Garn Turne

Date Added: 3rd Nov 2019
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: Wales (Pembrokeshire)
Visited: Couldn't find on 5th Oct 2015

Log Text: Despite there being a few places to park nearby, I could find no way into the relevant field to have a look at this interesting sounding site, which is not clearly marked on the maps.

Garn Fawr (Brecon)

Date Added: 28th Oct 2019
Site Type: Cairn Country: Wales (Powys)
Visited: Yes on 20th Aug 2019

Log Text: Marked as Cairn and "Pile of Stones" on the various OS maps, this is a stone cairn on a rock outcrop, part of a low craggy outcrop at the southern end of the flat plateau of Gwaun Cerrig Llwydion. The cairn is 3m in diameter and 0.75m high. The area of the rock outcrop is called Garn Fawr but this appears to be a large marker cairn rather than a burial monument.

Garivals Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.141  Date Added: 10th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Yes on 24th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: To the west of the village of Assier, about 1.5 kilometres along the D.92 road, there is a trackway leaving at an angle to the north, nearby what seems to be a road repair depot. A few hundred metres along this trackway can be found the Dolmen de Garivals, much unloved, fenced in and with a wall built through it. The chamber is about 3 m by 1.5 m, and a single capstone now covers only half of it. Much of its mound remains, and there is a strange sort of triangle stone on top.

Garennes-sur-Eure Menhir

Trip No.202  Entry No.87  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005

Log Text: Despite a good look around I could find nothing. I drove around many roads looking all over the place but it was a nasty busy road alongside the river at going home time which didn’t help.

Garde Epée Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.240  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a big dolmen, the chamber of which is about 4 metres in length by 3 metres wide and 2 metres high. It has a single large backstone, with two side stones on the south side, only one on the north (the other is missing) and one at the eastern end. The capstone is two pieces, the larger western stone having several delightful holes in it and a warning sign saying not to climb onto it or stand underneath, as the stone is cracked and ready to break.

This dolmen is also suffering from graffitti and rubbish, but otherwise well looked after in a little clearing amongst the vines with its own sign. It can be found just to the south of the D.157 road, a couple of kilometres west of Jarnac.

Ganborough

Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: England (Gloucestershire)
Visited: Yes on 4th Jan 2007

Log Text: None

Gallardet Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.145  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: This really was a bugger to find, but when you find it, you wonder why.

Initially I went to where it is marked on the map, there's a big farm there called Ferme-le-dolmen, but no obvious sign to it. Reading my book says that go to the town centre and follow signs from there. I eventually found the town centre but missed any signs, so I had a second go. The roads are tiny, and no way the camper van will get through there, and probably not a car either. Perhaps its a park and walk job, but I could find nowhere to park. Oh well, maybe tomorrow, time is getting on and I don't know where to camp for the night.

The next day, on my third attempt to find it, it took me half an hour to park in the village, then over an hour to find the dolmen, having asked several people. The trick is not to miss the right turn on the road out of the village, and keep going almost to the end of the ridge, above the farm.

The dolmen has been much restored, but it is well worth the effort to get here. It is completely within its mound, and the access corridor, which is 5 metres long and between 1 and 1.5 metres wide, leads to an outside chamber 2.5 metres long and 2.5 metres wide. This leads on to a wonderful oven door stone, which has been put back together from three pieces. The stone is 2 metres high, and has a door 1 metre wide and 1.2 metres in height cut into it.

Beyond this is the main chamber, 6 metres long and up to 4 metres wide, and easily high enough to stand up in. It is constructed with a sort of barrel vaulting, and then capped with large slabs, three of which are in place (of a probable four). There is a lovely shaped backstone. Unfortunately the chamber fills with rainwater and mud. All of the three parts of the passage are dry stone walled, there are no upright slabs except to divide the sections. The entrance passageway opens towards the west, at 232°, with a slight uphill slope.

This is a really lovely dolmen, but thats the entire morning gone. There are gorgeous views northwards over the Hérault valley.

Galitorte Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.167  Date Added: 16th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 26th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This one is a nice find in the evening sun towards the end of a long and mostly fruitless day, and is signposted from several places around.

The dolmen stands proud on the eastern end of a long oval mound, its chamber made with two enormous side slabs each 4 metres long by 2 metres high. The capstone sits nicely on top, but is not as long as the chamber below, which faces east with a bearing of 102°. Perhaps more importantly than the bearing is that the opening frames perfectly a significant hill on the horizon.

After taking the picture from within the chamber, I nearly knocked myself out by quickly standing up inside. I can report that the capstone gives a nice ringing clang when hit in this manner, and I had to sit down to recover for several minutes afterwards, before I could walk back to the van !

Galerie des Forges

Trip No.201  Entry No.9  Date Added: 25th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Manche (50))
Visited: Couldn't find on 22nd Nov 2004

Log Text: The remains of a third Allée Couverte said to be found to the northeast of Rocheville, in the Bois de la Tombette, at the foot of a hill northeast of a track called La Chasse-aux-Forges, but which are difficult to find.

Well, with my luck at finding these Normandie megaliths, and with a full day planned for hunting down other sites, I drove past the suggested area in the vain hope of seeing a signpost or similar (some chance!) but in the absence of which I spent no more time looking. The Allée Couverte is reported to be 16 metres in length, with an east west aspect, width and height 1 metre, closed at the east, open to the west.

Gaer (Trellech)

Date Added: 18th Sep 2010
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Wales (Monmouthshire)
Visited: Yes on 16th Nov 2006

Log Text: None