Bears on "The Danny"

Although I have been having other adventures this week, I ought to finish telling you about our boat journey before I write about those, especially as we met another boat with a crew of bears on our travels along the Weaver.

Our human guardians wanted to travel as far as they could along the River Weaver - or, more accurately, what was now the Weston Canal - into a town called Runcorn.  We set off from Sutton Bridge on a very sunny morning.  Soon we were out of the countryside.  There were high banks on either side and, to the right of the boat, lots of pipes and tanks and buildings for chemical works.  It was interesting but not very pretty.

There was a lock ahead but to one side of the canal rather than across it.  Polar and Grizzly moored at a landing stage beside it and went to explore.  I asked them where it went and if we would be going through it.

'This goes to the Manchester Ship Canal,' Polar told me.  'Uppie isn't allowed out there, as there are too many other very big boats on the move, but the lock is broken anyway.'

She took me up the ramp from the landing stage to see the Ship Canal.  It was so big, I thought it was the sea!  I was glad we weren't going that way.

A little further downstream, our waterway was blocked by a very low swing bridge and it was clear we weren't allowed to go any further into the old Runcorn Docks.  Polar turned us around and we went back past the chemical factories and out into the countryside again, through the locks at Dutton and back to Acton Bridge, where the steamboat was moored.  

We stopped very close by and Polar and Grizzly went ashore to have a meal.  We bears decided to take a closer look at the steam tug while they were away.  Although it was closed to human visitors it was easy for small bears to crawl under the barrier and scurry up the gang-plank onto the deck.

Suddenly, we heard a growl and a voice asked, 'Who's there?'  There was another bear on board.  He was quite grubby with coal dust and he sounded cross.  He asked us for our tickets.

'We don't have any,' I explained.  'We've come here by boat.'

'Other boat bears are always welcome on The Danny, with or without tickets,' said the sooty bear.  He introduced himself as Fireman Sam.  'Come and see my engines!' he said proudly.  'My human crew have lit them, as we are having a cruise on Saturday and they take two days to warm up properly, but I will be looking after them tonight.'

We carefully climbed down some metal steps.  It was very hot and dirty in the engine room and we found the huge fires under the boilers very scary, but Sam showed us how the bears and humans kept everything in good working order between them and all the brass was very shiny.

'Clean your paws properly and I'll take you up to see the bridge,' said Sam.

'We saw the bridge when we moored,' said Endon.  'It's that big black and white thing the cars drive over.'

'I mean the bridge of the ship, where we steer from,' said Sam.

This time, we had to climb up lots of steep metal steps.  We helped each other all the way to the top.  Here we found a neat little cabin with lots of shiny brass and a big wheel for steering the boat.

'You have to be very careful manoeuvring a big boat like The Danny,' Sam explained.  'We had a bit of a bump at Weston Lock when we came in from the Ship Canal and now we're stuck on the Weaver until they've mended the lock!'

We didn't like to ask whose fault it was, but we were sure it wasn't any of the bears.

Finally, when we had checked that our paws were very clean, Sam showed us the first class lounge.  We thought it was lovely.  There was another small bear in there whose job was to polish the wood and a bear-steward shining glasses behind the bar.  

We helped them by jumping on the seats to check that the cushions were springy and comfortable for the human guests due at the weekend, then we all had nice little drinks from the bar together.

'Tell your humans to pay us a visit tomorrow morning, when we're open to the public,' said Sam.

'We will!' we promised.  When Polar and Grizzly came back to Uppie, we told them all about our adventures and, next morning, they visited too, which is how I have some photographs to share with you.  Like most humans who visit, they think other humans run the ship, but us bears and human cubs know that the real captain is a bear!