Moth

Access: Easy to find from the map on TMA, and signposted once you get fairly close. There’s a layby right next to it & it’s only a few paces across grass.

Visited Thursday 12 April 2012
Lovely, lovely, lovely – especially in the sun today instead of the pissing rain a few years ago!

The site seems to have been tidied up a bit & a shrub/tree that had been growing through the east-side seems to have been removed (though I only noticed this when I saw the photos from last time).

Nice glimpses of the sea through the trees.

Access: Good – very short walk on grass, only yards from a parking space.

Visited Thursday 12 April 2012
Even more wonderful on a sunny day than when it’s peeing down!!!

Just to clarify, this is on the west of the road coming from the mainland, just before you approach the causeway/bridge to Ile Grande. There is a small lay-by/parking space south of it.

It’s probably easier to spot on the way back if you go across to see Ile Grande allée couverte, which is why Jane described it the way she did.

Either way, keep your eye open on the west side of the road for a gap in field edge less than 100m on the mainland side of the causeway/bridge. When we were there last week, there was a little sign in the entrance to the field.

In line with the allée couverte & right next to it, there’s also a curious long mound that makes you think it’s a still couverte allée.... It even has a standing stone sticking out, but I haven’t (yet) seen it referred to in any books etc.

Access: See Dolmens du Font Mejanne page.

Visited Tuesday 11 September 2007
Similar to Dolmen du Font Mejanne No 1 & Dolmen du Font Mejanne No 2, but with a suspicion a rocky cairn.

The same angling and shaping of the sideslabs, creating the same portal tomb-type feeling. Being the highest up the valley of the 3, its setting is even more beautiful.

Access: See Dolmens du Font Mejanne page.

Visited Tuesday 11 September 2007
Similar to Dolmen du Font Mejanne No 1 but somewhat bigger, and to me, more nicely proportioned.

The sides are also similarly angled and shaped, seemingly to form a narrower entrance, creating an effect a bit like a portal tomb.

Access: See Dolmens du Font Mejanne page.

Visited Tuesday 11 September 2007
A quite large & rather boxy straightforward dolmen that somehow ‘fits’ perfectly into its landscape.

The sides are angled, seemingly to form a narrower entrance, creating an effect a bit like a portal tomb.

Access: Quite difficult. Not that easy to spot in the valley – we kept seeing bits that looked like the photos of the area they’re in.... But once you spot them you really know you’re in the right place! Also not that easy to park but we found somewhere on the left (west) – a little past the dolmens that we could see across the valley.

Also not easy to find the right place to scramble down into the valley & across the little (when we were there, anyway!) river & up the other side.

There are apparently 4 dolmens here but we only found 3, and there are a plethora nearby to the north. Details are in Bruno Marc’s Dolmens du l’Ardeche, but it seems that these 3 are the pick of the crop – all the others that Bruno has included photos of are (at least) fairly trashed.

Access: See Dolmens du Ranc d’Aven for general comments on finding the site. Only couple of hundred yards walk, but a bit of a scramble down into, across and up the other side of what seemed like dry river beds. Would probably be harder if the river(s) were flowing!

Visited Tuesday 11 September 2007
A nice little rock cairn with bare vestages of a cist or dolmen in the centre. Not altogether ‘whelming’, but in a gorgeous valley – and worth it for Dolmen du Ranc d’Aven No 3 apart from anything else!

Access: See Dolmens du Ranc d’Aven for general comments on finding the site.

As with Dolmen du Ranc d’Aven No 2, only a couple of hundred yards, but a bit of a scramble down into, across and up the other side of what seemed like dry river beds. Would probably be harder if the river(s) were flowing!

Visited Tuesday 11 September 2007
Another nice rock cairn with a fairly trashed small dolmen in the centre. In this setting – kinda lovely!

Access: The complex is reasonably easy to find using Googlemaps, on the north of a bend of the D208 between St Alban d’Auriolles and Chandolas. Turn onto the gravel road & park.

The cairns of ‘Dolmens’ 2 & 3 are to the left of the gravel road and fairly visible around 200-300m from the D208. If you view the site on Googlemaps, note that the path to Dolmen 1 is more obvious on the map than it was ‘on the ground’ when we were there. And the path goes up a very steep slope!!!

I’d say the path is only about 20-30m from the D208 at most, though this is from memory of 2 years ago! Look out for faint brown paint marks on the rocks.

Location slightly doubtful: Very difficult to find on Googlemaps.

Access: Difficult to find on the ground too, quite strenuous to walk to, and very strenuous to get back from! The dolmen is between the D290 and the Ardeche river, about halfway down the steep spectacular gorge.

We parked at a large layby/viewpoint on a bend of the D290 and then I walked north along the D290. The road curves slightly left and then fairly gently but distinctly right again. I scrambled over the armco crash barrier too early & had to come back up after meeting inpenetrable vegetation – don’t make the same mistake!

After a few hundred metres walking – I think it was just as the road stops swinging gently right – there is a gravelly path to the left, angled back the way you’ve just come. Take it. (There may also be a fairly small layby here which you could park at.)

The path meanders reasonably steeply (and at times quite steeply) down through the woods. There are a few sidepaths, but as I remember, I kept to the main path. Just as I was about to give up, there was a (blessed) noticeboard for the dolmen!!!

Visited Monday 10 September 2007
Wow!! What a place. The dolmen is set at the top of a little gravelly platform overlooking the gorge & river. It’s basic, in a nice state of (dis)repair & in itself worth seeing, but the setting is fantastic.

Good job too!!! It was a sweltering day & it had been a hard descent, especially with such a sketchy idea of where I was going & where the monument is! I spent some time photographing & taking the place in, but was very aware that Jane was back at the car and I’d been some time. All too soon I had no choice to take the gruelling climb back up, dripping buckets of sweat back up to the road and back along it.

It was sooooo worth it though!

Approximate coordinates only

I was unable find (or even look for) this for extremely frustrating reasons, see my notes for Dolmen de la Caucalière.

Approximate coordinates only

I didn’t find this but I didn’t really get a chance with some ill-luck. Bruno Marc’s description in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon says it’s about 400m to the west of Flouirac farm with private access. (There’s also the Menhir de la Caucalière near it.)

When I arrived at the farm there was nobody about to ask even after knocking at the door. So I was was just going to write a note to put on the windscreen of my car & set off anyway, when an elderly woman called from the upstairs window. She spoke unusually perfect English but what she said, I didn’t want to hear. She claimed that there was no dolmen other than Dolmen de Flouirac back down on the road!

I’m not sure if this was a blatant lie, but there wasn’t much I could do. It did occur to me to drive back down to the road, park, and then sneak back on foot. But I didn’t really have time & wasn’t comfortable enough with that degree of subterfuge.

I’ve been unable to find any photos or confirmation that the site still exists, though a quick Google search shows it is mentioned on some geocaching websites – suggesting it’s still there....

Dispirited by 2 failures in a row & pressed for time, I went back down to the road & after another vague scan for Dolmen de Flouirac, I started the long drive back to Arles.

Approximate coordinates only

I couldn’t spot this one from the road, but had a long journey back to our cottage near Arles ahead of me and a couple of other more promising (I thought) dolmens to try to find. I’ve seen photos of it & it’s a nice little thing! (Curses – especially as I couldn’t find the others I’d got planned!)

Apparently it’s very close to the road but difficult to spot as it’s masked by bushes.

Location slightly doubtful: I’ve placed this where I remember it, which fits in with Bruno Marc’s description in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon (which is how I found it) so I’d have thought it must be right. It also looks about right on Googlemaps. However, it may be worth knowing that t4t35.fr puts it at the other end of the village on the other side (south) of the road.

Access: Visible from the road across a field just past the last buildings of the little village of Le Barral. Bruno Marc & I reckon it’s on the eastern edge of the village, to the north of the road. Seems to be on private property with no obvious access.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
A ruined but easily recognisable little dolmen built into a field wall. I didn’t try to approach it (see above) but just used a big lens....

Access: Easy – a short 100-200m walk along the tarmaced road from the wide farmtrack junction to the west where I parked for Menhir d’Avernat. Not sure if there’s anywhere closer.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Another nice large characterful menhir, perfectly matching its partner Menhir d’Avernat on the other side of the road to the west.

Access: Easy – right by the road & with a wide farmtrack junction to park in.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
A nice large characterful menhir. Look out for its partner Menhir des Combes on the other side of the road to the east.

Access: Fairly easy – it’s pretty close to the road & unlike Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines, there are gates (I think!) It is on a bit of a slope, but it’s fairly gentle.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
I couldn’t believe it! Nearly as amazing & bonkers as Cromlech de Lacam de Peyrarines that I’d just come from! Another of the most spectacular sites I’ve ever been to and a bit more photogenic than Lacam de Peyrarines as it’s on a slope.

Like Peyrarines, it’s HUGE although quite a lot of stones are fallen or missing, especially on the east side (& the south I think, and others are hidden by bushes).

I (rightly in the end) figured the day could only go downhill from here, as I sat eating my lunch in the tiny bit of shade behind the largest stone to shelter from the blazing sun.

Access: Should be easy – it’s right next to the road. However, there was no easy access to the field (that I could find) other than hopping over the fence. I’m also sure I got some weird looks from passing locals. Perhaps it’s supposed to be no access, so you ain’t seen me, right?

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Amazing! Bonkers! One of the most spectacular sites I’ve ever been to. It’s HUGE and although some stones are fallen or missing, there are still far more than I could be bothered to count!

Spent ages trying, fairly unsuccessfully, to just get my head around the place & trying to photograph it. And I was virtually trotting around it as a result of a growing feeling that I wasn’t really supposed to be there (I could just be paranoid!)

One thing I learnt – if you ask me, it’s impossible to do the site as a whole justice in a photograph, except mebbe from the air.

Access: Easy – right next to road. Not sure if there any gates to go through – sorry, it was 2 years ago....

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Oo, nice! A dolmen still in its mound with a nice (exposed) entrance passage.

Allegedly, between here & Menhir de Serre de la Gleisa there is a ruined cromlech. I suspect there’s nothing to see, as Bruno Marc doesn’t mention it in Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon, but I could be wrong.

Access: Not sure, I only looked at it from the road as I had an ambitious itinerary. (Too ambitious as it turned out, in more ways than one.) Looks a little bit of an uphill tromp to me, for ‘just’ a menhir.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Looks like a nice big (for the area, at least) menhir, but unfortunately I couldn’t afford the time for a closer look. So I whipped out the big lens – which means it’s a longer walk from the road than it might look in the photos....

Access: Nightmare to find anything on this plain which seems to be covered with sites at various sites of wreckedness. Just across the dirt road from Ciste de Lacam. Luckily this one is fairly near the main track – still difficult to spot!

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
I knew this was ruined, but all I found was just a few likely looking stones in a vague line. They were the most likely candidates I saw, but absolutely no guarantees that these are the remains of the monument!

Approximate coordinates only

Access: Nightmare to find anything on this plain which seems to be covered with sites at various sites of wreckedness. Dirt road, so you’ll probably need to not care too much about your car, especially if you want to leave the ‘main’ track!

Luckily this one is very near said main track – still difficult to spot! It’s also surprisingly easy to lose your sense of direction & mine’s usually pretty good.

Visited Saturday 8 September 2007
Not exactly spectacular, but traces of a little cairn with a very nice cist left in the middle. This was to be one of the few things I’d find out here in the barren wilderness!

Approximate coordinates only

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Close-ish to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 4 & 6 a good few hundred metres along the same path. (You will also pass various less definite but suspicious bits of possible wrecked sites.)

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
I’ve taken the name of this monument from t4t35.fr

In Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon Bruno Marc refers to ‘le grand dolmen de l’Olivier’, which from t4t35.fr seems to be a little further along the same path, but I must have stopped just short of it before giving up for the day & turning back. (Gah!)

Bare remains of the chamber uprights & cairn only here, possibly with a fallen capstone at the front of the chamber according to some sources. As far as I can tell, Le Grand Dolmen de l’Olivier which I didn’t find seems to be similar, but larger and with more of its cairn. It also has an additional small (later?) cist in what remains of its chamber.

Approximate coordinates only. Also, there seems to be confusion in my sources on the numbering of the Claie-de-Driolle tombs. This seems to be 4 in Bruno Marc’s books, but I’ve seen it referred to as 5 elsewhere. (Incidentally, there seem to be gaps in the numbering sequence everywhere I’ve looked!)

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Very close to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 3 along the same path.

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
Right next to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 6 (depending whose numbering you use!) The 2 sites together are gorgeous, though of the 2 this is slightly the ‘poor relation’!

Approximate coordinates only. Also, there seems to be confusion in my sources on the numbering of the Claie-de-Driolle tombs. This seems to be 6 in Bruno Marc’s books, but I’ve seen it referred to as 4 elsewhere. (Incidentally, there seem to be gaps in the numbering sequence everywhere I’ve looked!)

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Very close to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 3 along the same path.

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
Right next to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 4 (depending whose numbering you use!) The 2 sites together are gorgeous. Similar to the other main monuments on this walk, but then again they’re (mostly) little beauties!

Approximate coordinates only

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Very close to Dolmen de la Claie-de-Driolle 2 along the same path.

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
My favourite of the monuments we saw on this walk. Another beautiful dolmen in its cairn but with noteably more open views.

Approximate coordinates only

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Maybe 1km or slightly more from the nearest parking place which is impossible to describe but to the SW! The path starts off quite steep as a wide-ish gravel track, which becomes a track through the woods. It continues to have steep bits & also slightly rocky bits. May also be muddy in wet weather.

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
Beautiful! Seemingly fairly complete but restored in its rocky cairn. Well worth the walk (which I enjoyed – but I like walking!)

Approximate coordinates only

Access: Not easy, unless you’re at least reasonably fit. Maybe 500m from Dolmen de la Bergerie-de-Panissière along the same path, which has steep bits & slightly rocky bits. May also be muddy in wet weather.

Visited Monday 3 September 2007
I liked this a lot. The pictures say it all really. Beautiful dolmen in its (perhaps somewhat denuded) cairn.

Access: Right by the roadside with a little area for parking.

Visted Monday 3 September 2007
A nice menhir with good views to the north. There is a destroyed menhir nearby on the road (though we didn’t spot it, and another nearby in the woods that we didn’t look for.

Access: Easy, as it’s right on the street, but not sure how accurate coordinates are.

Visted Saturday 16 April 2005
An obscure wonder! Another ‘menhir brise’, thought possibly to have originally been part of the same alignment as the nearby Grand Menhir Brise (GMB) and pehaps the grand menhir(s) that form the capstones of Mane Rutuel & Er-Grah.

Very respectable size though not even vaguely near the GMB’s truly awesome magnitude.

Two pieces, the ‘top’ part has a bolt mounted in its bottom, broken side. Allegedly there were at some point plans to reassemble the 2 parts, but I somehow doubt whether it’s to do with that (or whether it’ll ever get done now, for that matter!)

Access: On verge of farm road just south of Treal passage grave.

Visited Thursday 14 April 2005
What looks suspiciously like a very trashed passage grave. If not, one stone certainly looks like a menhir!

Could of course be field clearance, but surely not the menhir-like stone at least. Couldn’t find any trace in books or on a quick web search.

Access: In garden of house by start of path through woods to the passage grave.

Visited Thursday 14 April 2005
A nice menhir that you can’t miss if visiting the passage grave. I’ve not seen it in any of my research, but it ‘looks’ genuine!

Approximate coordinates only – it was well over years ago! I also can’t find a name for it, so made one up for now.

Access: Pretty easy, though a fair walk from the main St Just complex parking place.

Visited Thursday 14 April 2005
Happened across this one & can’t find anything about it online or in books I have. It was a short distance from the right (north) of the path between Le Tribunal & La Four Sarrazin.

Fairly unspectacular (especially for St Just!) burial of some sort....

Access: Up quite a steep slope within the heathland of the St Just complex, which is generally reasonably flat.

Visited Thursday 14 April 2005
Great place to get overview of a lot of the complex, preferably with binoculars &/or big lens.

Access: Right by main road D7, which is how we happened across it. It’s quite steep if you want to climb it – we didn’t (may be private land). I don’t think there were any fences at the time we were there.

Visited Wednesday 13 April 2005
‘Just’ a tumulus that we spotted as we headed home with no prior knowledge that existed. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing to see except the mound (& the silly cross, obviously!)

Note that the island this (beautiful, from photos) allee couverte is on only displays correctly on Googlemaps when viewed as ‘satellite’ or ‘hybrid’.

Thursday 12 November 2009: Just discovered this allee couverte on a couple of websites. Seems to be actually on an island & have been unable to find out how easy it is to get to (so far...!)

camping-esperance.com/IMG/jpg/milliau_site.jpg

Maybe on our next trip....

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.

Visited Wednesday 7 October 2009
Beautiful! 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 du Sabot on a roundabout (not thrilling), another possible menhir (small) by the roundabout just before this site.

I found La Couëte & Grand Argantel particularly reminiscent of some of the hunebedden in the Netherlands.

Access: Looks easy but I’d guess it’s on private land & is so close to the farm buildings that I suspect asking first would be a good idea.

‘Visited’ Wednesday 7 October 2009: Saw this as we drove past but didn’t stop as time was extremely tight on our last day.

Seems to be a rather curiously-shaped large natural rock with a few possible orthostats ‘behind’ it. From photos, it looks more like Margot’s sunlounger than her bed....

Access: Unknown, as we did not find it. We had no real instructions on how to find it, but had we looked carefully at megalithes-breton.fr we probably wouldn’t have had any problems....

I’m sorry, I can’t find any way of linking directly to a site page on megalithes-breton.fr I can only sy look under Cotes d’Armor on the horizontal menu, then under Ploufragan.

Access: Easy to see as you round the roundabout! Traffic may be a problem for stopping or actually reaching the stone....

‘Visited’ Wednesday 7 October 2009
This is a small menhir (presumably) re-erected actually on the roundabout. It was difficult to stop & rather underwhelming despite having been split by lightning, so we didn’t get any photos.

There seemed to be another small menhir on the outside of the road around the roundabout, roughly to the east, but I can find no provenance for it.

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 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 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 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.