DOLMAN HUNTING

The dolman at Roche Vernaize, outside of Les Trois Moutiers


Tertre des fées, a kind of fairy ring


I went dolman hunting by myself. I had seen on the map a group of four dolman in close proximity to each other on the road out of Les Trois Moutiers. I decided that this would be a good place to start searching since it seemed on the map that they were all close together and in clearly marked villages.

I drove out to Les Trois Moutiers (I think they need a catchier name – something like Moutiersville) and followed a smaller road towards Bernazay, the first dolman on my list. The car was very temperamental. Several times it stopped but I was able to get it going again. I am starting to master the choke.

Bernazay was barely a handful of houses. There were no signs in the village pointing the way to the dolman. As I drove back along the road I saw a small wooden sign for “Sentier des dolmans” that pointed the way down a tractor track through the fields. I parked the car and started walking. I saw another sign that pointed the way down a better trail through the woods. I followed that trail for about 2 kms but never found the dolman. I walked back to the car and headed for the next one on the list, Roche Vernaize.

Roche Vernaize was a small village, too but at least there were street signs. One of the street signs was for the “Impasse de Dolman” so I knew I was in the right place. I parked the car at the entrance to the woods and started walking. I walked for about a kilometer without finding any signs so I was a little discouraged. I decided to walk back to the car. Along the way I saw a pile of rocks in the woods that I hadn’t noticed before. I went to investigate and sure enough this was the dolman.
As I drove back to Les Trois Moutiers I saw another little wooden sign at the side of the road. I stopped to have a look. It pointed the way to “Tertre des fées”. I didn’t know what a tertre was but I did know that fées were fairies. I guessed (correctly as it turned out) that a “tertre des fées” was something like what we would call a fairy fort in Ireland. I went to have a look.
I found a small clearing in the woods that was ringed by large flat boulders forming a circular court area that was probably used for religious ceremonies. The diameter of the court was about 10 metres.


Dolman walks