Locmariaquer

 

This day started out with a tour of the medieval walled city of Vannes, where we would spend 3 nights.  We were now on the Atlantic side of Brittany.  

After lunch in the quaint town of Locmariaquer, it was off to visit a very important megalithic site.  This is the third place on the trip where my pendulum swung vigorously clockwise!

First we saw the Er-Grah tumulus passage grave constructed around 3300 B. C.  It has been restored, but no access is allowed.  I had a circular swing of the pendulum on the sidewalk there.

As we moved on to the next spot, the pendulum moved backwards and forwards, indicating that we were walking on an energetic pathway. 

Next we went to the broken Le Grand Menhir Brise.  This is fascinating!  This menhir was quarried from several kilometers away and erected here around 4700 B. C.  That makes it much older than Stonehenge.   Originally it weighed 330 tons and stood 67.6’ high, making it the largest megalith erected in Europe.    Around 4000 B. C. it fell over and broke into 4 pieces.  It is assumed that the cause was an earth quake.   Again, how did they move this massive stone, and who moved it?  No one knows.

It was originally at the beginning of a lineup of 18 other megaliths that decreased in size as they went to the opposite end.  It is also assumed that these megaliths were removed over the years to be used in other Paleolithic building projects.   The 18 locations where they once stood have been marked with stone circles as above and below.

So this is where I got the biggest swing of the pendulum.  Clearly I was standing on sacred ground.  The people who erected this menhir must have known that.  Going through the massive effort to quarry and move this stone was very important to them.  The Le Grand Menhir Brise was also covered with rock carvings which have eroded away with time.

Our last stop was the Table des Marchands dolmen.  This was certainly a burial site.  Built in 3300 B. C., it was restored to its original form in 1993.

A dolmen is created by standing up 2 or more megaliths opposite each other and then putting a capstone on top, thus creating a box like chamber.  They may or may not be covered by a mound of dirt.  The other explanation is that after the upright stones are placed, the whole thing is covered by dirt.  A large megalith is dragged up the resulting hill to a position on top of the parallel massive stones, and the earth is removed from underneath the cap stone creating a chamber.  I find it interesting that many of the restored ones have been covered with dirt and even a layer of small rocks on top of that, whereas many other dolmen are devoid of any soil covering.

Whereas I found a strong energy flow at the Grand Menhir Brise, there was no energy here.  That is common with other tombs that I checked on this trip.   What was interesting here was the fabulous rock art inside the dolmen.  This had to be created while the stones were still out in the light.  To make photography easier, lights were installed inside the dolmen.

We had the evening free back in Vannes, so I did some shopping and stopped at a local market for some snacks.  I even bought a few French macarons at a local bakery.  French macarons in France.  You can’t beat that!