Borie de Colombier 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.159  Date Added: 16th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Couldn't find on 26th May 2005

Log Text: Marked on the ign 1:100000 map with a pink square and right beside a good road with brand new roadsigns pointing to dolmens, I thought I couldn’t miss these dolmens. Again i walked for miles in all directions, but could I find anything ? Nothing. I am starting to get fed up with this. So I drove away from the area, going through Rodez to try and find the museum, which was very busy with nowhere to park, so I will come back later.

Dolmen de Souque

Trip No.203  Entry No.173  Date Added: 19th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Couldn't find on 27th May 2005

Log Text: The book says its 1.3 km down the little track towards Randels, and then somewhere on the left, hidden by undergrowth. I went for a look, but there was nowhere to park a campervan, and I could see nothing obvious, so gave up after a couple of drivebys.

Dolmen de la Tâcherie

Trip No.203  Entry No.176  Date Added: 19th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Couldn't find on 27th May 2005

Log Text: Not much time to spend looking for this before I have to meet Ellie in Millau, so only a quick look to see if its obvious. No way, its well hidden a couple of hundred metres into an oak forest, so so I leave this one for Another to find.

Roquefort menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.181  Date Added: 19th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Couldn't find on 28th May 2005

Log Text: Menhir near to the famous cheese village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, Aveyron. If you have time between cheese tasting and touring the various caves, there is a little walk signposted from the village which takes you down to the river and a menhir. The scenery here is really spectacular.

Dolmen de Seveyrac (Salles-la-Source) 2

Trip No.203  Entry No.185  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Walking westwards along the ridge from Pérignagols dolmen, there are several other mounds which are passed, one of which can be seen to have a couple of large stones on the surface at the eastern end of a long oval shaped mound. Fantastic views, made all the more impressive by the approach of a massive rainstorm.

Dolmen du Bois del Rey

Trip No.203  Entry No.187  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is quite a nice dolmen but starting to deteriorate badly, supposedly mostly over the last 100 years. The 4 metre long by 3 metre wide capstone has now broken into two bits, still sitting on its two crumbling 4 metre long side supports. It has a nice backstone and remains of a front entry stone, with the chamber facing east at 110°. It is found a couple of hundred metres along a signposted footpath in a lovely oak forest.

Bassin de Bois-del-Rey

Trip No.203  Entry No.188  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Rock Art Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just a few dozen metres from the Bois-del-Rey dolmen, and thought to be connected in some way to it, can be found a 40 cm diameter 10 cm deep circular basin cut into a slab of rock, for unknown purpose.

Dolmen du Bois Galtier

Trip No.203  Entry No.189  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A hundred or so metres further along the signposted walk from the Bois-del-Rey dolmen can be found the Dolmen de Bois-de-Galtier. This nice dolmen is still sitting within the remains of its mound, and has a 2.5 metre diameter round drystone walled chamber at its west end rather than the usual closing stone. It is probably a more recent shepherds hut been constructed here. The main dolmen, which acts as its entrance, is about 3.5 metres long by 1.5 metres wide, and faces east at 082°.

Cloup de Layrou

Trip No.203  Entry No.191  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cave or Rock Shelter Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just 50 metres further away from the Cloup de Layrou dolmen, is found a depression in the ground with a couple of cave like shelters. It has a signpost and was no doubt used by ancient man.

Dolmen de Maire-Gaillard

Trip No.203  Entry No.192  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Driving along a little lane to the north of Bois-del-Rey dolmens, I saw a little sign to dolmen, and so just had to follow it. A few hundred metres down a track into the forest from the small lane (with difficult parking) can be found the remains of this little dolmen, not much more than 2 metres long by 1.2 metres wide. There is still a bit of its surrounding mound remaining.

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.

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

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.

Musée de Lespugue

Trip No.205  Entry No.43  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 5th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 5

Log Text: In the central square of the little village of Lespugue is a museum, which, as many European museums are, is closed on a Monday. This museum has an exhibition of 35,000 years of Lespugue. Outside the museum in a little grassy park is a 10 times lifesize copy of the Venus de Lespugue, a pregnant woman figure dated to 33,000BC, carved from a mammouth tusk which was found in a cave just below the village.

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

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.

Musée de Préhistoire (Aurignac)

Trip No.205  Entry No.42  Date Added: 21st Oct 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 5th Sep 2005

Log Text: In the centre of Aurignac village is the prehistory museum, with all sorts of finds and items found in the local caves. It is situated underneath a little village square with parking available. However, when I visited, it was closed, with a notice stating that it had been closed in May 2004 by the Mairie, for an indefinite period. I have no idea why.

Grotte d'Aurignac

Trip No.205  Entry No.41  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 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Just to the north of the village of Aurignac can be found this important prehistoric shelter, where in 1852 a man was out hunting rabbit with his dog, and the dog found a bone down a hole. Upon the news of this discovery, the locals started investigating and found remains of 27 skeletons, which were removed and reburied in the local cemetery. In the 1860's, scientific excavations were done here, which found that the site had been occupied 30,000 years ago. Many tools, bones etc were found, and the site has given its name to a whole civilisation, the Aurignacian, which dates to between 30,000 and 25,000 years BC.

Today, beside the D.635 road to the northwest of Aurignac village, there is a layby and picnic area, with a large noticeboard explaining about the site. About 50 metres from the noticeboard, down a little track, and there is a small stream with a little bridge made from a large stone slab. Over the millennia, this stream has cut itself into a little cliff face, about 50 metres long by up to 10 metres high. In this cliff face is a large opening which is the first shelter excavated in 1862. There are also a few other smaller openings which have been excavated since, within which more finds were taken from. This is a nice and atmospheric little place. Pity about the rain !

Tourenne Gallo-Roman Villa

Trip No.200  Entry No.56  Date Added: 17th Jun 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Midi:Haute-Garonne (31))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2000. My rating: Access 5

Log Text: Drive west from Toulouse to explore Gascony. Montmaurin, Mielan, Mirande, Condom, St Puy, Fleurance, Mauvezin, Cologne. Fields of sunflowers, beautiful. Stopped by this Roman villa, but it was going to take too long for a proper visit, so satisfied myself with a look over the hedge from the car park.

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

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.