We have learned much about Pre-history on this trip. France is lucky to have so many sites and museums where you can see the archaeological finds and learn about the amazing inhabitants of our world at this time. They were not the ignorant, non-speaking, part-animal, part-human I was taught about in school. These humans were not only great hunter-gatherers, capable of rational thought, who survived ice ages, but great artists producing the most amazing cave art. Not only did they make practical tools for every occasion, but also beautifully engraved them. They adorned themselves with handmade brooches, necklaces, bracelets and rings and it would appear they buried their dead with respect and of course they built stone monuments.
In Britain of course we have Stonehenge and if you have heard of this you would probably have heard of the stones at Carnac, but until you have actually seen them you cannot appreciate the scale and the sheer effort and planning that must have been involved.
We stayed at the small site Camping Kerabus, a stone’s throw (forgive the pun) from the Alignments of Carnac.
It was a lovely site part cabins and part emplacement (touring pitches). Large outfits might struggle to get into some of the pitches. The facilities were immaculate, as was the pool area. The owner was a lovely friendly lady and as always you could order your fresh bread daily.
Driving towards Carnac on the D761 (well it is currently the D761, it could well be any other number by next week, as the French do have a habit of re-numbering their roads for no apparent reason, as we have discovered) we came across Alignement de Kerzerho by the side of the road and enjoyed our picnic lunch by these quite magical megaliths
The Carnac Alignments are split into three:- Alignements du Menec, Alignements de Kermario and Alignements de Kerlescan, all in all nearly 3000 monoliths erected 6000 years ago. They have been examined and discussed by many eminent archaeologists including a Scottish traveller named James Miln, who during the 19th century, noted the exact location and detail of each megalith.
There is a Discovery Centre where we caught the small train, which was a good way to view all the megaliths, as it takes you from one end to the other. (Unfortunately you can no longer wander amongst the megaliths as a result of erosion and damage they have been fenced off). There are headsets on the train in many languages so you can hear the colourful history of the stones. Carnac itself has the Musee de Prehistoire, which holds over 6000 exhibits from the area and is a wonderful way to learn about the history of this incredible location. We also took an hour to explore Trinite-sur-Mer with its pretty church and numerous tourist shops.
www.museedecarnac.com
www.menhirs-carnac.fr
When we came across a sign for Dolmen de Crucuno, as we had no idea what a Dolman was, we decided to go and investigate what turned out to be a burial chamber. An intriguing monument that someone in the 1800’s decided to build their house up against! This was my favourite site as it seemed so perfectly built and rather cartoon like in its design.
Aside from the obvious megaliths, we had read that the Presqu’ile de Quiberon (another nearly island) was well worth a trip. The Cote Sauvage has a wonderful 14km long coastal road that, on the day we drove along it, lived up to its wind and wave lashed reputation. We enjoyed a coffee at a very popular restaurant for Moules et Frite, although neither of us eat shell fish, before the heavens opened. No amount of wind and rain could detract from the beauty of the drive however. On our return we stopped at Fort Penthievre, where there is a memorial for 54 French Resistance Fighters, the youngest only 17.
With our short stay in Carnac over, we took the direct route into Nantes (we plan to avoid motorways as much as we can) but on this occasion we decided that driving into a city it might be a more straightforward route to our next stop at City Camping Nantes.
France 4:- Riding a 12 metre high Mechanical Elephant
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