This is not the first time we have talked about an inland beach on this website, but the one we are going to talk about today deserves, without a doubt, a special mention. It is the beach of As Pontes, which has just been inaugurated in Galicia, right in the same place where years ago the largest opencast mine in Spain was located.
However, the municipality of As Pontes in A Coruña can now boast of its beautiful artificial lake that has its own shore available to its inhabitants. To achieve this “miracle”, it took the sandy area, which was ceded by Endesa to the Xunta this August. Undoubtedly, this is an innovation that will give a great boost to the locality.
One of the issues that most concerned the inhabitants was the water, which, however, complies with all the values established as compulsory by the Administration. Moreover, thanks to this project, this new environment will be rapidly colonised by fauna and aquatic birds.
The sandy area is 435 metres long and covers an area of 35,000 square metres. In addition, the part closest to the water is covered with sand. Access to the beach is pedestrianised and a strip of green grass has been laid around the beach, where dozens of trees have been planted, as well as benches, tables and litter bins. As an additional advantage, the average water temperature is 22 degrees Celsius, well above the 18 degrees Celsius usually found on Galician beaches.
This amazing beach is formed by about 100.000 tons of quarry washed sand. It began to take shape in 1999, two years after its closure, as part of a macro environmental project to restore the mining basin of As Pontes after half a century of brown lignite extraction to feed the four power stations of its thermal power station, which can be seen from the sand.