I had extra help on the day that I escaped from the Queen's guards, because Grizzly's son George and one of his friends joined the crew for the day. I think George would be a good bear name. Because it is quite a growly word, we wouldn't need to translate it from English into Bear to say it.
The river at Windsor was very, very busy. As well as the big boats taking people on trips up and down, there were hundreds of little boats being rowed or peddled by people who knew even less about how to steer a boat and behave on the river than I did, before I became a proper boat bear. I could see them charging about in all directions, cutting across in front of the bigger boats and going the wrong way.
I kept covering my eyes with my paws, expecting to hear screams and emergency sirens, but there was just lots of laughing and splashing.
Although we soon found ourselves back in the country, with fields and parks beside the river, I did not like this part of the Thames as much as around Henley and Marlow. It was still pretty and there were still lots of ducks and geese to wave to, but the birds weren't the only things in the sky. There were huge aeroplanes too, and they were very noisy! They flew right over the Queen's big castle. Because she is an old lady and has human ears, not bear ears, the Queen might not notice them, but I expect her animal friends do, if she has any.
'I wonder if that's why the Queen's guards wear big furry hats?' I thought. 'Maybe it's so they can't hear the planes?'
That would be silly because, if they couldn't hear the planes, they wouldn't be able to hear burglars breaking into the castle to steal the Queen's crown and jewels, which would make them useless guards.
There were more big locks to go through but they all had nice lock-keepers, men and women, who organised where the boats had to go so that the big boats didn't squash the little boats, and the steel boats didn't squash the wooden or plastic ones. Being a lock-keeper is a very important job and probably not one suitable for a very small bear.
On our way to Staines, where George and his friend were leaving us, we passed a little island in the river called Runnymede, which is very famous in human history. According to the notes in the river guide, a bad king called John was made to sign something called the Magna Carta here, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The guide book didn't say exactly what that was, but I imagine it was a promise to be a good king in future, for example to be kind to animals and not drop litter in the river.
The moorings at Staines were very different to the ones at Windsor, with a high quayside which was very difficult for Grizzly to get onto, because he is not a very big human. It was quite impossible for small bears to climb, so I cannot tell you anything about this town, except that it too has noisy planes flying over it. Fortunately, the noisy planes stopped when it got dark, so Polar and Grizzly could go to sleep and so could I, after finding some tasty grapes and crunchy biscuits to eat, then making sure I cleaned up the crumbs so Polar and Grizzly wouldn't notice!
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Soon, I will tell you about the next part of my journey and how we left the Thames for a little while and went onto another river but, because the weather is getting much colder, in my next post I am going to tell you how you can make nice jumpers, like mine and Hanley's, for your own small bear friends.
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