The Celtic World (Routledge Worlds)

• Celtic Seafaring and Transport -

Ushant

Bay of

Biscay

----. 36 metrl!S. (20 fathoms I

Figure 15.9 Map of cross-Channel trade routes. (Institute of Archaeology, Oxford.)

• Mid-Channel routes


• Western Brittany to south-west Britain and south-east Ireland

Mediterranean maritime trade routes were linked to these Channel crossings and
their associated coastal routes in one of three ways:

• Up the river Rhone, then portages to the upper reaches of the rivers Loire, Seine
  and Rhine.


• Up the river Aude, then a portage across the Carcassonne gap to the river
  Garonne and Gironde; thence via the coastal route to western Brittany.


• Through the strait at Gibraltar and then the Iberian coastal route to western
  Brittany. This Atlantic route seems to have been used by Mediterranean merchants
  in the late sixth century BC and also by Pytheas on his late fourth-century BC
  exploration of northern waters (Hawkes 1977, 1984; Murphy I977; McGrail
  I990b: 36). This would have been an arduous passage, especially outbound
  from the Mediterranean, with a strong eastward setting current in the Strait and
  generally foul winds and currents along the Iberian Atlantic seaboard.

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