Chapter 16teen: Brittany - Carnac Cold Front

Brittany: Cold Front over Carnac

Carnac is situated on the south coast of Brittany, on the Gulf of Morbihan. On April 26, cold moist Atlantic air collided with the much warmer atmosphere over a large stretch of France's western landmass. When we drove into the city, Carnac was in the middle of a storm front. 

All afternoon, big puffy clouds were building,

 larger and larger, higher and higher, fluffier and fluffier.  

The cumulous clouds in the photo below, an hour or so after the shot was taken, became cumulo nimbus with black hammerhead tops, the bane of aircraft pilots who would alter course to avoid being torn apart in the fierce winds in the dense anvil-shaped blackness.

The sky was dramatic during our few days in Brittany. Rainstorms came and went, usually off in the distance. We were spared again. 

In the photo above, the ground is jagged with pre-historic standing stones, some of which are about three times the height of a tall person.

Carnac may have Europe's largest concentrations of neolithic standing stones, called megaliths, or menhirs. They date back over three millennia.

We came upon a large field of these mysterious formations on our way into town. The ancient stones pop up all around the city and in the outlying areas.

In the Carnac forest on the way to our B&B, we passed by the Mane-Kerioned Dolmens - a burial site of huge stacked stones reported to have been erected circa 3,500 BC.

In 1972 we visited Stonehenge, and at that time we could walk right up and touch the rock, wander around the mysterious structure, and feel the vibes of the Druids. It has long since been fenced off. But not here. Not yet, anyway.

I dropped Joanne off at our digs and returned to explore the dolmens on my own. 




I spent too long in the caverns, stooped over, knuckled fists balancing me on the rough earthen floor, low-browed and squinting for light, grunting from the sore back and creaking knees. 

I thought I was alone.


On exiting the tomb with a load groan, I was met with the screams and wide eyes of two small children who were looking into the black hole, at a safe distance, waiting for the caveman. 

I did not know they were there. They startled me, and I yelled. They ran like hell to their parents. 

When the parents saw that the caveman was wearing jeans, T-shirt, and Nikes, with a camera hanging from his neck, they  laughed at their children.

I walked over to them with a smile on my face and a bump on my head from hitting it on the keystone when I heard the screams.

I wanted to reassure the kids that I was not the bogeyman, but my version of French probably scared them just as much. 

The next day I went to church - not to confess my sins, but to photograph the unusual steeple of the 17th C St. Cornely Church. 

Saint Cornely - protector of horned animals

The granite baldaquin, in the shape of a crown - unique in Brittany - surmounts the porch on the north side of the church.


Carnac is really much more than stone. It is a place for all kinds of R&R.

The beaches are sandy and clean, the water, clear and cold. The place is alive with tourists in the summer, seeking sunshine on the seaside, smothering the sounds of surf and seabirds with their hubbub and havoc, their water sports and their wailing kids.

Blogs can be dangerous places where poor language and opinions get posted.

I might have to come back to edit this piece out.

Dinner Recommendation: La Brigantine on Rue Coloray.

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