Sonning's Most Dangerous Mission

The day after my adventures at Hampton Court, Grizzly and Polar steered Uplander II further down the Thames.  Although the river was very wide and very busy with big trip boats, I felt quite safe in my life-jacket.

Our destination was a place called Teddington.  When I first heard Polar and Grizzly planning our day's journey, I thought they said we were going to Teddy Town. 

'That sounds like a place where other small bears would live,' I said to myself.  'I'll have to take a look around.'

Polar and Grizzly said they were going to visit Kew Gardens, by train, and wanted to look at Brentford Creek where we were going to leave the Thames.  They told me to stay on the boat, because there was a very big weir near our moorings and they didn't want me to fall in.  I'm usually a very good bear and do what I'm told, but I was so curious to see if there really were bears living in Teddy Town that I sneaked out to see, scrambling nervously over the high bridges across the lock and the weir and dodging behind walls and hedges to make my way into the town. 

There were lots of very busy people, a few sniffy dogs on leads and some cats, who were particularly suspicious of me.  I asked one if she had seen any bears in Teddy Town but she just laughed, as if I had said something stupid, and flicked her tail at me.  I walked a very long way, up and down streets of little brick terraced houses, without meeting any other bears, so I went back to our boat, feeling quite sad.

'I wonder if there are bears at Brentford, where we are going tomorrow,' I thought, as I munched one of my favourite herby crackers for lunch, so I opened Grizzly's guidebook to see what it said.  I got quite a shock.  Alongside the map was a whole page full of important Navigational Notes with warnings in bold type.  As I read I learned that, below Teddington Lock, the River Thames rises and falls with the tides, like the sea.  Grizzly and Polar would have to be very careful not to get stuck on the mud or swept all the way down the river to the City of London.  'Goodness me!' I cried.  'How frightening!' 

My first reaction was to hide in my bear cave behind the settee.  However, I felt a little less scared after eating some nice, juicy grapes and, when Polar and Grizzly got home, I settled down to sleep.  It seemed no time at all before Polar was lifting me off of my cushion and helping me into my dungarees and life-jacket.

'We have to go through the lock on the next High Tide,' she explained.  'And we have to get to Brentford by half-past eight, or we might not have enough water to get into the lock to the Grand Union Canal.'

I wanted to stay on my cushion but Polar said I had an important job to do.

'When wartime pilots had dangerous missions to fly, some of them took lucky mascot bears with them, to give them confidence.  You're going to be our lucky bear!' 

Polar sat me in the lifebelt on top of the hatch as Grizzly steered us into the lock.  It was early morning and a cool breeze ruffled my fur, so I was glad I had my hat on.

'Uppie isn't as fast as the other boats,' Grizzly told me.  'Luckily, Bob and Lesley on Zodiak have said they're going to follow us, to make sure we're alright.'

The other boat's crew had a small dog as their lucky animal, who trotted up and down on the roof of the boat and told me not to worry.

'Bob knows lots about water,' barked Milly the dog.  'He used to work as a diver.'

I didn't know if that was really a good thing, since divers work under the water and I very much hoped we were going to stay on top of it.

Below the lock, the water looked murky and dirty and the current seemed to be going the wrong way.  Uppie, Zodiak and some other boats set off down river.

'It can't quite be high tide yet,' said Polar, after we had been on the move for a little while.  'The current is still against us and we're making quite slow progress.'

Looking at the land, I was shocked to see that some of the roads and gardens beside the river were under water.  Polar took lots of photographs.  Grizzly kept looking at his watch and looking at the map.

'I think the tide has turned,' said Grizzly, a little while later, looking at the water.  'We're going faster, now the current is with us and so are the other boats.'

Several narrow boats came past us, their engines making loud put-put-put noises.  Polar was pleased, because it helped her to see where we had to steer when we got to Richmond, where there is a lock at low water but not when the tide is up.  There were some very sleek patrol boats belonging to the Port of London Authority moored along jetties.  

'I hope they don't have to rescue us!' I said to Polar, seeing how fast the river was now running.  She gave my paw a little squeeze to reassure me and waved to our friends on Zodiak, who were following us and making sure we were safe, but I was still a very scared little bear.

'Not far now, Sonning,' said Grizzly, as we came around a bend near Syon Park.  I was glad to hear it.  By now, the water wasn't over the roads at all - it had dropped so much I could see slimy mud all along the banks.  We had to keep off of the shallows and out in the channel between buoys, but the current was almost pulling them under the water.

'That's Kew Gardens,' Polar said, pointing to the right bank of the river, where there were lots of huge trees I would like to have been allowed to climb.  'We're almost at Brentford.'

'There are some boats turning into the creek,' said Grizzly.

Ahead of us, I saw two narrowboats sideways on to the current, trying to turn around to go up the creek to the lock.  With my sharp little eyes, I could see that they were struggling against the current.
'Oh no!' I thought.  'Uppie will never turn there!'

I wanted to cower down and cover my eyes with my paws until I remembered that Polar and Grizzly were relying on me to be their lucky mascot bear for this most dangerous mission, so I gripped the lifebelt and wished hard for everything to be alright.  Grizzly swung the tiller right over and Polar gave the engine a sudden burst of extra power and, although we rocked about quite alarmingly and seemed to come to a complete stop for a few moments, facing into the current, Polar gave the engine another burst and we gradually crept round the turn into Brentford Creek.  

Suddenly, as we moved out of the fierce Thames current, we found we were going too fast towards lots of moored boats.  This time I did cover my eyes with my paws but I need not have worried; Grizzly and Polar had Uppie under control, Zodiak was right behind us and, just ahead, some people were waving to us from beside some big, black lock gates.

We had reached the Grand Union Canal.