Jane

Just to the east of Quessoy, this unspectacular and a bit trashed monument is in a very rural setting on the edge of woodland. It’s got five capstones still up, so worth a look-see.

Only 500ms north of its twin Grand Argentel.

This fine monument is only about 500ms south down the lane from Allée couverte de la Couëte. It’s a reall beauty and not that easy find among the tangle of semi-rural lanes of the towns and suburbs south of St Brieuc.

We found the allee couverte ‘de la Vallee’ in the small open park area of a business park near the centre of Ploufragan town, on ‘Place Nelson Mandela’.

It’s 14ms long and has quite a complete passageway but only has 2 caps up and the third nearly up. It’s got an accompanying menhir which gives it a certain ‘je ne sais pas’.

This mighty menhir, known locally as the ‘miracle stone’, near Brignonan Plage is a whopping 8.5ms tall and had a silly little cross plonked on the top, probably in the Middle Ages. It’s also got a cross carved into it near the bottom.

There’s a naturally occuring shelf or notch about 5ms up the menhir which people try to throw pebbles onto. The story goes that if a young woman managed to get a pebble up there, she would be married within a year. I had a go at it and failed dismally. Moth was more determined and finally got one to stay up.

It’s well worth seeing because it’s such a monster.

On the northern side of the estuary of Quillimadec, near a hamlet called Larret, we found another, very denuded allee couverte on the beach.

There’s no doubt that this one is completely covered by the sea at high tide for seaweed clings of every part of every remaining stone as if it is wearing some kind of seaside camouflage.

It’s not nearly so impressive as Kernic to the east, but it does have two parallel rows of stones, a distinctive fallen capstone and a unique ambience.