Eyre (river)

This article is about the river in France. For the river in Australia, see Eyre River (Western Australia). For the river in New Zealand, see Eyre River, New Zealand.

Eyre

Native name	L'Eyre (f)
Country	France
Basin
Main source	Sabres, Landes 82 m (269 ft)
River mouth	Arcachon Bay 44°39′52″N 1°1′23″W / 44.66444°N 1.02306°W / 44.66444; -1.02306Coordinates: 44°39′52″N 1°1′23″W / 44.66444°N 1.02306°W / 44.66444; -1.02306
Basin size	1,700 km² (660 sq mi)
Physical characteristics
Length	118 km (73 mi)
Discharge	Average rate: 18.8 m³/s (660 cu ft/s)

The Eyre is a coastal river that flows through the Moors of Gascony, in Aquitaine, Southwest France.

The river is generally presented as the confluence of:

the Grande Leyre (Large Leyre), its principal course, upstream from Moustey,
the Petite Leyre (Small Leyre), its main tributary.

Note that Leyre is a variant of the name Eyre, affected by an agglutination of the Romance article.

Geography

The Eyre in the Moors of Gascony

The Eyre in Mios.

The basin of the Eyre in included in the parc régional des Landes de Gascogne (National Park of the Moors of Gascony).

The river takes form in the Plantiet Marsh, in Grande Lande near Sabres, Landes.

It flows north into the Bassin d'Arcachon, a large bay on the Atlantic coast, in the Pays de Buch, Gironde. Its delta of 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) contains the Le Teich ornithological park.

The Eyre flows through a preserved environment. Its banks are bordered by a broad-leaved forest. Branches join over the river, forming a gallery forest, that contrasts with the Landes forest, planted with maritime pines.

Départements and towns

The Eyre flows through the following départements and towns:

Landes: Pissos
Gironde: Belin-Béliet, Salles, Mios, Le Teich

Tributaries

The main tributary of the Eyre is the Petite-Leyre. It rises between Luxey and Retjons, in Landes, and flows northwest to join the Grande Leyre downstream from Pissos.

(R) Petite Leyre

N.B. : (R) = right tributary; (L) = left tributary

Historical anecdote

During the creation of French départements in 1790, it has been suggested to create a large département matching with the natural region of Moors of Gascony, that is the today Landes forest (by the time not yet planted). The name of this département would have been the Eyre.

Name

Eyre is an Aquitanian hydronym. It can be found in names as Eyres-Moncube, Landes, or the craste de l'Eyron (Eyron ditch) in Lacanau, Gironde.

Activities

Canoeing (canoes rentals)

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.