The weather may have been far from ideal but that didn't stop the charitable efforts of one barge owner on his journey on behalf of the Forever Friends Appeal.
Kier Construction, in partnership with the Royal United Hospital charity, are on a 500 mile eco-friendly challenge from Land's End in Cornwall to Cardiff in Wales, visiting their sites and offices via various non motorised forms of travel across the South West.
David Snell, operations manager, arrived with the baton for the relay style event. The 500 mile journey is split into four sections, each with its own sponsored charity, and the staff contribute to a small distance within their region.
David, 58, had planned on pulling the barge a bit further than reality allowed as a number of barges alongside the water's edge meant pulling the barge only a matter of meters would be possible.
"Normally the stretch here is quite quiet and I imagined pulling it along with staff sat on the roof in glorious sunshine. Each quarter has a director's challenge within in it and my challenge was to pull my boat further than what we will be able to today.
"This is still for a great cause though and the Bristol leg, which I'm responsible for, is still raising money for the Forever Friends Appeal, which we are very close to," he said.
The baton arrived at around 2.20pm on the River Avon alongside Green Park Road. The baton made its way to Bath via Chippenham before David and his crew got back on the barge, going to the company's offices in Warmley.
Other Kier staff members from the South West have completed parts of the challenge via bikes, toboggans, horses, walking backwards, kayaking, and playing keepy-ups with footballs.
The money raised through this fundraising event will help the Forever Friends Appeal raise their £8.5 million target for the Cancer Care Campaign. Nearly £6 million has been raised so far.
"We have built previous constructions for the RUH and we are their construction partner for the Oncology build for the next three to four years.
"Clearly we have become quite close and we recently sponsored their Walk of Life so we had lots of walkers there including myself. It is a charity that we are very fond of and it is a very worthy cause," he said.
The 500 mile challenge was launched
in 2010 raising more than £5000 for
charities.
The baton continues its journey to Wales and is expected to reach the construction company's Cardiff offices next week.
