21st May '13

Well we have survived the last couple of days - how, I'm not quite sure, what with John being suicidal and me wanting to kill him much of the time, but anyway here we are!

Yesterday he rang several diving type places, but to no avail, they had to have permission from the council to dive in the river and no one seemed keen to do it, despite the fact that one said that a good diver would charge upwards of £1,000 a day! He went to the police station to see if they had any contacts, they gave him some numbers but nothing came of any of it. He spent ages with a magnet trying to fish the watch out, having asked a jeweller if it was magnetic and being told probably. He went to a fishing shop and bought a landing net with a telescopic handle and spent ages scooping that around. Back into town to see the jeweller that sold Rolex' who said it wasn't magnetic, but suggested getting a company in who sent cameras down drains.

Today Glen turned up - a knight in shining armour if ever I saw one and, eventually they managed to not only locate the watch but also to retrieve it. I don't know who was more surprised when it emerged, still working, from the depths.

Alpha Rod, you are our saviours and deserve your name in lights! Anyone in Bath who needs to find anything they have dropped in the river - they are your men!

Eventually at 3.15 we left our moorings and Bath behind and have found a nice little jetty next to a picnic site the other side of Saltford. Glad to be on the move again.

Lovely old warehouses opposite the mooring, on the Avon.

 

 

 

The hunt begins....

 

 



The watch is now located (the quick part of the operation) and the retrieval starts.....

Things get serious, much discussion is taking place.....

Many, many lives later and the watch comes to the surface - much rejoicing is done by all concerned!

On the move again! a pretty bit of river between Bath and Saltford.

 

 

Another one to add to the strange craft collection! This one is for sale if you're interested....

 

 

 

This is the weir at Saltford - don't fancy mooring by the pub just above it, although these were the only moorings we saw until we found the one that we're now on.

 

 

 





We couldn't get over the amount of mistletoe in this tree. It was full of the stuff, totally inaccessible of course and it's a long time to Christmas in any case....

 

 

 

We met a boat returning to Bath because they simply could not get through this lock - it was filling faster than they could empty it. John fought hard with the bottom gate and eventually managed to open it a crack which is just enough to release the pressure and allow him to open them both, he was totally exhausted from it though and is going to contact CRT to let them know the problem.

 

Luckily we spotted a mooring just after this so stopped for the night, with only 4 - 5 hours to do tomorrow to get to Bristol. We're next to a picnic site by a bicycle trail (it used to be an old railway) and there's a proper jetty, which is a luxury we didn't expect on the river.

 

Anyway thanks once again to Glen, hope you read this!