AN ENJOYABLE DAY AT THE COUNTRYSIDE.. A MEGALITH VISIT THROWN IN, A NICE DINNER AND SOME NEW FRIENDS..

Brittany much like Wales with which it shares some pre historic connections is a motoring country. Quiberon is a popular spot for French visitors and at this time of the year Aug 13/14 it is heavily visited, as you can see cars coming in the other direction as we were leaving Quiberon one early afternoon.

The Gulf of Morbihan is strewn with hundreds of islands and our destination was the port of Larmor Baden.

this area is also famous for strong tides and powerful currents.

The Ile Berder is an island at low tide and of course during high tide, you would need help to get back to the mainland if you were a little late in coming back from your trek.

There is a 6 hour range when you can walk over to the island which has an old church and also a lovely path to walk. A walk around the island takes about one hour.

Tidal range is the height difference between high tide and low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and Sun and the rotation of Earth. Tidal range is not constant but changes depending on the locations of the Moon and Sun.

The most extreme tidal range occurs during spring tides, when the gravitational forces of both the Moon and Sun are aligned (syzygy), reinforcing each other in the same direction (new moon) or in opposite directions (full moon). During neap tides, when the Moon and Sun's gravitational force vectors act in quadrature (making a right angle to the Earth's orbit), the difference between high and low tides is smaller. Neap tides occur during the first and last quarters of the Moon's phases. The largest annual tidal range can be expected around the time of the equinox if it coincides with a spring tide.

I had been lucky to travel a fair bit around Australia and on a visit to Derby in Northwestern Australia, I was taken to an area which had the largest tide in Australia and one of the largest tidal range in the world. Stories are told of the naive adventures who walk out towards the sea without realizing that within minutes they would be engulfed by the raging sea, if you chose the wrong time of the day.

the above picture of King Sound near Derby, North West of Western Australia.

Humans have lived here for millenia, and we have at least some evidence (actually lots of archeological evidence under the water) of their habitat. Our destination today was a megalith which is estimated to be 6000 years old, contemporary of the largest collection of dolmen and menhirs at Carnac, also in this region.

The Gulf of Morbihan is an interesting geological phenomenon of the forces of the ocean.

The geological origin of the Morbihan Gulf goes back to the Quaternary period, as a result of glaciation cycles, when the rivers dug excessively deep estuary to reach the ocean had retreated further. During the thaw, the Gulf consisted of marshes whose bottom sagged and ocean eventually invade the basin.

The men who built these megaliths and thousands of other stone monuments much of which is under water now

This area which was by a river flowing into the ocean were surrounded by many other monuments. They cut the stones from an island nearby, must have brought those heavy stones by a raft to this site to install this grave of what appears to be those of powerful people.

The dinner was at a resto, very pleasant, called the White Sail. The young waitress had an uncanny resemblance to an UmonHon indian friend of mine..

I spent time talking to a man of the world, Scottish-Italian-SouthAfrican-Zambian-New Zealander-Belgian ? any more ? we had our fading colonial past in common as well as London and the Antipodes and the European capital. The table was lively and the meal pleasant.

It was truly a delightful day and the person who organized it did a superb job.

I was escaping the narrow mindedness that is choking USA and I will once again say this: 100 percent of the people living in that country is psychologically affected and it can be seen and felt in their behaviour towards fellow humans

Are we witnessing yet another empire setting into the horizon?

I had very negative feelings about Paris and France when I began traveling here in 2006, but I have noticed that my post-covid trips to France are welcoming, friendly and enjoyable.

Instead of children of Malian immigrants arrogantly saying, Pas de Anglais, now they say, I speek a lithle eenglish, and are actually helpful!

Driving back on this Sunday night, the streets were quiet and the journey back was quiet and pleasant.

Even though we could not enter the corridors of the megalith , many of the carvings were reminiscent of other aboriginal people, of the Peruvian Andes and also of the Australian North .

Was shown a picture of a whale from inside the cave which seemed astonishingly similar to what one would see in an aboriginal painting from Australia.

These prove the antiquity of the various indigenous civilizations. The builders of these monuments are gone, major proportion of their monuments swallowed up the ocean, the other people to arrive in what is now known as Bretagne was at least 4500 years later...would be nice to read the genetic make up of the local people.

Thank you for a nice day.