This area of South-West France is actively being deforested and reforested. Some areas are clear-cut, with saplings of various ages, and others are being selectively cleared. Most of the reforestation is a monoculture pine, perhaps white pine. We saw many heavily-laden trucks carrying unprocessed wood, and several wood mills with large inventories of construction grade product.
When not in the forest area, huge farm fields were populated by long irrigation machines. Agriculture and forestry here are big business.
Mont-de-Marsan is a large scenic town, with the Midou and Douze rivers joining to form the Midouze flowing to the Atlantic. Tomorrow we cycle south again, for our second-last night in France before entering Spain. We will pass through Saint-Sever with its famous abbey, the starting point for many pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. Here’s our progress so far. Each icon is a planned accommodation, spaced about 65 kms apart.
And here’a short video showing a bit of the area we cycled through, and some footage in Mont-de-Marsan.
A few pics from today.
