Autumn Walks - Birchenwood Country Park

 Last week, we went on another short trip out with Polar and Grizzly, so we could all enjoy a walk together on a sunny day.  Although the Country Park we visited is only a couple of miles from where we live (and even closer to where Uppie is moored), Polar and Grizzly had never been there before, so nor had we.

This is the Birchenwood Country Park on the outskirts of Kidsgrove in North Staffordshire.  It's another site that used to be very industrial as there was once a colliery and iron works there, but you would never know it now.

We stayed in our Bear Bag as Polar and Grizzly made their way along a footpath across open ground between birch woods - which we guess it might have been before the colliery was there.  

Across some fields, we could see the little spire of Newchapel church, where the grave of the famous canal engineer James Brindley is.  We bears have never been to visit, although Hanley did go to a pub called The Grapes, which is just across the road, with Grizzly one evening.

Grizzly had a flask of hot chocolate in his pack, so we sat on a stile and shared it with our human guardians.

'You've muddled your hats up, little bears!' said Polar.  'Hanley's wearing a hat that belongs to Endon, Endon is wearing Sonning's warm hat and Sonning isn't wearing a hat at all!'

This was because we had got ready to go out in a hurry.  Hanley had left his Stoke City hat and scarf in the Bear Basket (he sleeps with them under his pillow - or even wearing them sometimes) and complained that his ears were cold, so Endon kindly loaned him his hat, and I gave mine to Endon for being kind.

Even though it is November, it was warm enough that I didn't get too cold without a hat.  There were even a few flowers and insects about.

Our path led down to a cycle track that runs along the route of the old Stoke-on-Trent Loop Line, a railway which ran from Kidsgrove down through the three most northerly towns of Stoke-on-Trent, all of which once had their own stations.  If it had been kept open a little while longer, it might have made a very good tram route.  

There were some super climbing trees there, so Polar lifted us out so we could scramble about on the mossy trunks and branches. 

In some places, we walked through quite a deep cutting.  There was even a little tunnel under a road, where Polar and Grizzly decided to turn around and head back to the car, following the railway path all the way.

We were allowed to do some more exploring before we came home.  Endon climbed another tree, while Hanley went to study a concrete wall which helped to support the railway cutting.

There were other paths leading away from the railway path, so we hope we will be able to come again to see where they go, especially as we found there was a big lake very near where we had parked.

We bears think there is something very special about the country parks we have visited this autumn.  They show that, even though humans can be very good at breaking things, they can also work with nature to put them right again, which is a happy thought.