Cairn de Barnenez megalithic burial site

Tuesday – Like yesterday, alarm at 07:45 followed by breakfast prepared by Barbara in the kitchen. We quickly packed our bags into the car as light snow continued falling and Wal was concerned about driving on snowy roads. Temperatures today between minus two and plus two. It was truly cold!! We’d agreed to meet Isabelle and Abdel at the “Cairn de Barnenez” at 11:00. What an ancient place with a history going back 6000 years. It was well worth the visit if you are a history buff. There were only four other visitors at the site which meant that we could wander about quietly with no interruptions. Being in two cars today, we arranged to meet outside the cathedral in “Saint-Pol-de-Leon”. The snow continued falling lightly and as lunchtime was near, we decided to stop for a hot meal first. Sylvie and I had “potée bretonne”, a mix of vegetable, pork, speck and sausage. Enjoyable and very satisfying. Next visit the cathedral, the Tourist Office, and then a walk through the historical part of town. We saw two medieval houses where builders were replacing the dirt floors with a concrete slab, a big job. At 17:30 we parted company and went to our accommodation. “Les Roses” a gite. Nice and homely but no kitchen for us. We are in Santec, four and a half kilometers from Saint-Pol-de-Leon. Today we noted lots of major damage to the bush with some massive ancient trees down following the 170km per hour winds during the previous November.

The Cairn of Barnenez is a Neolithic monument located near Plouezoc'h, on the Kernéléhen peninsula in northern Finistère, Brittany. It dates to the early Neolithic, around 4000 BC. Along with the Tumulus of Bougon and Locmariaquer megaliths, also located in West France, it is one of the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe and one of the oldest man-made structures in the world It is also remarkable for the presence of megalithic art. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the first phase of the monument was erected between 4850 and 4250 BC, and the second phase between 4450 and 4000 BC. Pottery found in and around the monument indicates that it underwent a period of reuse in the Bronze Age, in the 3rd millennium BC.Read more