It was a real shame that I couldn't continue and do the whole boat, honestly, but t you can see the difference already.
A boat came ahead of us to moor, which they did but not before belting our bow. Helen returned and we had a bit of lunch. After using a lot of water washing the boat etc we needed water so we had to come off and swing and slip in between the tap and the work boats. We were soon full, rubbish ditched etc and ready to turn with the bow on the berth and off up to the lock. As Helen went ashore we saw the newly moored boat had cast off and was following us to the lock. The bridge is just about under Doncaster Station. We were soon in and up and on our way.
Not far from the lock is Power Station Bight (above). There was a power station In the centre of Doncaster from 1900. In fact it was around where the visitor moorings and little marina are now. That explains why there is a wide there. This place closed in 1958, but meanwhile a new power station was built the other side of the lock in 1953. The sites were obviously chosen as they could take coal from the mines direct by canal. The first station produced a maximum of 14 GWH a year the second was a maximum of 480 GWH a year. It lasted until 1983. Power Station Bight is where the boats were unloaded. When the power station was demolished the new Doncaster Prison was built on the site, and is still there.
Once clear of Doncaster we were then in the River Don proper. To be honest, other than the current there was little difference in the look. The hamlet of Newton is on the west bank and there was a little pedestrian ferry here until at least 1947.
Interestingly on the Docaster Rowing Clubs website they say they have 'almost exclusive access to the 5km of the River Don.' I'm not sure what C&RT think of that. They were formed in a pub in 1989 and the boat house is in Hexthorpe Flatts Park that combined with the scenic river make it a pretty special place I think.
Next come two railway bridges. The nearesr is an under deck truss bridge that was built in 1910 for the Great Central Railway and is still a freight only line that misses out crossing the East Coast Mainline at Doncaster Station. Beyond is the over deck truss bridge that was started in 1911 but was delayed due to WWI and was opened to mineral traffic in 1916. It was conceived by the Hull and Barnsley Railway but built together with the Great Central Railway. It started to lose traffic in 1958 and by 1969 no traffic was crossing. It later carried a conveyor belt but in 2001 became part of the Trans Pennine route.
Once under the less inspiring A1(M) bridge we were soon at Sprotborough Lock. Once the gates opened it seemed to go on to infinity and beyond
The Wyre Lady was been a pleasure boat on the River Don for decades. Last time we came this way it was undergoing a refurbishment. As we approached it looked like it hadn't progressed very much. However we could see that it had been on fire in the wheelhouse. It seems it was only in June that it occurred.
Just over the river from the visitor moorings above the lock was the Boat Inn, a quite posh Vintage Inn place. Helen had already picked the wine she was going to have, in a bucket was how she put it. Imagine our disappointment when we realised that it was closed as it had been severely flooded in the events early this year. We decided to walk up to the village to have a look and see if the Ivanhoe was open. It was newly refurbished and opened in March, only to be forced to be closed a couple of weeks later. However it was open and I had a pint of Sam Smith's Bitter. The Covid19 has affected things there as it was £3-00 a pint. I don't think I have paid £3 in a Sam Smith's pub, even in London! On the way back to the boat via the raod we passed the lovelly Rectory where Group Captain Douglas Bader CBE, DSO and DFC, lived as a boy around 1923. It said the 'legless pilot' but I think they meant lower limbless, rather than inebriated. Or maybe they didn't as he was a bit of a lad and had a film made about his life.
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