Another Day, Another Dolmen

I went swimming with a friend today, and on the way to the beach we diverted so I could show him the dolmen and covered ally that I explored last weekend.

He was impressed.

And then we drove to Tourony to swim as the tide was reaching its maximum.

I was curious to know if with a slightly lower high tide the currents halfway to the château would be as strong as they were last Sunday. We swam out. I suggested going to the two buoys just past the little cove formed by the rocks, but he didn't think he was a strong enough swimmer, so I swam a little further alone and then, as the current began to pull at me, decided, nope, it's not worth the risk, and I turned round too.

Back on the beach I started chatting to a French guy. Had I been swimming? he wanted to know, and did I know that there are strong currents in the middle of the channel that can drag a person away? Yes, I told him, I disovered them last weekend, but I've swum to the castle several times and only once was it a struggle to get through the channel. It depends on the sea, he told me, which made perfect sense because the sea has definite moods: some days calm and smooth like a purring pussy, some days lively and scratchy like a kitten, some days rising and falling like a sleeping tiger and last Sunday it was like a leopard trying to drag its prey away.  

Today it was well behaved, but I think I need to work on my upper body strength before I try to tackle the swim to the château again.

After our swim we took a walk at l'Île Renote.

I'd read that there's a dolmen somewhere and seen it on Google maps, but I'd never managed to find it, Until today.   

 

 

The dolmen is situated in the garden of a private house, but there's a little track from the main path that leasds to it so we assumed the public have the right to visit it, and anyway the (very large) house was shuttered and obviously closed for the winter - I'll refrain from posting my views on extravagant second homes - so we didn't feel guilty about venturing into the garden to expolore the dolmen.

Here's the details translated from the French Wikipedia page:

The dolmen is characterized by its funnel shape: it is a «V» burial, although it is often wrongly described as a covered alley. The dolmen measures 12.75 m in length with a width between 1 m on the west side and 2.25 m on the east side. The north side consists of a natural rock of 7 m in length extended by four orthostates whose length varies between 0.50 m and 1.25 m. The south side is delimited by seven orthostates inclined towards the interior of the chamber whose length varies between 1 m and 2,25 m. A slab almost perpendicular to the axis of the monument at its east end may constitute the bedt2.

The assembly is covered with a cover table 2.65 m long by 2.40 m wide and 0.35 m thick. A second table, broken into two parts, lies inside the chamber (the largest piece measures 1.60 m by 1.35 m and 0.45 m thick)2.

The remains of a peristallithic enclosure are visible around the dolmen protruding from the ground on the north and south sides. All slabs are made of Ploumana'h2 granite.

The building was reportedly excavated in ancient times, but in the early 20th century, “a polished stone axe, two flint tips and fragments of white coral” 3 were discovered.

( https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen_de_l%27%C3%8Ele_Renote)

 

 

 

Trégastel Neolithic Stones and a very High Tide

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Trégastel in seach of stones.

Standing stones, that is.

I'm quite infamous for having no sense of direction, however there are signs pointing people to the  dolmen and 'allée couverte de Kergüntui' as you drive in on the Lannion to Trégastel road, so even I had no trouble finding this site yesterday.

I parked in a small grassy lay-by and set off across the field (privately owned but open to the public) to the stones.

First, the dolmen...

It looks quite ordinary from the outside, doesn't it? Just another dolmen in a field, you might think. Nice enough but only worthy of a photo or two?

But step inside (mind your head, the capstone is quite low) and you'll see there's more to this dolmen than a few megaliths and a large capstone...

There's this, for instance in the wall on the left. 

And this in the long wall facing the entrance...

 And this view from inside...

Lest you think the people of the neolithic era built it like this, the dolmen was once a dwelling place and later a stable, but it's still quite charming for all the 'modern additions', I think, and who wouldn't like to downsize to a dolmen? 

For historical accuracy I should note that it was originally three orthostates (stone blocks) and a capstone. 

For those who like details: the capstone is 5.75 m long, 3.55 m wide and 0.75 m thick. The orthostate on the north side is 2.0 m high, 1.50 m wide and 0.20 m thick. The orthostate on the west side is 2.0 m high, 2.55 m wide, and 0.40 m at the base and 0.30 m at the top. The southern orthostate (resting on an embankment) is 2.40 m high, 2.50 m wide, and 0.35 m thick.

For the more whimsical, the dolmen is said to have once been the home of a spinner who produced such large amounts of yarn that he was thought to have superhuman powers.  

And then to the covered alley across the field...

This was discovered and restored a little 'casually' by the local people of Trégastel in 1939. 

It consists of six orthostates on the north side and seven on the south side, in addition to two 'bedside' (end) slabs - one to the west and one to the east. Four capstones comprise the roof. 

Inside there is little headroom so you need to crouch and crawl to see decorations on these othostates. If you number them fron one to six, starting fromn the left, the fourth orthostate is decorated with six pairs of raised breasts, roughly aligned and finished with a hollow-stitched necklace. The fifth has two pairs of breasts but only one pair is highlighted by a collae. The second orthostate has a pair pf breasts but the positioning of the stone means it has been buried and is no longer visible..

And the details: The covered walkway is 8.50 m long by 1.40 m wide on the east side and 1.75 m west side. The height varies between 1.0 m and 1.20 m. It is oriented east-southeast-west-northwest. The largest capstone measures 3.30 m long by 1.95 m wide and 0.50 m thick; smallest is 1.30 m long by 1.10 m wide and 0.40 m thick.

The other engravings on the orthostates date from the 20th or 21st century.  Or perhaps they are the work of that prolific spinner who lived across the field? 

Leaving the site, I drove back towards Lannion to find the Menhir de Trémarch which is om the Route du Calvaire.

It's not as impressive as the previous stones, but a mnehir is a menhir and who knows the significance of this one to the people who placed it here? 

This is not its original site, it was relocated in 1960.

Measurements: 3.18 m high, 0.95 m wide at the base and 0.86 m wide at the top, so its larger than it looks in this photo.

 I'd quite like to own a house next to a menhir, I thought, as I took this photo...

The writer in me can easily conjure up all manner of mystical and magical midnight capers such a menhir might attract. 

And so to the second menhir, the menhir de Keredol, also known as the menhir de sainte Anne and the menhir de Kerlavosis. This menhir is situated outside the town's library, having also been relocated from its original site. 

Measurements: 2.40, high, 0.70 m at its widest at the base and 0.25 m wide at the top.

For the linguists: the word menhir was adopted from French by 19th-century archaeologists. Interestingly, since we're in Brittany, it's a combination of two Breton words: maen and hir - stone and long.

You'll notice in these two the typical tapering shape.  

That we can't date them accurately, save to say they are thousands of years old, and since we don't know for sure why they were erected, they're quite fascinating stone structures. 

And then I left the Neolithic stones and went in search of some pink granite stones and a pink granite beach because I can't be near the sea and not take a swim. Even in winter, but especially in summer.

It was low tide so this was the view of le baie de Sainte-Anne with the Chateau de Costaèrés and le phare de Ploumanac'h (the lighthouse) on the sentier des douaniers in the distance. 

And when I pulled in to the parking areas at la plage du Tourony I found this:

A tide so low all that I could see was mud and sand, and even the channel into the port at Ploumanac'h had been reduced to a mere stream.

I settled down to snooze, read a little of La Peste (Camus) and watch the people digging for shellfish and those with dogs who were steadfastly ignoring the signs informing them that dogs are forbidden from the beach in the summer.

Once it had turned the tide came in very quickly. In fact, it was such a high tide that when I swam out past the rocks and into the open stretch, I found myself in a current that tried to carry me into Ploumanac'h and had to swim hard to escape it. 

A salutary lesson not to underestimate the strength of the sea.

The day ended with blue skies, a bright blue sea, and a tiny strip of sand that was all that remained of the beach when the tide had reached its maximum height.

I swam several times before sitting on the sand to simply stare at that view. It never gets old. 

  And then, with the sun starting to sink in the sky behind me, I drove home salty, sandy and smiling.