The Road Goes Ever On

Monday, December 7, 2009

Menec Village

We next visited Menec Village, something we had not seen

before in our several visits to Carnac. At the head of the

Menec alignment is a cromlech, a quadrilateral arrangement

of larger stone, closer together, reckoned by some to have

been some sort of gathering place. Menec Village is a

modern (19th-20th century) village that was built right in the

cromlech, but much of the old structure remains...used now

to designate parking spaces, fences, walls, etc.

Note close spacing of stones

More of the village

Parking

My favorite...the clothes-line gives it such a domestic touch

A huge line of stones

Kermario Alignment

There are three great alignments at Carnac, all in a row

(with a couple smaller ones mixed in). The middle, and

perhaps largest, is Kermario. No one has the slightest

idea what they are all about, but it must have meant a

great deal to put these monuments up....

Big rocks, all in row...all in rows...

Vicki, trying to push another escapee back

inside the fence

The Kermario dolmen, one of the oldest structures around

(4,000BC)

Another view

More big ones

About half way down the alignment

From the end, looking back up the hill

Lightning-struck

Carnac Plage and Museum

We drove back to Carnac and its Grand Plage, where we had

lunch and a long walk along the beach, Vicki in search of

green beach glass, me in search of a polished neolithic jadeite

ceremonial axe. She found some glass. I managed to catch

two oysters, which went some way toward erasing my

Norwegian fishing humiliations. On the way back, we

stopped also at the Carnac Museum of Prehistory, a major
site for all this stuff, and walked about town a bit.

Ditto

The day's catch

Lann Roz, on the way back from the beach, a restaurant

where we have had several memorable meals (including

the one where the proprietress had fallen asleep and I finally

had to go wake her up for l'addition)

At the Carnac Museum of Prehistory, where they have quite

a collection

These jadeite axes were actually found on the beach at

Quiberon in 2007; I'll keep looking

Crucuno is a small village a few miles from Carnac; the Crucuno
dolmen has been used as a hen house, as storage for German
army motorcycles (their giant submarine base was at L'Orient,
just a few miles away), and, in the 19th century, as an apartment
for the village idiot

The structure adjoining is for sale, but it was unclear whether
the dolmen is included

Village idiot pose

Our friend at Roadtrek keeps asking us to take pictures with
the Grey Wanderer in them

Half a mile away is the Crucuno cromlech, a large quadrilateral
of unknown meaning or significance

Some large stones in the quadrilateral

More of the cromlech

Carnac, Finally: Menec Alignment

After Plougastel, we drove back east, to the south side, as it

were, and to that Mecca of Megalithia, Carnac, getting there

just as dusk was approaching. The gift shop was closing,

the parking lot was empty and unsigned, so we just stopped

for the night, a short stone's throw from the largest and most
famous of all neolithic alignments. In the off-season, the

usually-fenced alignments are open, so we enjoyed a stroll

among these mysterious old friends. The next dozen or so

posts are going to be from the Carnac/Plouharnel/

Locmariaquer realm, so brace yourselves!

Menec alignment, 10 or 11 rows, a thousand or more stones,

generally decreasing in size; about half-way down the

alignment, looking back

Two "escapees" (the locals, some of them, very much object

to the fencing-in, there being a large "free the menhirs"

movement years ago)

Clouds at dusk

Plougastel

Plougastel church

Love those severe lines...

Plougastel calvaire

Crown of thorns

Adoration of the donkeys

One the three facades

Shroud of Turin depiction

Obligatory young woman going to Hell

We spent the night of the 28th at the aire at the Brest marina. It seemed like a very yuppie place, with cool maritime stores (I bought a jar of Maritime Coop fish soup (Vicki calls it "poison soup") and seaweed beer), until the club across the parking lot closed at 1:30AM, and then there was a lot of drunken laughing and singing and car doors slamming, etc. The next day we found the Kerloas menhir, and the golf course, and then visited the church at Plougastel; another day, another calvaire.

Kerloas

With some local assistance, en Francais, we

finally found the giant Kerloas menhir; it is
indeed a big one

Me, fooling around

Detail

Slender side-view

More Neo-Neolithic

Part of a huge stone circle...is this a Jack Nicklaus-designed course?

4th hole, I think--is there a penalty for hitting the menhir?

While wandering around Finisterre, looking for the Kerloas menhir, largest in the world (the guidebook said), we came across more clearly neo-neolithic stuff...on the local golf course!