Access: Easy once you've navigated the maze of lanes in this area &/or the roundabouts coming out of Ploufragan. Right next to the road & there is room to stop just up the hill on the opposite side of the road.
Visited Wednesday 7 October 2009
A little beauty! We found it as much by luck as judgement as a result of our only map being a road atlas. It's probably simple to reach from Ploufragan directly with a decent map, but we went spectacularly 'round the houses' (and industrial estates, shopping outlets, motorways, villages, suburbs....)
Coming straight from Ploufragan, you'd also pass Le Menhir de Sabot on a roundabout (not thrilling), another possible menhir (small) by the roundabout & Allée couverte de la Couëte (beautiful) and Le Lit de Margot (a rock) just before this site.
Petit Argentel allee couverte is a little south of here, but all we knew was that it was down the hill.... Even 'down the hill & take the first left' looks like it would have allowed us to find it, going by Googlemaps.
I found Grand Argantel (& la Couëte) particularly reminiscent of some of the hunebedden in the Netherlands.
There are some 'interesting' big stones in the trees directly across road. These could just be field-clearance, but didn't half look to me a bit like an extremely trashed allee couverte (or something). Notably, some of the more 'significant-looking' stones are well rooted in the ground.
|
'Visited' Saturday 26 September 2009
We tried to find this using Aubrey Burl's very basic instructions in 'Megalithic Brittany' (Thames & Hudson 1985). To be fair to Dr Burl, he doesn't recommend only using his instructions but getting a decent map as well. For this one, I'd certainly agree!!
It should be easy using the Googlemap coordinates I've provided, based on http://megalithes-breton.fr
Dr Burl just says go to Ban al Lan near Portsall & that the 'tomb is st the end of the creek.' Unfortunately, at Ban al Lan there is a very obvious lovely creek in a beautiful valley, which we spent sometime exploring without megalithic joy!
On returning I've done a little research, and the allee couverte seems to be on the headland to the east of the creek. A few hundred yards to the east of the creek on the D27, there is even a road in that direction (north) called Rue de Guilligui!
This looks like a nice little rather knocked-about allee, but with a particularly ludicrous christian cross slapped on top. Hope I get another chance to see it for myself!
|
'Visited' Sunday 3 October 2009
This is a big menhir with a silly christian cross on top, which we tried to find using Aubrey Burl's very basic instructions in 'Megalithic Brittany' (Thames & Hudson 1985). To be fair to Dr Burl, he doesn't recommend only using his instructions but getting a decent map as well.
Much to our surprise, we couldn't find it. Burl says it is 'after the last houses on the NE (R) of the road to Melgven.' From Googlemaps, this still seems to be true, but what Burl doesn't mention is that the menhir seems to be on the other side of the road!
Having checked the wonderfully informative & reliable http://megalithes-breton.fr on our return, the menhir is to the north (west) of the Melgven road in a wood behind some houses.
There are other sites around here, including another menhir (Kergleuhant or Kerdunus) & a dolmen (Loch-Korrigan).
|
'Visited' Sunday 3 October 2009
We tried to find this using Aubrey Burl's instructions in 'Megalithic Brittany' (Thames & Hudson 1985). To be fair to Dr Burl, he doesn't recommend only using his instructions but getting a decent map as well.
We could see nothing where he describes, which is some way south of this location, nearer the D24 and south of the N165.
The roads & undergrowth etc there may have changed a bit since 1985, which may account for us not being able to find anything there. (We couldn't even identify the 'fork in the road' on the D24 that he mentions.)
But it seems from further reading ('La Bretagne des Megalithes' by Pierre-Roland Giot and the extremely reliable http://megalithes-breton.fr for example) that if there is something where Burl descibes, it's not Coat-Menez-Guen.
The coordinates used to post this page seem to be the correct ones. You can even see what looks like the tomb on Googlemaps.
Burl himself says "there are other but disrupted allees-couvertes" in the area. Perhaps he mixed the locations up? Who knows.
The good news was that in zipping around the area we spotted Coat Luzuen in our road atlas & found that instead, though it's not as interesting as this 'semi arc-boutee' sounds!
Annoyingly, after we'd finished there, I insisted that we should continue north on the little road that passes it. When we reached the farm at the north end, we turned back, but from Googlemaps it looks as if we could have walked to Coat-Menez-Guen from there!
|
Access: Samuel Lewis in 'Guide to the Menhirs and other Megaliths of Central Brittany' says this is on the right (west) of the dead-end road to Kerangle farm. It's not, it's on the left (east). He's placed it correctly on the map, but unfortunately in this case the map is on a different page. Sod's law meant that we followed his instructions instead of his map!
So, as you clear a line of trees to the east of the road approaching the farm at the end of the road, keep your eyes peeled to the left (east). At the far side of a large field with woods beyond, you should be able to spot the monument if it's not in crop (though it was quite overgrown when we first saw it).
It was a bit of a slog around the edge of the ploughed field, but if it had been in crop, we would never have spotted it!
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
Thought we'd missed this one as the field on the right (west) was in crop & we thought that's where it was (see above). Tried to ask at the farm. but there was no answer
Luckily, as we gave up & drove back down the road, Jane spotted something on the far side of a field to the east.
It was a fair way off & we couldn't be sure, but especially as this was our last site of the day & we wouldn't be back, I decided to trog around the field edge.
For much of the walk, my view was blocked by trees, but as I cleared them it looked like this was probably it, but it looked overgrown & trashed.
How wrong I was! Once I'd tramped down a lot of fern, bracken & bramble (less hard work than I expected) I could see quite a cool little allee couverte. (All my photos are post-'gardening'!)
It's not in great condition, but I still found it very pleasing. Lewis speculates that it may have been built with one of the capstones only supported on one side, but I thought this unlikely. I may be wrong of course!
|
Access: When we were there it was in deep crop (see photo under 'maps etc') & we drove straight past. As you reach the area of the dolmen, at a t-junction at the top of a hill look out for this 'telegraph pole' with signs on.
The dolmen is along a path starting a few yards to the left of the (French-style) telegraph pole. You can just make it out in the photo - near the back of the car. (We interpreted the signs as meaning drive along the road to the left & spent ages looking for the dolmen in the wrong place!)
The path was narrow & a little rough with the maize encroaching, but would otherwise probably be pretty easy.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
A nice simple but quite large dolmen. A bit underwhelming when we were there as it was claustrophobically enclosed in high maize crop, and the weather was unpleasant.
Without the crop and with some kind of setting visible, I suspect it would be far more impressive.
There is also a stele somewhere nearby. I think it's in the same field but the photo I've seen makes it look pretty unimpressive & the chances of finding it in the maize seemed slim!
|
Access: Easy. Drive to the church & get out of the car!
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
Not much to add to what Jane said, except that although we read that these are the remains of a cromlech, in 'Megalithic Brittany' Burl says it they are the remnants of an allee couverte.
Giot in 'La Bretagne des Megalithes' reckons it's the base of a neolithic tumulus.
This seems strange to us, though I guess it's possible if these are strangely varied & spectacular kerbstones.
|
There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.
Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis II in 'La Bretagne des Megalithes', whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis III.
Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south - uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn't show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)
The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I'd guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.
I'd advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.
Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The last of the Liscuis trio we saw is slightly overgrown and more 'knocked-about' than the other two. It retains only one capstone and is again constructed of the local schist (according to Burl).
Like the other Liscuis monuments it has an small triangular original entrance to its passage formed by a transverse stone with a lower corner missing.
As with Liscuis III this 'entrance' isn't entirely convincing to me on its own, as the passage stone that forms the triangle with the transverse stone leans quite dramatically (surely more than it could have when it supported a capstone). But I guess the fact that all three neighbouring tombs have this feature in some form makes it pretty likely to be genuine!
|
There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.
Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis III in 'La Bretagne des Megalithes', whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis I.
Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south - uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn't show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)
The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I'd guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.
I'd advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.
Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The middle of the Liscuis trio we saw is less overgrown than the other two, though more so than in some photos I've seen.
It is the most complete and impressive of the three and occupies a dominant position on a ridge at the crest of the hill.
Very nice monument, again constructed of the local schist (according to Burl). Like the other Liscuis monuments it has an small triangular original entrance to its passage. To me it is less convincingly an entrance than at Liscuis I as the stone that forms it is less a complete transverse & more of 'a stone at an angle'!
|
There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.
Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis I in 'La Bretagne des Megalithes', whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis II.
Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south - uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn't show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)
The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I'd guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.
I'd advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.
Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The first of the Liscuis trio we saw is still semi-subterranean & was rather overgrown. It was also in slightly less good condition than I expected though it retains three capstones.
Still a nice monument made of local almost slate-like stone (schist, according to Burl). Interestingly it has a transverse stone with one lower corner chipped away which (again according to Burl) was the original entrance.
|
Access: A few hundred yards into a wood on a pretty good path. A bit further into the wood, I believe there is a fairly impressive menhir 'Mein al Has' but this was already a detour & we didn't have time for menhirs today! (Roc'h ar Lein menhir is also nearby, further up the road.)
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
This wasn't in the plan, but we saw signs to it & just went. Actually, if we'd realised the sign was 'just' for this fairly unimpressive capless allee couverte & the menhirs mentioned above, we may not have detoured!
|
Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
No proper access notes, as I can't remember how easy it was to get into the field.
Living proof that you can't go far in Brittany without seeing something megalithic - we just happened to notice it as we were driving past....
Nice menhir.
|
'Attempted visit' Monday 28 September 2009
We so wanted to see this one, up to its knees in the sea!
Unfortunately we were let down by our lack of mapping & didn't follow Burl's instructions in 'Megalithic Brittany' well enough. (By this time we'd discovered that his descriptions weren't always that great. Typically, they seem to have been pretty good for this one now I read them.)
We ran out of time as we were driving right across Brittany today, but I can now see exactly where we went wrong for future visitors....
Turn east off the D2 onto Route de Queffen about 2km south of Pont L'Abbe, maybe a few hundred yards south of a (new) roundabout. Once you've turned, I think you cross a little crossroads after a short distance. Continue for a short time from there, but when you reach a point where the road swings right and on the left there is a little laybyish bit and a path into the woods, STOP!
Take the path & this should take you to the menhir (according to Burl, around 100m but I'd guess it's a bit further).
Don't do what we did & follow the road right down to the sea & along. You'll have terrible trouble turning & get really frustrated. We did! Not as frustrated as when we realised that the little layby where we ate our butties was right by the path to the menhir though!!!
|
Access: Pretty easy. You can park on the road down to the coast. You can see it from there & it's an extremely short walk across bedrock & brushy grass.
Visited Monday 28 September 2009
I first saw this one in June 1999 & knew it was worth seeing again. I was also pretty sure that it was spectacular enough to overcome Jane's 'menhir fatigue'.
I was right! It was way taller than I remembered & Jane loved it, plus I noticed Le Ruen V-shaped passage grave just on the other side of the road where we parked!
|
Access: Easy - you will probably park right beside it or opposite it if you go to Le Ruen menhir.
Visited Monday 28 September 2009
I noticed this vaguely dolmenny thing as we got out of the car to go to Le Ruen menhir, which I had visited in 1999.
Checking Burl's 'Megalithic Brittany', he says it's a (rare) V-shaped passage grave, the best example of which is Ty-ar-Boudiquet. He's right - Ty-ar-Boudiquet is spectacular. This isn't, but is worth a look....
|
Approximate co-ordinates only
'Visited' Sunday 27 September 2009
I don't usually add destroyed sites, but these two are in Burl's 'Megalithic Brittany' (1984 edition). We scoured the area's crossroads (as per his instructions) for this one. I wouldn't want anyone to get as frustrated as we did, unnecessarily!
I've just searched Google and found in sevearal places that they are both thought to have been destroyed.
|
Access: Farm lane it stands on was more difficult to spot than we expected. Stands in middle of field.
'Visited' Monday 28 September 2009
We were virtually passing so I whanged out a big lens shot of this fairly run-of-the mill looking menhir.
|
Access: You can drive right up to it. It's by a restaurant with a name summat like 'The Menhir'.
Visited Sunday 27 September 2009 (& sometime in June 1999)
In 'Megalithic Brittany', Burl does not say so, but surely this must be modern - so much so that I nearly didn't post it.
Nice setting, but a bit crap really. The text carved into it seems to be about some geezer from Jersey who had a miraculous escape. (Can you tell I'm rubbish at French?)
|
Co-ordinates a little approximate because of cloud on Googlemaps! The site is signposted once you get near it, so should not be difficult to find.
Access: Easy once you've navigated the back-roads towards Lesconil and found the signposts & info board. Down a small path to the edge of a wood. Vaguely think there may have been a kissing-gate.
Visited Sunday 27 October 2009
Stunning. Must-see. I'd longed to see an arc-boutee passage-grave for years but it had never been practical on my previous trips to Brittany.
Much more impressive & complete than the more famous Castel Rufel arc-boutee which had been the one I was longing to see! (Though Castel Rufel may 'have the edge' on setting.)
|
Not sure this is a bone fide menhir - can't find any trace of it in books on the area. No idea what it's called if it is genuine, so I've given it a name myself.
'Visited' Saturday 3 October 2009
Looking for Menhirs de Roch Toul and Menhirs de Trimen we came across this stone. It's quite nice & very easy to find, but didn't look quite right if you know what I mean! (Though it looks more convincing in the photo....)
|
|
www.heritageaction.org - ordinary people caring for extraordinary places
MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER WANT TO KNOW ABOUT MOTH
How?
Though I'd been interested in both for a long while, I finally got into stones & Cope relatively late in life and at around the same time (mid 90s). I guess my girlfriend at the time has to take the blame. She bought me 'Peggy Suicide' and she used to get those nice megalithic postcards from Mr Julian.
Why?
At first, looking at stones seemed just like a good excuse for stomping around in beautiful countryside. Little did I know how much more it would become. And that they're not always in beautiful countryside....
Where?
At the time I was living in Tufnell Park in London so started off with a lot of southern stones 'n' bumps, particularly on holidays to Devon, the Lands End peninsula and the west country in general. Since then, holidays became increasingly megalithacentric, and are now mainly wildlifecentric (tho often with some stones thrown in)!
A couple of years later I moved back to Leeds where I lived for much of my adult life (I'm originally from Kent) prompting numerous visits to stones 'n' bumps in places like Derbyshire, Cumbria, N Wales and of course Yorkshire. I now live near Oxford (see 'Life?').
I've seen stones all over the UK & further afield, including (but not limited to) bits of France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Menorca, Sardinia & even Jordan.
Strangely enough however, my most visited and probably favourite 'stony areas' are Aberdeenshire and Perthshire, though I've been to quite a few all over Scotland. This is again thanks to a (different) ex-girlfriend who comes from Montrose and is the mother of my glorious son Callan, who at the time of updating is now 21....
As you may have guessed, Callan is named after Callanish - at the time of his birth this was a long intended but unmade pilgrimage for me. Happily I've now been twice & hope to go again for the next 're-gleam'.
Life?
Currently living just to the north-west of Oxford with the gorgeous Jane (we got married in October 2004). Seafer (Jane's dangerous 'n' stripey cat) is no more and for the last 8 years we've been in the custody of Officer Dibble and Skipper (also cats). Jane's also responsible for increasing my love of travel & the expansion of my love of wildlife!
I'm an editor really, but now have a nice easy admin job 4-days a week working for a tiny IT training company who do expensive niche training for IT professionals.
Fun?
In a varying order
Travel
Wildlife & bird photography and watching
Stones, walking, and the countryside, obviously
Various music, especially heavy rock and funk
Real ale & real ale pubs (though as Jane can't drink for medical reasons we don't often go to pubs)
Single malts
Bourbon (of the whisky persuasion - not the biccies)
Red wine
Cheese
Roast tatties and chips (not usually together)
Chocolate
A lot of other food that never had a face
F1
Talking bollocks
Sarcasm
Laughing
Having a good moan, especially about the Tories
Vital statistics?
Height 5'8"
Chest N/K (medium t-shirt size)
Waist 32-34" depending how fat I happen to be at the time
Inside leg 32"
Aged 60 but we don't talk about that
Hair Long mostly grey (used to be brown)
love
Moth
updated 2 September 2022
|
Log in |
Register
Previous 20 | Showing 41-60 of 280 fieldnotes. Most recent first | Next 20 
Top of page