Bartimaeus

We have a medium term goal of heading north and reaching the north eastern end of the navigation and calling in on a friend en route. However we had some short term uncertainties in our navigation. Bryn might join us as he had a surprise holiday, but we didn’t know for sure when and where would work best or even if he would at all, plus we’re in a level area with few locks that might be less entertainment for him. Also a tree on the tidal Ouse was blocking passage north and no news promised until Monday. If stuck on a featureless canal what was there to do?

Checking out the local information I found there was a fun day at Carlton towers – a medium bike ride away from the canal. We thought he might like it but could he get here in time? And could we collect him and then reach the event in time?  And was he prepared to ride an unknown bike? I sent a message to Bryn to see if it might concentrate our minds in a particular direction.

He revealed he could get to us on Friday evening in Knottingley, which was earlier than expected and made it workable. So we set off for there and Shane kept an eye out on the way for mooring spots that gave us access to cycle friendly routes the following day. We ran some washing since the bedding was being changed, a bright and breezy day made it all dry in time. We had time to fill up with water and get to the shops before we picked him up too. 

We got back to Shane’s selected spot just as the sun set. The next day we got cracking. Bryn has a bike but a four train journey did present a hassle so he was settling for the unknown steed. He hadn’t seen the second hand folding bike Shane had been gifted. He was sensibly careful about the brakes which felt very different from his own. A little bit of testing and adjusting the saddle up,  ride a bit, then bring the saddle down –  ride a bit, then, inevitably, bring the saddle back up again. 

The event was clearly designed as a family event. There was a bar and a stall selling mead but also face painting and small animals. We returned to that throughout the day to see what was now awake, as the African pygmy hedgdehogs looked like a sea  urchin when asleep. The pygmy goats thought the grass was always greener or hay is always sweeter on the other side of the fence and were exploring the grazing in the Shetland pony’s pen.

Background music provided an intriguing mix of contemporary tunes but played on medieval sounding instruments and  style. It was quite hard to decide if this was  a song you knew or not, with no words to clue you in. I recognised Girls Just Want To Have Fun quickly and Bryn automatically started dancing to Cotton Eye Joe since it is the morning wake up tune at his work every day.

It is good he enjoys his work and another thing he was drawn to was the “have a go archery” despite the long queue and archery being an occasional work activity, though mainly he is encouraging others, and helping them to have a go. A mobile dragon helped relieve the boredom of waiting.

Eventually he got to the front of the queue and received the added  interest of a bow that was different from what he’s seen before. He saw us lining up to watch and pointed out that, although he was left handed, his right eye was better so he was going to fire right handed – therefore the other side was a better viewpoint. 

We just had time for refreshments before the main attraction – The Equistry display of medieval knight skills, slipping swords or javelins through hoops; spinning a board by striking with a lance; slicing fruit or veg with a sword, all on the move. Plus they did general horsing around and posturing. We enjoyed the show so much we watched it all again after lunch.

Now we had seen everything twice, we headed for our own steel steeds, only to find them knocked over. They were locked together and it wasn’t very windy so they must have been bumped or pulled but we lifted them up and nothing seemed damaged. We had an enjoyable ride back to the boat and set up the deckchairs on the side to enjoy the last of the sun.