About 20 minutes from Auray is the town of Carnac which is on the coast. The homes here are beautiful and large. The beachfront neighborhoods reminded me of the streets around Goose Rocks. The primary difference is the buildings are stucco or stone and not wood like we have in America.
I drove to this little town to view the prehistoric standing stones that span across several acres. Sophie and I parked near one end of the protected area and walked a couple of miles to the other end.. Essentially it is Stonehenge times a thousand. Some of the stones are not as big as those in Stonehenge but the amount of stones and shear area covered is significantly greater that its English counter part. These stones spread out through linked pastures and the stones ran in precise parallel lines. Hard to imagine anyone moving stones of this size and what the purpose was.
The French government has now fenced off most of the stones to protect them but it is free to walk along the well groomed trails within the pastures. The whole area feels a little mythical. There is a sense of magic about the way these formations lay out across the land. It occurred to me that I may find myself transported back through time. so I put on my lipstick just in case. I couldn’t let Jamie be disappointed.
Sophie was less impressed having already walked/ran with her mom for seven miles along the river in Auray. It is truly remarkable how far and fast this little dog can go. I had told her that we were going to visit the beach in the afternoon and I think she was a bit crestfallen when we first got out of the car to take in the standing stones. After all, she was stuck on a leash and there were no fishy smells to rub herself in.
Recognizing her disappointment, we climbed back in the car and drove to the ocean. Imagine our horror when we saw the sign that dogs were allowed on the beach here. Not to worry,.mom googled “dog friendly beaches” and found one 15 minutes up the coast. We arrived at Plage de Mané Guen to find an enormous beach at low tide. Sophie was able to chase and bark at a man with an acrobatic kite, She rolled around in some stinky seaweed and even found some seagull carcass to munch on, She definitely got her second wind. I found no sea glass but some of the greatest shells! Massive whole scallop shells and beautiful ribbed mollusks. We left an hour later with sand all over us and my pockets full of treasure.
The distance we covered really caught up with Sophie back at the hotel. She hesitated initially to climb the stairs to our room and was quick to sprawl out on a pillow. She was one tired and very happy dog.
