Last weekend, OBC was a bit sad because it was time to bring the boat home to Portishead for the winter. He was a week later than usual, as it is usually home at the end of August, but he'd wrung few more days out of the summer down Padstow.
We drove down on Friday night and as usual, they sail the boat, I drive the car and meet them in Potishead.
It takes longer to sail than drive and as they weren't leaving til around noon, it gave me time to arse around in my old stomping ground of Clevedon and the surrounding beautiful countryside.
As usual, I couldn't park up on the sea front in Clevedon, so my plan of a walk along the pier got the heave ho. I drove up to the Salthouse fields and parked there for a short time and photographed some kayakers on the marine lake, took a short video of the little train that circles the fields, for Wally the Welder, ooh he loves trains he does.
I know I say it every year, but I really miss living in Clevedon, but whenever I go on one of my little pilgrimages past my house, I notice how run down the estate has become. Much as I miss the little house by the sea, I know when I look at it today, had things turned out for the better, I wouldn't be living there today.
I drove over to Congresbury to the garden centre where I get the carnies from. Closed down ! Fortunately, almost next door is the much posher (more expensive) Cadbury garden centre which is a treat to walk round.
Picked up a Venus flytrap for a pound. It was in a bit of a sorry state, I reckon because it had either been watered with tap water or was light starved.
Then I drove a few miles over to Kewstoke near Weston Super Mare to see none other than Wally the Welder and Pat who were down at their caravan.
See Welder's got a new hat.
We had a walk down by the shoreline and took some pictures.
Was due to meet OBC and the crew around the 6 o clock mark and planned to photograph their arrival. They were running a little late but OBC phoned me and said if I got myself in position they should be viewable in about 5 minutes.
It was bloody windy and a bit chilly up where I was standing. I spotted something that looked like his boat, but it turned abound and went away again. Stood there for twenty minutes and no OBC. Phoned him, no answer, then Trevor called me to say they had turned around to go rescue a stricken fishing boat adrift in the channel.
The rescue took some time and was fraught with danger as not only was the tide turning, the fishing boat had no anchor and the channel is a busy route for large ships coming in and out of Avonmouth.
When they arried at the marina in Portishead, the coastguard was waiting there to get a full report from both crews. Turns out the skipper of the Bantam was a bit of a nobber. No anchor, only a frayed rope and minimal other safety equipment. He was in for a telling off from the authorities.
Because of the delay caused by this mission, OBC made the decision for us to stay over and come back on Sunday morning. I was particularly pleased to hear this because I was having a lot of trouble with my spine, my guts were playing up and I was incredibly tired, all I wanted was to sleep.
We had a really nice pot luck meal of what was left on board. Trevor had bought along the new Galaxy 10.1 tablet and I had a play with that. Wish I hadn't, I want one now.
The local newspaper are interested in the story of the rescue, so I uploaded the video (minus Thunderbirds theme tune) and a write up to them. OBC says I'll get paid. Bet you I don't, I know enough about local newspapers. If it had been David Cameron on board the Bantam, that would have been another story especially as OBC would certainly have let them drift.
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