As Polar, Grizzly and I were making our way north along the Grand Union Canal, it was often showery and cooler than it had been on the Thames. I liked to see where we were going but, even in my waterproofs, my ears and paws would get wet if I stayed outside too long. The cratch windows steamed up in wet weather, making it hard for me to see out forwards. Polar and Grizzly encouraged me to stay warm and dry but, sitting on my cushion in the saloon, I couldn't see out very well.
I tried balancing on the washing-up sponge to look out of the galley window. That was not one of my good ideas.
'Poor Sonning,' said Polar, picking me up from the dish-drainer, where I had got stuck after falling down. 'We'll have to find some way of giving you a better view. You'll need somewhere warmer to sleep than your cushion as the seasons change and we go further north too. I wonder if we could make you a hammock?'
At Apsley, there were lots of shops. Polar and Grizzly were going to their land home for a few days but I said I wanted to stay behind and look after Uppie. Before they left, they bought me a wonderful present - my own little bed, which they hung up by the window, so I could see all the boats and birds and people going by.
It was very comfortable and gave me a wonderful view. I could climb into it quite safely from the back of the settee and adjust the bungee cords to pull myself up so I could see out, or lower them when I wanted to get down. When I wanted to go to sleep or if the sun was too bright, I could reach to pull the curtains.
'We don't want you to get cold while we're away, so there are some nice, snuggly flannels for you to use as bedclothes,' explained Grizzly. 'We've also left you plenty of bear food but make sure you use the fresh things like grapes and tomatoes first, and eat the seeds and raisins later on.'
I was a very cosy bear that night, with a fluffy flannel for my blanket and pillow and lots of Polar's fabric scraps underneath for a mattress.
I found that my bear bed was the perfect place for sitting and reading small, bear-sized books on wet days when there were few boats on the move and no well-behaved human cubs to wave too. It was also a comfortable spot for a snack but I was very careful not to eat crackers or biscuits in bed, as I'm a tidy bear and I didn't want to get crumbs in my bedclothes. I tried to clean the boat during the day, herding the spiders out of their hiding places around the curtains and carpets and sweeping their webs away with my paws, although I couldn't make them go further away than the cratch as it was raining outside and I felt sorry for them.
It seemed to rain all the time when Polar and Grizzly were away and, after a few days, I began to feel rather sad and lonely. When I heard a train stopping at the station, I always wondered if they were on it. Then, late one night, I heard the hatch scraping open and knew my human guardians were home. They cuddled me and thanked me for being a good bear and looking after Uppie, and Polar showed me some more material her friends had given her for making me new bear clothes.
'Now you have a proper bed, you ought to have some proper pyjamas too!' she said.
In the morning, the sun came out, Grizzly started Uppie's engine and we were on our way again. Polar and Grizzly had lots of locks to work through as we were climbing up towards a town called Berkhamstead, where there is a ruined castle, and on to the summit at Tring the day after. It was lovely to sit on my bear bed in the sunshine, watching the countryside go by, but it was even nicer being with my human friends again.
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