Entering the bay of Morbihan once again, we headed to a new location, La Trinité Sur Mer
We hired electric bikes and travelled inland to the Carnac Stones. Dating from around 4500 years BC the stones pre-date Stonehenge by about a millennium.
Built by Neolithic man the stones numbering just over a thousand are laid in 10 distinct columns and still pose a mystery as to their purpose. Astrological instruments and calendars have long been ruled out. One theory is that they resemble a Roman army preparing for battle as the larger stones are at one end and on top of a hill thereby representing centurions. If this is the case then this enormous and incredibly labour intensive construction is nothing more than a very unlikely piece of art. A temple has also been dismissed and although there are numerous burial chambers within the stones it is also not considered a major burial site. The latest theory is that it is something entwined with Geoglypholgy and it’s not the stones themselves but the gaps between them that academics need to decode their meaning – which still remains a mystery.
To us it was obvious what the stones represent but to tell the museum’s team would ruin the entire tourist industry, so we kept it to ourselves. Any case, we were wearing very silly coloured cycle helmets hats and we felt we wouldn’t be taken seriously.
Back on the bikes we wobbled down to the golden beaches of Carnac, munched on our baguettes and continued our grand tour of the coastline briefly stopping for a swim and an ice-cream.
As the first part of our 2022 adventure drew to a close, our final challenge was to once again negotiate the Arzal Barrage lock to enter the upper part of the River Vilaine. We had booked to leave LJ at Arzal for a week to make a fleeting return home.
24th July 2022
Trip Mileage 46 miles
Mileage Completed 1953 miles