At Leighton Moss RSPB Nature Reserve, they always have something or the other going on. During the months of spring and summer, they have a monthly program of familiarising bird lovers with listening to birdsongs. Well, they are using the word "songs" in a slightly loose way; actually, birds communicate with several different kinds of vocals that include the full-flavoured song, but also includes different kinds of bird calls such as the territory call, the alarm call, the no-reason call (which means we haven't yet figured out the reason) and the other inter-bird clucks and tweets that we know little about.
To attend this early morning program, I had to travel to the neighbourhood an evening earlier. I stayed at a YHA (Youth Hostel Association)-affiliated private place called the Arnside Independent Hostel. Located on Red Hills road uphill of the Kent river, this place offered a lot of bells and whistles for the room, which, alas, was terrible. I paid £47 for a night's stay which is a check-in after 17:30 and a check-out at 10:00 the next morning. The room was about 50 sq. feet of carpet space with an attached shower (but no toilet) and a double bunk bed. It was not only too small but located beside a busy corridor that links their sitting room and restaurant to each other.
In the restaurant, I had a dinner of lamb tagine with rice. The lady cook informed me that a tagine is a Moroccan preparation that is made in the oven. The lamb is added to a gravy made from onions, spices and cooking oil. It sounded much like the way Indians and other south Asians cook their food. It tasted nice too!
After dinner, I went for a stroll down to the Kent river and a beach alongside it. Well, strictly speaking, it is not a beach but a river bank, but it had plenty of sand on it. The walk down to the river bank was quaint. It was a pedestrian footpath that plunged down 100 feet over a distance of about 300m or so. Down at the bank, there were a few people, some with kids. Others were simply going somewhere along the thin cemented pathway that bordered and ran parallel to the bank. It showed directions to Silverdale (the neighbouring city that actually has the Leighton Moss reserve), the town centre, the church, the market and the Arnside railway station!
I took in the fresh air, clicked a few pictures, and returned to the hostel to spend the night. I did sit for a while outside the hotel in the bracing night on one of the picnic tables laid out here. Thereafter, with nothing else to do, I even went to the sitting room to sit by the fireplace and read a few pages from a book. There were others in the room, and I joined them for a bit to discuss matters related to travelling as a tourist in the South Lake district (the area to which Arnside and Silverdale belong). In fact, I learned that the Arnside-Silverdale area is one of UK's AONBs (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
In any case, I woke up the next morning (Sunday, Easter) to travel by a private taxi that I had hired by telephone a few days earlier to Leighton Moss. The driver, a lady by the name of Mrs Jane, told me that she and her husband ran this taxi service. She charged me £10 to take me a distance of about 2.5 miles. However, I am not complaining since I had no other alternative but to hire a cab.
Will write about the actual program in my next post.
Please note: text in red are links. Click on them for more information.
To attend this early morning program, I had to travel to the neighbourhood an evening earlier. I stayed at a YHA (Youth Hostel Association)-affiliated private place called the Arnside Independent Hostel. Located on Red Hills road uphill of the Kent river, this place offered a lot of bells and whistles for the room, which, alas, was terrible. I paid £47 for a night's stay which is a check-in after 17:30 and a check-out at 10:00 the next morning. The room was about 50 sq. feet of carpet space with an attached shower (but no toilet) and a double bunk bed. It was not only too small but located beside a busy corridor that links their sitting room and restaurant to each other.
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| Arnside Independent Hostel and Study Centre |
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| Lovely view of the Kent river from the picnic area of the hostel |
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| Their resident cat |
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| The footpath that climbs down to the bank of the Kent river |
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| A multi-site arrow pointer at the bank |
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| View of the Kent river and the far bank |
In the restaurant, I had a dinner of lamb tagine with rice. The lady cook informed me that a tagine is a Moroccan preparation that is made in the oven. The lamb is added to a gravy made from onions, spices and cooking oil. It sounded much like the way Indians and other south Asians cook their food. It tasted nice too!
After dinner, I went for a stroll down to the Kent river and a beach alongside it. Well, strictly speaking, it is not a beach but a river bank, but it had plenty of sand on it. The walk down to the river bank was quaint. It was a pedestrian footpath that plunged down 100 feet over a distance of about 300m or so. Down at the bank, there were a few people, some with kids. Others were simply going somewhere along the thin cemented pathway that bordered and ran parallel to the bank. It showed directions to Silverdale (the neighbouring city that actually has the Leighton Moss reserve), the town centre, the church, the market and the Arnside railway station!
I took in the fresh air, clicked a few pictures, and returned to the hostel to spend the night. I did sit for a while outside the hotel in the bracing night on one of the picnic tables laid out here. Thereafter, with nothing else to do, I even went to the sitting room to sit by the fireplace and read a few pages from a book. There were others in the room, and I joined them for a bit to discuss matters related to travelling as a tourist in the South Lake district (the area to which Arnside and Silverdale belong). In fact, I learned that the Arnside-Silverdale area is one of UK's AONBs (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
In any case, I woke up the next morning (Sunday, Easter) to travel by a private taxi that I had hired by telephone a few days earlier to Leighton Moss. The driver, a lady by the name of Mrs Jane, told me that she and her husband ran this taxi service. She charged me £10 to take me a distance of about 2.5 miles. However, I am not complaining since I had no other alternative but to hire a cab.
Will write about the actual program in my next post.
Please note: text in red are links. Click on them for more information.
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