Wandering round Josselin and hunting for megaliths on the Morbihan coast

The day before, we had explored the south of Rennes by foot and found it pretty dreary, so we decided to rent a car and explore Brittany.  Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?

The car hire firm suggested by the hotel had left a sign on the door that they were away for 15 minutes and they never came back, so we went further afield and found two car hire firms - both closed.  We went to the car hire firms near the station and after listening politely, two declared they had no cars left.  That's when it clicked that it was holiday time in France.  Everyone wanted a car.  I made Bob stand in line and wait and wait until we finally got a young man at one of the remaining car firms who spoke the fastest French I have ever come across.  We managed to communicate after I made him repeat everything two or three times, and we indicated that we would be happy to rent any small car.  In the middle of this painfully slow communication, an older man became free and between our weak French and his weak English, we got a car - a tiny Fiat 500 which had the sound and the speed of a lawn mower with a severe lung infection.  By now, the morning was nearly over.

Bob bravely offered to do all the driving and we set off - me yelling "keep to the right" every two seconds - only to find that the GPS was outdated and went silent from time to time to consider its navel, I presume.  In spite of this, we managed to make it out of town with no major problems and get on to the freeway, where we chugged along in the slow lane, while everyone else shot past.  The country side is really beautiful: rolling hills, farms with young corn and harvested hay, broken with remnants of forest.  Did you know that the French consider that King Arthur received the sword Excalibur, in the Foret de Paimpont (otherwise known as Broceliande), south west of Rennes?  I also think Sleeping Beauty was probably in the same forest because it is really impenetrable when it gets thick.

We arrived at Josselin in time for lunch, then explored by foot this beautiful village, which is just festooned with flowers.

First stop was the Basilique Notre Dame de Roncier

which has beautiful carving outside,

stunning stained glass windows on the inside

and if you are brave and healthy enough to climb the 138 steps in the tower, incredible views of the village and countryside.

One of the views is of the Chateau de Josselin, still the home of  the fourteenth Duke of Rohan, but open for public tours.

We didn't take a tour, but instead, viewed it from the river below:

 

Then, we sauntered around taking in the sheer prettiness of the village:

We spent far too long in the village and took off next for the Morbihan coast, which has one of the best collections of megaliths in the world.  We saw the first sign and hopped out of the car and into the forest, following what we thought was the trail to it.  I was neurotically watching for nettles because I had sandals on, but managed to avoid being stung.  We went on and on and on

- and ended up in some-one's back yard, surprising a little girl watering the garden.  Back through the forest and into the car, we saw another sign, and this time we found the megalith.  It was the stunning and very atmospheric, Menhir de  Kermarquer.  Made my day!

Looking for more, we realised that a) we needed a better guide book and b) we needed a map, so we headed to the nearest tourist bureau in Plouharnel, where a nice lady told us that we were too late for a tour of the 1099 stones of the Alignements de Kermalo, but showed us where to find some other megaliths.

I got my first view of dolmens at the Dolmens de Rondossec which contains three parallel  graves.  I really wish I could go back in time and understand the rituals associated with the building of these incredible chambers.

Then, we visited the avenue of menhirs just outside of the little holiday village of St. Barbe, where everyone was out of their bicycles, testing Bob's driving ability.

Again one wonders, why the avenue of stones and what is the meaning of the 4 stones at the end?  Why do some stones appear to be ridged at the top?

The next stop was the Dolmen de Crucuno - very different again.  Those Neolithic peoples were absolutely incredible.

We decided to walk up the country lane that ran beside this structure and find Le Quadrilatere.  It took longer than we thought, but gave us the chance to examine the hedgerows - finches and one tiny little lizard, but very little else moving.  The wildflowers were lovely.  We found the  circle of standing stones in a field and wandered around them, once again, seeking answers to their existence.  I think I could spend another week just looking for megaliths.  They really intrigue me.