Plage Casabianca - Cow beach

What a strange couple of days it has been. Yesterday, the temperature suddenly dropped 10 degrees and we had huge gusts of wind, but to be honest it was a bit of a welcome relief from the scorching heat of the rest of the week when it got up as high as 37 degrees - phew!



Within 24 hours, normal service had been resumed, and this morning was so calm and quiet, I was woken by the announcement on the ferry that had docked in the port a kilometre away! As I was up and about, I decided to pop down to ‘Cow beach’ as it’s known locally. The Plage de Casabianca, to give it the correct name, is a huge stretch of sand that runs alongside the Chemin des Plages from the town round towards Portigliolo. In the summer it’s a popular site with walkers and sunbathers, and in the winter a herd of cows take up residence, hence the name.



If you look at any map you will see that there is, in theory, an estuary with the Rizzanese river, but over the last couple of years the dunes have gradually shifted with the aid of the wind and the tides, and now the river comes to an end in a little lake surrounded by the beach.



The river water attracts a variety of birds and I spotted a baby seagull tucking into his breakfast. He was so cute that I decided to stalk him and try to get a photo, but as I got closer I remembered how bloomin’ big they are. I must have spooked him because he ran towards me with his wings flapping and I started having flashbacks of the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘The Birds’!



This particular stretch of beach does have strong currents, and the waves were really impressive which was surprising because when I looked out of the window this morning, the collection of coves between Propriano and Cappiciolo were as flat as millponds. Apart from the sound of the waves crashing against the sand, it was really calm and quiet, so I wandered along the sand (avoiding eye contact with any birds) before heading home.