Bartimaeus

While Bryn is here we are sleeping in the dinette. We find it comfortable and sleep well there. No bad dreams. He is not an early riser or a late bedder so having the use of our room suits him well. We find it comfortable and sleep well there. I might even sleep better, though perhaps that is because we have been doing so many locks. Shane as usual wants all spiders, daddy long legs and any other creatures that he deems the stuff of nightmares removed and sleeping in the same place as he spends the evening might increase this. There certainly seem to be quite a few to deal with but Bryn is a help with monster mini-beast removal. Last night he caught three spiders in the glass at once.

After the heavy locking of the first two days we had a more tranquil day ahead, we thought. There was a single lock ahead of us immediately but a boat was already in it so Shane didn’t cast off.  I went along to the lock to find a child arriving at a paddle and winding it back down before the lock was ready, slowing the proceedings. I’m guessing he was told he could wind down the paddle but not told when. He was friendly and excited to hear we had been to the end. The man driving asked where we were heading and when I said Retford, he told me it was very shallow. I thought nothing of it as I had remembered it being shallow before, but relayed it to Shane after we had done the lock.

There are a few odd locks and we were going steadily. Bryn helped me get my windlass unstuck, using his own as a hammer, at one lock where the spindle was small and was wedged at 90° to the usual angle. I changed windlass then. A little while later it was my gate rather than the windlass that seemed stuck. Bryn had opened his and I couldn’t shift mine. I looked down into the lock and saw the nose of Bartimaeus against it. I waved to Shane to move back. I went to open the gate and could see Bryn telling him to move back too. Shane was trying but getting no movement. He tried the diesel engine and he moved back enough for me to open the gate. Then he couldn’t move forward. Nightmare scenario to be stuck unable to move in a lock. We could see the water level in the next pound was about a foot down from where it should be, so to get the water level, the lock was a foot lower too and had insufficient water. I went to the other end and opened a paddle to get some water in behind him and eventually he was able to drive out of the lock. 

So this was probably the part that the other man had warned us about. It was a two mile stretch that was very short of water. Driving was slow and getting slower. It was hard to not get grounded. I served Pimm’s to keep spirits up and calm the helm.

Shane was anxious about us ever reaching Retford before dark if it got slower. We couldn’t moor without grounding and he also feared a further drop in water overnight leaving us thoroughly grounded and he had visions of us stuck at an angle and it seemed like a very long 2miles. It was already after 7pm. I offered to drive, since it was stressful, or start cooking and he went for me starting cooking as dinner was likely to be late. As I was cooking a ranger came by and assured Shane that it was a bit better further on and he was feeling better. As promised we got to the moorings at Retford and dinner was ready just in time. All’s well that ends well.

The next day we went into Retford to see their museum. It is very varied with several eras displayed and a Victorian classroom. It seemed quite familiar although we didn’t have the dunce cap and we did have pencils and the inkwell space was an empty circle on the desk. School may be the happiest days for some people but a nightmare for others.

There was a special exhibition about the Pilgrim fathers which I wanted to see. They dreamed of a land where they were free to practise their religion in their own way. There were delays to departure and storms and a fierce winter. Getting there was awful but they survived. Surviving the winter there was much worse and half died. They were free from oppression but not from disease and starvation. Enough survived to build a community, helped by others on board who stayed to help for 6 months and natives who helped too. Their dream was realised but not as sweetly as they might have hoped.

I achieved my goal of finding buttons for sale at Retford market. We were all pleased the water was deeper beyond Retford and that we moved along well. We had a good distance to cover but Shane had seen something of interest that he had a notion to visit en route, a little church. Its claim to fame was the murals inside, by Phoebe Anna Traquair. Unusually for a woman artist of the time, she managed to continue her art, not as a mere hobby, but  commissions for large works, while married and having four children. One of her works we have seen before at the chapel of rest at the old children’s hospital. It was a place for parents and not the general public and when the site was sold it was preserved and we got a chance to see it as it was opened for the public with explanatory talks.

We liked her paintings in soft colours, and gold. Bryn was interested that she had chosen to make the wings of the angels red. She also liked illuminating letters.

At the door of the church was a mesh inner door and a sign to close it to stop birds flying in. We discovered why. There was a swallow’s nest in the porch area and I saw Bryn and Shane crouched by the mesh door watching. Swallows were flying in and going to feed their babies. We had a good view but the camera only wanted to focus on the mesh door. We watched them flying back and forth for a while.

We had another swallow encounter at a lock where we saw lots of them swooping over the field next to us while Bryn and I were working it.  

All the locks went smoothly and there was plenty water. 

Bryn has had a few different wildlife sightings on his visit, but we made another towards the end of the day to add to the list, and he came down the front to get a better look at the cormorant. Bryn had an image of them sitting with wings spread as their typical pose. They always seem to stay well ahead with only their head and neck visible, but we were surprised when it decided spread its wings and fly towards us.

All the locks went smoothly and there was plenty water plus we reached our intended mooring in good time. It was a dreamy day compared to the day before with two cultural visits, a timely craft purchase, lovely birds feeding and flying and steady progress.