We bears don't enjoy going up through locks, because we get quite scared by all the water rushing around, so when our human guardians said we were going along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from Portland Basin up to Stalybridge, through four locks, we decided to stay indoors and read our books. Of course we did peep out from time-to-time, just to make sure Polar and Grizzly were alright.
The canal goes from Ashton-under-Lyne up towards the Pennines, following the valley of the River Tame and eventually gets to the longest, deepest and scariest canal tunnel in Britain, the Standedge Tunnel. Polar and Grizzly weren't taking Uppie that far, however.
The canal goes through a very industrial area. There are several big mills but we were sad to see that they were all empty and not being used to make things any more, like socks to make into bear jumpers, or even turned into nice flats. Polar and Grizzly said the locks were quite hard work, for narrow ones. We managed to get to some nice moorings on the outskirts of the town centre but were sad to see no other boats.
When our humans took us into Stalybridge, we were surprised to see that the canal ran right through the town centre and was really nicely landscaped. There was also brass band music in the air, something that Hanley Bear really loves.
Our human guardians were hungry and wanted to find somewhere to buy fish and chips, but we bears wanted to find out where the music was coming from.
Polar and Grizzly said they thought it was likely to be from a radio or loudspeaker, but Hanley was sure it was live - and he was right!
There was a brass band festival taking place, with bands from all over the north of England taking part. We really liked the sound that all the shiny instruments and clever people playing them made, and Hanley Bear did a little dance. There was even one band who had come all the way from Norway, called 'Rong Brass', which Endon thought was a very funny name for a band who seemed to be playing everything right!
Our humans were too hungry to stay for the whole festival and now really wanted something to eat, as they had been steering the boat and doing locks while we had been reading and eating raisins. But we were too late for the fish and chip shop - it had sold out of fish and closed. We bears thought we would be in trouble, as they had missed their tea.
'Let's go to the station,' said Grizzly.
This seemed like a very strange suggestion but was actually a brilliant idea, as Stalybridge Station has a very famous pub in its old buffet. Although they didn't get fish and chips there, they did get a plate of other tasty nibbles and a railway timetable, because Polar and Grizzly decided that the next day, we should all have a train journey and visit the big, long, scary Standedge Tunnel!
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