Carnac + Locmariaquer megaliths
the Alignements de Kerzerho
Outside Erdeven the main road goes straight through a major cluster of
megaliths, the "Alignements de Kerzerho". This was our first encounter
with megaliths "en masse", so this was quite dramatic. There weren't
many people around and it was peaceful wandering around the stones and
the houses built right next to them.
Approaching Carnac, we looked at staying in a chambre d'hote or
gite in Plouharnel, but eventually settled on the Hotel Hippocampe
(Seahorse), about half-way between Carnac and Plouharnel — we
could see the church spires of both from our window.
We drove into Carnac for dinner — crepes in the Creperie Marie.
Afterwards we drove around the beaches at Carnac Plage and went to look at
the Alignements de Menoc and Kermario, where there are several thousand
menhirs in rows. Dusk offered good atmospherics for appreciating this,
and we had the whole area to ourselves.
Monday 18th June
We packed up and went into Carnac for coffee and quiche in
a boulangerie. Then it was back to the big alignments, where the
Maison des Mégaliths was now open — we bought a book Standing
Stones.
from the view tower
An old windmill has been turned into a viewing tower, offering a nice
perspective on the rows of megaliths.
As well as the big alignments, there are scores of other megalithic
sites in the area around Carnac. We visited the Tumulus St Michel,
which offers views over the whole area, and the Tumulus Kercado.
Kercado tumulus
We barely touched on some of the megalithic sites we saw at Carnac,
and there are scores that we didn't see at all! Anyone interested in
megaliths could easily spend several days here.
We continued to Locmariaquer, where the biggest site has three major
megaliths conveniently together (and also easily fenced off, so there's
a 5 euro per person entry fee).
The "Grand Menhir Brisé" is a 20+ metre menhir that has fallen and broken
into four pieces. "La Table des Marchands" is a dolmen.
And the "Er-Grah tumulus" is a huge chambered tomb.
