The Forest of la Coubre (french: forêt de la Coubre) is a large forest in the region of

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

, near the city of

Royan Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; oc, Roian) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are known as ''Royannais'' and ''Royannaises''. Capi ...

. Its area is roughly 7916 hectares,ZNIEFF 540004571 - Forêt de la Coubre
/ref> making it the third largest '' forêt domaniale'' (French State's inalienable domaine) of the north of the region, behind forest of la Double and the forest d'Horte. Around its remaining perimeter, it contains or is adjacent to numerous communes including La Tremblade,

Les Mathes Les Mathes () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. The commune includes the beach resort La Palmyre, and the Palmyre Zoo. Population Gallery Image:Les mathes Eglise.jp ...

, Arvert, Étaules, Saint-Augustin and

Saint-Palais-sur-Mer Saint-Palais-sur-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Palais on Sea'') is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. Population Gallery Image:Ancienne église Saint Pallais.jpg Image:St Palais7.jpg Image:Sentier à Saint-Pala ...

. It borders the

atlantic ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, the

Gironde estuary The Gironde estuary ( , US usually ; french: estuaire de la Gironde, ; oc, estuari de aGironda, ) is a navigable estuary (though often referred to as a river) in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Gar ...

and the forest of the Combots d'Ansoine. The forest of la Coubre is composed mostly of

maritime pine ''Pinus pinaster'', the maritime pine or cluster pine, is a pine native to the south Atlantic Europe region and parts of the western Mediterranean. It is a hard, fast growing pine bearing small seeds with large wings. Description ''Pinus pinast ...

. This pine plantation was started in the 19th century by Médéric de Vasselot de Régné in the Pointe de la Coubre area, to halt erosion. The

EuroVelo ''EuroVelo'' is a network of currently 17 long-distance cycling routes criss-crossing Europe, in various stages of completion. When completed, the EuroVelo network's total length will almost be . more than were in place. EuroVelo is a project of ...

bicycle route (Atlantic Coast route) crosses the forest.

References

Further reading