Ménez Hom, la montagne du roi Marc'h

Plomodiern

The Ménez Hom is no more than a ridge of sandstone and moorland, but it is the last high ground before the sea, and from the summit one sees the Brest roadstead, the bay of Douarnenez and the Monts d'Arrée. In the 19^th century, Bachelot de la Pylaie counted twenty-one 'Celtic monuments' here, in reality prehistoric; Dr Vourc'h found eight of them again in 1935 on the southern slope, where a cromlech survives, and the northern slope bore hundreds of small burial mounds and several enclosures. Three kilometres from the summit, on the moor of Dinéault, a farmer unearthed in 1913 the bronze head of a helmeted goddess, then the body around 1928: the statue, 70 cm high and dated to the 1^st century, is in the Musée de Bretagne at Rennes, and René Sanquer and Donatien Laurent have proposed to recognise Brigit in it. Tradition relates that King Marc'h, the king with horse's ears, had the chapel of Sainte-Marie built and was buried on the other slope: his soul would remain in his tomb until the cairn, ar Bern-Mein, was high enough for him to see the bell tower from there; which is why everyone adds a stone to it. It is also reported that the pilgrims of Sainte-Anne-la-Palud climbed up on the eve of the pardon, spent the night on the summit and sang at daybreak, and that in the time of the Vikings a fire lit here answered the watch on Ouessant. For want of excavations, this hilltop sanctuary remains more guessed at than proven.

Wikipédia — Ménez Hom ↗

Getting there : From the Châteaulin–Crozon road, a few hundred metres after the hamlet of Sainte-Marie-du-Ménez-Hom, the D 83 climbs straight up to a car park a little below the summit, which is reached in a few minutes. The summit is bare and paths climb it on every side; a waymarked 19 km circuit goes round it in about five hours. Free access all year round; a free-flight site, with moorland grazed by sheep in the warmer months.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound