\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \qj\li105\ri195 \f1 \b The Loire estuary at Saint-Nazaire\par
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\b0 The Loire, the longest river in France, stretching for 1012 km (629 mls
). Rising in the Massif Central, it crosses France from east to west in a great loop, as if it were heading first for the ╬le-de-France and then resolutely turning back toward the Atlantic. Growing slow and majestic, it flows past castles and fine statel
y homes in Anjou and Touraine, and then becomes less aristocratic from \b \ATXul1024 \cf4 \ATXht256 Nantes\b0 \ATXul0 \cf0 \ATXht0 to Saint-Nazaire. Its banks turn into harbor wharfs and there are navy yards located at its mouth, where the famous \i ôCh
antiers de l'Atlantiqueö\i0 (the celebrated liner \i Normandie\i0 was built here) continue a long tradition, though not without difficulties. Downstream from Nantes and only a few kilometers from the sea, one of the longest bridges in Europe provides a
