Page 414 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

EXPERIENCE Poitou and Aquitaine

l
and Landes. The soil here is
of pine trees ultimately wiped
La Côte d’Argent two départements of Gironde of the Landes. The planting
uniformly sandy. Until the mid-
out the migrant shepherds
19th century the whole region and their flocks. Today the
! B5 ⌂ Gironde, Landes became a swamp in winter, inner Landes is still very
k Bordeaux, Biarritz
£ Soulac-sur-Mer, Arcachon, because of a layer of tufa underpopu lated, but wealthy
Labenne, Dax @ Lacanau, (porous rock) just under the from its pinewood and pine
Arcachon, Mimizan surface which retained water derivatives. The coastal strip
also has a large influx of
from the brackish lakes. Any
n Lacanau, 05 56 03 21 01;
Mimizan-Plag, 05 58 09 11 settlement or agriculture close holidaymakers each year.
20; Capbreton, 05 58 72 12 11 to the sea was impossible In 1970, part of the forest
due to the constantly shifting was made into a nature park.
The stretch of coast between dunes. Further more, the At Marquèze, in the Ecomusée
Pointe de Grave on the Gironde mouth of the Adour river kept Marquèze, a typical 19th-
estuary and Bayonne (p458) is moving from Capbreton to century airial (clearing) has
called La Côte d’Argent – the Vieux-Boucau and back, a been restored. It commem-
Silver Coast. It is virtually one distance of 32 km (20 miles). orates the vanished world
vast beach of shifting sand The Adour was fixed near of Les Landes before the
dunes. Tree -planting has now Bayonne by a canal in the draining of the marshes,
slowed down their progress. 16th century. This was the when shepherds still used
The coast is dotted with start of the slow conquest stilts to get about. There are a
seaside resorts renowned for
surfing, such as Soulac-sur-
Mer in the north, followed by LANDES FOREST
the big Lacanau-Océan and The vast, totally artificial
Mimizan-Plage. Down in the 19th-century forest of Les
south is Hossegor, with its Landes was an ambitious
salty lake, and Capbreton. project to make use of an
area of sand and marshes.
Maritime pines and
30 grasses were planted to
Les Landes anchor the coastal dunes,
and inland dunes were
! C6 ⌂ Gironde, Landes stabilized with a mixture
k Bordeaux, Biarritz of pines, reeds, and broom.
£ Morcenx, Dax, Mont- In 1855, the land was
de-Marsan @ Mont-de- drained. It is now covered
Marsan n Mont-de-Marsan; with tall pine groves and
www.tourismelandes.com undergrowth, preserving
a delicate ecological
Almost entirely covered by balance, and is a popular
an immense pine forest, the place for cycling.
Landes area extends over the
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