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!