Kim Hollamby | The anchor swallowed

Memories of Howard Jones, my crew for a rare one-tide motorboat passage between Gloucester and Bristol Floating Dock.

Behind the scenes at Penarth’s lifeboat station and onwards to Swansea.

A day off in Penarth provides the opportunity to check progress on Cardiff Bay’s £200m barrier and the implications of its completion.

A varied day in which we discover Amsterdam in the West Country, find out what makes a Newport Diver tick and enter Penarth the easy way.

After days of gentle river cruising, Missing Link picks up her skirts and takes line honours, charging down the Severn Estuary from Sharpness to Bristol in one tide.

Retracing our steps, we discover what links an East Ender with the last commercial cargo carrying activity on the Severn and then ask Gloucester Yacht Club to shoulder a heavy load.

The day when we met the nautically minded firemen of Upton and managed to see the funny side of the omnipresent rain.

Rain doesn’t stop play but the crew of Missing Link take a welcome break from getting soggy to meet Graham and Mildred whilst on their way to Upton.

Missing Link’s crew ignore the rain to take the canal from Sharpness to Gloucester, stopping at Fretherne and Pegthorne along the way.

Our passage up the Severn Estuary is a social affair with visits to Avonmouth Radio and the Hook Sands dredger, all closely escorted by a Severn Area Rescue Association RIB.