Bartimaeus

On Tuesday, I got out to operate a swing bridge. I checked the road and saw nothing in either direction and went to the control panel. From there you could not see traffic. I quickly put the key in and activated the sequence. Just as the sirens started a large throaty vehicle engine approached. A tractor arrived with a huge load of straw bales. I felt a bit bad that it had arrived at the start of the slow sequence. I had even heard the rumble of its engine but as it hadn’t sounded like a car I thought it was some other motor and a tractor could just have been in a field, not the road. The driver didn’t look too disgruntled but he didn’t give me a cheery wave either. 

The obstacles had thinned out and we only had that one bridge and a lock to do. At the lock we met another boat and helped them through as the woman operating it was not experienced and said it was only her third day out. When it was our turn to go through, two cyclists stopped and were obviously keen to see it operating. I noticed they were speaking another language, but they came over to tell me they had never seen this before and wanted to see it. They shared they were from Brazil. I told them  we had been there and really enjoyed it. He asked if we had been to Rio. That is the most obvious destination but I said not Rio but listed the places we had been. They were surprised at the different places we had been. They said they hadn’t been to the Amazon. It is a very big country and they are from the south. I told them I did go to Foz d’Iguacu in the South. It was a delight to speak to them, and they helped me open the gate. That was no surprise, I remember Brazilians always being very keen to help. We never had to ask anyone for anything as someone would already have offered us whatever we could possibly be needing, before we ever asked.

That evening after we had moored up and gone for a walk, we saw a man holding his boat on a rope. In Brazilian style, Shane anticipated that this man looked experienced but yet seemed to be at a bit stuck as to what to do next, and so asked if we could help him by holding his rope and he was very pleased to get the offer. I held his rope. He explained he had just picked the boat up that day so he didn’t really know where all his tools were and they weren’t where he would find them handy. He got himself sorted and chatted away. Another really friendly chap. We talked about mooring in quiet spots and Shane quipped that he could hear a combine harvester, but hopefully that would not disturb us. That led to the man explaining that his job had been managing in a company that sold combine harvesters, and one of the branches had been in Edinburgh. He was another very friendly chap. He warned us his dog was not friendly, having been an outside working farm dog, not a pampered pooch, she was not used to petting. He waved to us each time he passed our window.

He was away in the morning. We were heading for Doncaster. I could see the tower of Doncaster Minster from a distance. It was too big to be a little village church, even though we could see no other buildings at all to get a sense of perspective. We got moored up at a gated jetty and had lunch. We saw a very wide boat coming towards us. It was a trip boat and I wondered if we should move forward slightly or grab their rope as they looked like they were coming in but unsure if they fitted. When I saw them I could see they did have plenty room and gave the driver the thumbs up. Her front spotter radioed to her saying it was coming in beautifully, nice to have supportive crew!

We went into Doncaster for a bit of a shop and explore. We found a museum/library/ art gallery in one building. I hadn’t known The Mallard Steam Train was made in Doncaster but I soon found that out and there were two other massive locomotive engines on display, along with other much smaller railway related artifacts.

There was a statue of a Pilgrim woman in the foyer, since some of them had been from Doncaster. It was a life size once rather than the miniature ones in Boston. It did have a related theme in that there was some original crafts built into the statue as her bodice included macrame. I haven’t done any macrame in a long time. I don’t believe it was normally in dresses and that is just a bit of artistic licence.

Upstairs in the museum was another life size figure, in an unexpected medium – a Lego Suffragette – celebrating 100 years since getting the vote. I didn’t spend time looking round all of the building as Shane was waiting outside. We may be back in the vicinity soon anyway and should it be a rainy day, we can check out the rest of the building.

We went to look at the Minster on our way back to the boat. We could hear it but not see it from the boat due to a large wall beside our mooring. We found it closed, so I went back to look the next day and received a warm greeting on a cool day. I was very surprised to learn that it had burned down in 1853 and was rebuilt in impressive Victorian Gothic revival style in only five years. The organ pipes were beautiful.

There were lots of items for sale including home made preserves. I got a card and chutney and the maker of the jams, chutneys and lemon curd was there so I am pleased I did. I might go back again for more. The Minster is built on a Roman camp and fort from which Doncaster derives it’s nae. I went outside to see the surviving wall in the grounds.

Shane had seen a massive boat pass while waiting for me. This should have been a clue to the size of the locks in this stretch. While they had cabins, they were mainly to be self operated. The list of instructions in the idiot’s guide makes it take a little longer but I am getting the hang of them now. I am finding that sometimes the lights that are meant to be the signal for when to press the next button. I am glad I met a fully functioning new first, or I might have waited a long time for a light to come on that never would.

Bartimaeus looks quite lost in it and when standing at the control panels, I couldn’t see it at all. From the lock bollards you cannot see when the lock is ready. 

The Don is wide and tree lined so rather attractive, even on a dull day. I had been told by the man at the Minster that there was an impressive viaduct of the old railway. It was unmissable. The bit we passed under was iron like most railway bridges but the rest were enormous brick arches, towering above the trees. I could see why the man was keen to tell me about it. We saw people walking across the metal part and how tiny they looked in that huge structure.