Prajou Menhir Alle Couverte

The area around Lannion was another megalithic center, not comparable to Carnac, of course, but with numerous sites. We hit some of the more accessible ones this day, one being the Prajou Menhir allee couverte.

It's interesting how things have changed; in the 1980s, we'd
drive around looking for them; then we drove around with
Aubrey Burl's Megalithic Brittany in hand; still in hand too,
although our preferred on-line source now is Megalithic Portal
(www.megalithic.co.uk); the trouble now is they're readily
found but you have to distinguish between the megaliths of
the ancients and those now used as lawn ornaments; I
suppose "mock neolithic" will become a bona fide
architectural or at least landscaping term

And now the Offices de Tourisme not only know where the real
ones are, they have constructed trails linking them; and clever
sign posts

The Prajou Menhir allee couverte; presently over-run by a
family from Switzerland and some others

The menhir? It's a curiously-named site, since what you're
looking for is the allee couverte

Interior of the allee

I did manage to find a couple putative cup marks

And one or two of the bumps

But I failed to find the main carvings here, and went back to the
camper to consult Megalithic Brittany; meanwhile, the Swiss
kids had done their own exploring and

Turns out the carvings were in the final chamber, which was sealed
off from the rest; there was enough of a crevice in the roof
slabs to let myself down and in the chamber; and the kids proudly
pointed out what I was looking for

Thus

And thus

Nice ones

Also other symbols, bows, staffs, other things my unpracticed
eye could not see

Etc.

Another great specimen

Megaliths Of Kerguntuil

Most of our previous time in Brittany has been in Morbihan, in the south, where the chief megalithic centers seem to have been. We spent a great deal of time in Morbihan in 2009. This year's trip has been mostly about the north coast, all the way from Dunkerque, and consequently we wanted to spend at least a little time visiting some of the Cote du  Nord's famous megalithic sites. The Kerguntuil dolmen and allee couverte are minor but excellent specimens of what our ancestors were up to 4,000-5,000 years ago.

Megalith hunters...bring back memories, Rebecca and Rachel?

The Kerguntuil dolmen and allee couverte

The dolmen

Thus

Interior

Picture Day for me

The allee couverte

Up closer

Brittany megaliths are famous for their occasional carvings;
one sees this a bit in Ireland, almost never in the UK; anyhow,
here is a row of bumps carved into the stone; archaeologists
have described them as "breasts" of a neolithic mother goddess

Dirty old man pose; she made me do this; really

Too bad we don't have our sign forest anymore

Cote du Granit Rose

Further along the coast, the granite turns pink, when the sunlight is just right, and takes unusual forms and shapes. We stopped at Tregastel to have a look.

From an overlook just before Tregantel

Thus

And thus

And then stopped near the harbor for a closer look

Have I mentioned that the hydrangeas all over Normandy and
now Brittany are in full bloom and pretty stunning?

More harbor

More rocks, this one in someone's front yard

And more rocks

This is an actual tidal dam and mill; there's a larger, newer one
between St. Malo and Dinard that actually produces electricity

Really nice houses in the neighborhood

Love Breton buildings

Private island (and mock castle) just off the coast, owned by
19th century celebrities...

Yard ornament

Tidal shells on the granite rose

More weird rocks

And some chain-saw sculpture

The House Between The Rocks

So here follow several pix of le maison entre les roches, its surroundings and view. It is right on the sea, private property, now walled-off because of the invasiveness of tourists. But still pretty compelling.The larger coastal area, Le Gouffre, is a preserve in the commune of Plougrescant. Oh, the adjacent property, not pictured, is available...