Coming Home

We had a really lovely holiday in Cornwall but, after our visits to the beach and to our new friends Izzy and Nancy Bear, it was time to come home.

Luckily for us, our human guardians Polar and Grizzly try to make sure we have small bear adventures to break up long journeys, so we stopped to see a little section of the Grand Western Canal in a town called Tiverton.

There was a super little visitor centre full of interesting things to read about the canal, and a model of a boat horse.  Polar let me sit on it and pretend I was guiding it along the towpath.

 

The next morning, we got up early and went to visit Slimbridge, a huge nature reserve near the River Severn where kind people look after wild water birds and tame ones too.  Polar and Grizzly took us along in our bear bag, so we could meet some of the birds.

'I hope the geese and swans won't peck us,' said little Endon.

'We'll make sure they don't, little bears,' promised Grizzly.  'We'll buy some seed to feed them.' 

Grizzly likes feeding the little Hawaiian Geese, which are very gentle little creatures and certainly not at all fierce towards small bears.  

Polar took us to one of the hides to look for wild birds.  She told us we had to be very quiet and not make a noise, as there were some people with binoculars and big cameras trying to take photographs.

 After lunch, we met lots of very pretty little ducks on our way to another hide.  There are birds from all over the world living on nice ponds and lakes and there are otters too!

We were very lucky at our second hide because we saw some wild cranes. They are very tall, long-legged birds and look quite strange when they fly.  Polar and Grizzly had never seen them before and nor had we.

There were some great big models of insects to see as well, to help educate human cubs about how important they are to our world.  Hanley Bear thought they were real giant insects at first, because they made buzzing noises and moved their wings and legs, and little Endon was quite frightened of them.  We were very lucky and saw a real dragonfly too, perched on the handrail of a little bridge.

Before for left to drive home, Polar and Grizzly carried us up to the top of the viewing tower for a look out over the whole reserve and across the river.  It was a wonderful view and we could see all the birds swimming and flying below us.

We enjoyed such an exciting day that, on the journey home from Slimbridge, we fell asleep in the back of the car and didn't wake up until the following morning, when we found ourselves tucked up in our bear basket by the radiator.  

We are very lucky little bears and have another Small Bear Adventure coming up soon, so I will soon have more writing to do, but now  I am feeling sleepy again as it is bedtime!

 

Our New Friends

On our last day in Cornwall, we made some very special new friends.  We went to visit Grizzly's sister and her family, including her grand-daughter Izzy, a very kind and thoughtful human cub who likes furry creatures and unicorns, and loves reading about our adventures.  

They live in a part of Cornwall called The Lizard, which has wonderful coastal scenery.  We looked hard but we didn't see any lizards while we were there, but we did see people surfing at Poldhu Cove.

'This would be the best place ever for a holiday!' cried Endon.  'We could build sandcastles again, or even learn to surf.'

'I think we might get too soggy and salty surfing,' I said.  But I really hoped we could play on the sand again.

When we got to Grizzly's sister's house, we met Nancy, a very nice lady bear who lives there.  She told us that she loves it when Izzy visits, as they have lots of fun together.  

We had a super afternoon with Izzy and Nancy, which started with us exploring the garden, which is like a small version of the park in Penzance, with palm trees and tree ferns, and nice smelly herbs.  

We all had fun climbing the palm trees.  Hanley Bear climbed very high in one, then found he couldn't get down again - luckily, he was just within reach for Polar's long arms.

While the small bears carried on climbing, Nancy and I sat in the rosemary, enjoying the sunshine and the lovely smell, until it was time to go in for tea.  

After tea, which included a delicious home-made rice pudding, Izzy helped us bears do some colouring in.  When it was time for her to go home, she gave us all big hugs, then tucked us into our bear basket, to go to sleep.  Because we had been out in the fresh seaside air, we all fell sound asleep very quickly.

We were all very sad to leave in the morning, as we had hoped to go to the beach again and have more adventures with Nancy and Izzy, but Grizzly and Polar said we had to go home.  When we had finished our porridge and it was time to say goodbye to Nancy, little Endon started to cry.

'We've got some more exciting things to do on the way home,' Polar said, cuddling us all.  'You can write to Nancy and Izzy, and we'll try to visit again soon, so don't be too sad.'

We promised Nancy we would write to her and asked her to hug Izzy for us, then we jumped back into our basket, and Polar carried us out to the little red car, ready for our journey home.

Boats and Trains

The morning after our day at the beach, we had another day out with Polar, Grizzly, Mrs Ann and Mr Derek. 

Firstly, Mr Derek drove us to the south coast of Cornwall and down to the pretty little harbour at Charlestown, near St Austell.  Polar let us out of our bear bag to explore, so we ran down to the quayside to see the boats and to sniff the sea breeze.

We thought this little cabin for the harbour master would make a very good home for small bears!

After a little while exploring the historic harbour, Mr Derek said we had to leave, as we had a train to catch.  We thought it might be a steam train, but it was actually one of the most modern trains on the railway network, and it was taking us to Penzance.

We liked the modern train, as it was nice and bright inside and we had good views out over the countryside, but our human friends said the seats were quite hard and they were glad it only took an hour to get to Penzance.  There was a table for our bear bag by the window, so we could see the fields and woods, plus towns like Truro and Redruth, and disused tin mines on the moors. 

Soon, we were by the sea again at Hayle on the north coast, then very shortly afterwards we were running along the south coast at Marazion.  Grizzly showed us a map of how narrow Cornwall is when you get towards the 'toe'.

When we reached Penzance, our humans bought lunchtime snacks, then Polar carried us as we had a walk around the town.  There were lots of narrow streets running up and down the hill from the coast, with some very old and very strange buildings, including one called the Egyptian House.

Our human friends climbed down lots of steps from the church to get back to the seafront.  Lucky for us, we were being carried along in the bear bags, so we could rest our paws and enjoy the view. 

Mrs Ann told us that although today was calm and sunny, the previous weekend there had been a big storm.  That was why there was seaweed on the road - and all over a parked car!

'Oh no!' I said.  'The driver will be very cross when he or she sees this!  Salty water isn't very good for cars.  I hope it didn't get wet on the inside.'

After a nice long walk along the promenade, we turned up a little road and came to the Morrab Gardens, a park full of palm trees and tropical plants.  The small bears wanted to climb them but Polar said it was best to stay in our bag and just look, as some of their stems and leaves were rough or sharp.

On the way back to the railway station, we saw the fishing boat harbour and where the ferry boats that go to the Isles of Scilly moor.  It was very interesting but quite smelly too! 

We had another ride on one of the new trains back to St Austell.  On the way back to their home, Mr Derek took us to see where china clay was mined.  Hanley Bear was quite sad and shocked to see what a mess it had made of the countryside. 

'Is this all because we make china from it in Stoke?' he asked.  'I feel very guilty, if it is.'

'It's not your fault, little Hanley, nor even all down to the pottery industry,' Polar explained kindly.  'China clay is used in medicine, make-up and building materials too.  Next time we're here, we'll take you to a museum where you can learn more about it, and we can visit the Eden Project, which shows what can be done to use the land well afterwards.'

Hanley Bear was still very quiet all the way back to Mrs Ann's house, but he cheered up a lot when we got there, as she gave him homemade cakes and flapjacks!