'La Baule' is a small town which boasts the longest sandy beach in Europe. They're not joking when they say it's long, either. It's 12km long. As the average human walks at about 4km an hour, it'd take you three hours to walk from one end to the other. For Horsham people, that's like walking into town from my house six times, and still having a kilometre to go. It's a seriously long beach.
This photo was taken from about halfway along the beach. There's the same distance the other side.
I stole this from Google, who very nicely sent up a plane to show just how long the beach is.
It wasn't the sunniest of days, or even the warmest, but it was nice to escape busy Nantes for an afternoon and sample some town-life.
The not-particularly-summery weather didn't stop my seaside spirit, however, and I cautiously went for a paddle in the sea. My feet went blue, but it was worth it! I also built a small sandcastle, but couldn't find a bucket and spade shop, so had to make do using just my hands. it restricted my multi-storey castle dreams somewhat, but was still fun.
Sandcastles aside, the architecture in La Baule is very different to that of Nantes. Every other building seems to have a turret perched on the roof, making each house look like a miniature castle. I had a look in the local estate agents, and the average selling-price for such a house seems to be about 750,000€. Mini-chateaux don't come cheaply!
One of my future houses.
Even the station was in a nice building!
I plan to return to La Baule late in April, when the temperature's nearer 25°c, the sun's sunnier and the sea is less foot-numbing. And next time, with a proper bucket and spade.
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