The Magical Past

 

Josselin in the morning, a quiet, peaceful place.

I can almost see the past come alive looking down this street.

So just what was Linda doing standing in front of this real estate office? The sign on the door said they speak English. Our Internet was out again and we needed to call our landlord. No problem using their phone, and who knows, maybe someday we will be in one of these to actually look at properties. The problem is that Linda will have to first learn to speak French, otherwise it will be taking place in Germany.

Flowers abound in this area of France.

So does high water. I am pointing to the water level in 2001. The one for 1995 is just below it. The towpath in front of our gite is several feet lower than the level of this road. The bottom floor of our gite is the entrance with steps leading up to the bedroom on the second floor. The kitchen and living room are on the top floor. Wonder if flooding played a part in this reverse layout?

Linda loves the hydrangeas that seem to grow everywhere. Interesting that we very seldom see the blue and pink blooms that are so common in the States.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Josselin. Twenty-five minutes away it was raining. We were on the hunt for a site that not only had a number of menhir, it also had a display of how it is thought they were erected.

A happy Linda. Oh, she liked the stones for sure, but what really made her happy was getting to use her raincoat. She has packed it now for two and a half months but has never gotten to use it. If things like this make us happy maybe we have been traveling for too long.

Showing how the dolman relates to the tumulus. Linda was still a happy girl, the rain proving to be no hindrance to her learning more about megaliths.

It’s as if I could close my eyes, travel back in time some 6000 years and visualize someone emerging from this reconstructed building who would soon be working on building a dolman.

If Linda was so driven that she stood out in the rain to take photos of how the menhir were raised in place, I can at least post one of them.

I know exactly what she was thinking: “Rain, what’s a little rain, there’s a dolman out there somewhere and I am going to find it.” Sorry to report that we never did find it, but there is always the next one.

I had to laugh at this photo. Linda had her attention focused the map on the Tab which showed the location of several megaliths in the area. Following her directions, I drove down a road with the trees forming a long narrow tunnel. Eventually she looked up, got her camera out and took a photo. The laugh was because by the time she looked up we were no longer in a tunnel of trees.

Merlin, he of the magic, this is reputed to be the site of his grave. Several centuries ago the landowner of this property virtually destroyed the grave searching for what was believed to be a treasure. Of course Merlin is said to have buried in other locations as well. Mythical man, mythical grave, so what, it was great being there.

There is reported to be fairies about in the area, if you believe in them that is, and in which case it is said you can see them floating above Merlin’s tomb.  Of course it has to be a myth, after all, fairies don’t exist. Or do they?

Our last meal in Brittany. How could it have been anything but galettes. Something tells me we are not going to find buckwheat crepes in our local HEB supermarket.

Goodnight from Brittany. In the morning we leave for England.