The clocks were put back an hour at 3 a.m. today so we are now in Greenwich Mean Time again. We got up at about half-past eight and after Carol had prepared some sandwiches we set off, catching the ‘bus down the road and on the opposite side to the ‘King’s Head’ pub’.
The weather had broken down again and reverted to the usual leaden skies, rain and slight wind. The bus journey was quite long; through all the worst areas of Swinton and Mexborough. I would hate to live there – one perpetual slum.
We got off the ‘bus next to a large powerstation with three chimneys and two small cooling towers and after a fair walk along a road amid reclaimed slag heaps and canalways we reached the belt of trees which marked the reserve. Denaby Ings is quite small as sanctuaries go and consists of two smallish lakes separated by the road. The lakes were flanked by trees and bushes. On the lake’s shore were several wooden hides, in which we ate our sandwiches. The hides were quite large with room for around half-a-dozen to ten bird-watchers. There wasn’t much going on although there were plenty of birds around, mainly Blackheaded Gulls, Mallards and Coot. We did see a pair of Shoveller Ducks which, Robert said, are not all that common. We also walked ¼ of a mile along a superb bush-lined path.
We walked briskly back to the ‘bus stop after spending around an hour or so at the sanctuary and got back to Robert’s at about two. We had pork and Yorkshire pudding for tea later and Robert and I played dominoes until 4.40 when we had to go.
We very nearly missed the bus because Mum was busy kissing everybody goodbye. An uneventful journey later and we reached Easterby at 7.30 p.m. I was quite glad we were getting back early as Dennis Potter’s “Rain on the Roof” was on at ten starring Cheryl Campbell in quite a sexy part. After enjoying the play I came to bed at my usual late hour.
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