Boating Bears again - at last!

For the last three days, all of us bears plus our human guardians Polar and Grizzly have been out on Uppie again - at last! 

You might remember that Mr Steve the boat painter and Mr Dorian the joiner, and Mrs Hazel the cratch-cover maker, all had jobs to do to make Uppie even nicer than before, but floods - and then the nasty virus - held up the work.  But everything is now done!

We were delighted to discover that one of the other new things on board is a new Bear Basket, for us to keep our life jackets and some of our sock jumpers in, and for sleeping in.

 

The first thing we had to do after collecting the boat was to help Polar and Grizzly give it a good clean, then put things back in the right places.  Polar and Grizzly took it in turns to steer the boat while the other one cleaned things.

 

Although it was a lovely, sunny day and we could have sat out in the new cratch enjoying the view, we decided to be good bears and help with the cleaning.   

Soon we had the shelves for the cups and glasses nice and clean again, although we weren't strong enough to lift them all back into place.

When we had finished our cleaning jobs, we went out into the cratch to see where we were.  'It looks like we're going back towards the boat lift,' I said to the smaller bears.

We recognised the pretty house with the wooden bear, and the wide waters of Billinge Flash, and we certainly recognised the big chemical factory and the salt country around Northwich.

'We are just doing a short run, to check that everything is working and see how the boat goes with the new propellor,' said Grizzly.  'We'll stop by the Salt Museum tonight, then go up to the lift basin to turn around tomorrow.'

In the morning, while the smaller bears were still napping, Polar and I watched the sun come up and made everyone some tea.

After breakfast, we put our life jackets on and went to sit up on the roof, in our favourite place in the lifebelt.

We waved to the crews of other boats and cheered the Canal and River Trust workers, who were strengthening the canal bank.  This is something that has to be done regularly around this area, because the ground keeps subsiding and the canal has to be kept level.  This is because humans pumped or mined lots of salt out of it (and still do).

In some places, the canal is very, very deep - as much as 5 metres deep!  Canals are usually less than a metre deep.  A very clever local geologist called Dr Ros Todhunter told us all about it, at a talk she did for the Trent and Mersey Canal Society last year.

 

After mooring near the boat lift and having a snack and a cup of tea, we got in our bag to join our human guardians on a long walk around a country park which we decided was probably named after Uppie.

The path took us along the edge of the River Weaver, where we could see the boat lift.  We saw some huge dragonflies and found traces of when there were moorings here for much bigger boats.

When it was busier with big boats and industry, it wouldn't have been such a good place for nature, of course.

Endon did some climbing, while Hanley found some pipes running along by the path, which he thought might be part of the modern salt-extracting process, as they didn't look old or worn out.

Then we turned away from the main river and followed a backwater towards a nature reserve, where there is a huge but very reedy pool and some hides for bird-watching. 

 

It was difficult for the smaller bears to see out, so Grizzly loaned them his hat to stand on, although we couldn't see any birds on the pond due to all the reeds.

'Maybe we could come back in the winter,' Endon suggested.  The reeds will have died back by then, and we'll be able to see the birds.'

Our human guardians carried us on through some more woods until we found a big mossy log near a steam where they could have a rest and we could do some more climbing and running.

The humans had walked about three miles and it was a very warm day, so we didn't mind them having a little break.

Then it was time to go back to Uppie for lunch, before Grizzly turned us around ready to head back to Middlewich.

It was perfect weather for sitting on the roof - dry, warm and not breezy, so we stayed out there all afternoon, watching the countryside rolling by, waving to other boaters and walkers and enjoying the autumn sunshine.

Soon we were passing the Lion Salt Works Museum again.  'I hope we can visit, one day,' said Hanley, who is a great fan of science and  industrial museums.

Soon after that, we reached the busy boatyard and the modern chemical works near Northwich. 

I was just saying to the other bears that the chemical works didn't look like a good place for nature, when we spotted a big heron right in the middle of it, fishing in the canal!

That evening, we moored at Billinge Flash, which is one of our favourite places.  After tea, Polar showed us that she'd put my One Upon a Time in the North book in our Libeary.  Hanley insisted on a game of Peril of the Pole before bedtime, hoping he could win this time, but I was the winner and our human guardians were the first to be knocked out!

After a glorious sunrise, it was time to set off back to Middlewich, where Uppie was going to stay for a couple of days while we get ready for another journey.

We had the only wide lock on this section to go through to get to our mooring, but it wasn't too bumpy, as we were sharing with another boat, and we had found a box to sit in so we didn't roll off the table if the boat rocked about.

We are very grateful to all our friends who have made Uppie look so nice, and we're really looking forward to making lots more journeys aboard our boat very soon.