We’ll tell you how to visit this curious place in Brittany, France called Menhir du Champ Dolent, let’s discover its most curious legends!
The region of Brittany in France has very good food, very beautiful landscapes and a somewhat capricious climate. Something that also abounds in the region are mysteries and legends. For example, we have the Broceliande forest and the Wizard Merlin. In this article, we want to present a Menhir, one of the many mysterious stones surrounded by legends that exist in the region. The one we will see here is the so-called “Menhir du Champ Dolent”.
What is a menhir?
The word “Menhir” comes from the Breton language, it means “long stone”. A menhir is, then, a monolith, whether carved or rough stone, which was intended to serve as a reference. Or at least this is one of the theories about the use of these huge stones.
Get your flight to France at the best price
How to get to the Menhir du Champ Dolent?
This field is located on the outskirts of the village called “Dol-de-Bretagne“. When coming from the freeway, we can see the well-announced exit:
Once we get closer, we will see the “Menhir du Champ Dolent” sign:
The legends of the Menhir du Champ Dolent
“The Satanic Stone” version
From the top of the mountain, Satan notices that Saint Samson was building a cathedral. He got so mad that he grabs a rock and throws it at the building. In doing so, he hits one of the towers before landing on the field that would become “Camp Dolent”.
“The Two Brothers” version
A long time ago, two brothers fought fiercely in this field. Blood spurted out in spurts. The sky, horrified by so much brotherly hatred, caused the enormous stone to sprout from the earth to separate them.
The doomsday gauge
It is said that every time a person dies, the menhir sinks little by little into the earth, almost imperceptibly. And it is said that when the time comes when the menhir will have completely sunk, then the world will come to an end.
Visiting the huge stone
In addition to the legends, we also have a panel where they explain a little about how the huge stone could have been brought here: it was transported from a granite field, located 4 km away from this place. Taking into account that the stone weighs 120 tons, the effort is colossal. It’s also 9.30 meters high.
It is very curious to find this huge stone among the green fields. It appears there, practically in the middle of nowhere. We were lucky, and we arrived at a time when no one was there, this gave the place more magic and even makes the legends sound more real.
By taking a photo right next to the menhir, I was able to see how huge it is. The visit is quite short, since here there is only one stone to see, but there are other menhir sites in the region that have more than one stone in the field wow a field full of several stones just like this one, I will come back to see that.
The place has small tables, so visitors could even bring food and thus enjoy more the view of this curious menhir… who knows? If we stay for a longer time, we may be able to check if the menhir sinks into the ground.
Some of the links in this article include affiliate links. This means that if you buy a product listed here by following these links, we'll receive a commission. The use of this link does not increase the final price for you and thus helps us to keep our blog alive.
