From Nottingham, we had to come back up the River Trent to a village called Shardlow, where the Trent and Mersey Canal begins (or ends, depending on which way you're going!).
Uppie doesn't have a very big engine so when we got to the point where the River Soar joined, it was very hard to keep making progress! We just about struggled into the big lock at Cranfleet and, when we stopped for water at Sawley Marina, Grizzly found we had an oil leak.
Luckily, Grizzly and Polar have breakdown insurance with River Canal Rescue and an engineer came out later that day and fixed the problem. I was very impressed at how quickly he repaired Uppie's engine and decided I wanted to learn more about being a boat mechanic.
Only a couple of days later, I got my wish - Uppie developed another problem when something called the alternator broke down. Another engineer came out to replace that. I put on my overalls in case he needed any help but it took a lot more than the strength of a small bear to take out the old alternator and fix a new one.
When Uppie was better, we could continue our journey along the canal. The countryside was very pretty, with woods and fields and good views across the river in places but, at first, the locks were wide ones with heavy gates. These were hard work, even for Polar (who is a big human). After we passed through a town called Burton-upon-Trent, however, the locks were only just big enough for one boat and much easier to work. Some of them had little brick bridges right below them.
Polar and Grizzly explained that we were now in Staffordshire, the county where I was going to be living, but wouldn't be home for almost a week because the river and canal went south, before turning north again for Stoke-on-Trent. I didn't know whether to be excited at seeing my land home soon or sad that my boat journey was coming to an end.
At Alrewas, we went back onto the River Trent for a little way. The water was very clear here and, looking over the side, I could see lots of fish. We had to stay clear of a big weir here, so I was glad Uppie's engine had been repaired.
While we were travelling along this section, Polar finished painting a big watering can for Uppie. This made a good look-out for me when we stood it on the table in the cratch, although I had to be careful not to end up inside it!
At Fradley Junction, Polar and Grizzly completed the big loop of their journey down to London and back. They were back on familiar waters but it was still all new and exciting to me and I was in for some more surprises before I got to my home.
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