Sunshine and Showers in the Churnet Valley

It's time to continue the story of our Caldon Canal journey.  

 

While our humans had their walk around the country park in Leek, we bears and Horsey stayed aboard Uppie.  We had a nice chat with a family of Canada geese and watched some big clouds gather over the hills but, apart from a very short, light shower, it didn't rain on us or our human guardians.

When Polar and Grizzly got back, it was time for lunch and then to set off back through the tunnel and into the bluebell woods again. 

We bears settled down around Horsey to watch from the window, just in case it rained again.  Polar got off the boat to take photographs of Uppie and the bluebells and we all waved to her as we cruised past.

We travelled back over the aqueduct and along to the junction at Hazelhurst, where Polar and Grizzly moored for the evening.  

 

Overnight, there was lots of rain, and the morning was rainy too.  After lunch, the rain eased and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds, so we set off again, with us bears watching our humans work Uppie down through the three locks onto the Froghall Arm.

Sadly, a little bridge just below the locks had to be demolished because it was unsafe, which is why there is a temporary scaffolding bridge visible in the picture of Grizzly opening the bottom gates of the last lock.

Soon after, we passed under the aqueduct that we had crossed to get to Leek.  It's a very impressive structure, isn't it?  I've always liked aqueducts and we have two in North Staffordshire that carry canals over the top of other canals.

Our humans stopped briefly at Cheddleton, to get some bread and for Grizzly to post a letter.  Hanley Bear wanted to visit the watermill there but, unfortunately, it closed just as he and Polar arrived.  

'Never mind, Hanley,' she said.  'We'll have a look on the way back.'

After two more locks we were very close to the Churnett Valley Railway.  We didn't plan to stop there and were going to make our way to Consal Forge for the evening, but when we got to the lock where the canal joins the River Churnet, we saw the water level gauge was almost into the red, and the water level was still rising.

 Polar and Grizzly didn't fancy navigating the river section when it was only just safe and were worried that although we might get down to Consal, we might be unable to get back if there was lots more rain.  So we turned Uppie around and found moorings for the night near some nice woods were we could hear thrushes singing.

In the morning, Waverley and I went with Polar and Grizzly to see what was happening at the Churnet Valley Railway, while Hanley and Endon stayed aboard, playing football with Horsey.  Hanley was looking forward to visiting the watermill in the afternoon.

You can see there is a lot of work to do to some of their rolling stock!  

 In another carriage waiting for some repairs, in much better condition, Polar spotted a familiar name and lifted Waverley Bear up to see.  He was very proud when he realised there was a station in Edinburgh named after him!

Near the workshops, we saw a red tank engine from Scotland, so Waverley had his picture taken with that as well.

There were no trains running and we thought we would have to go back to the boat after that, but Grizzly started talking a man making his way into the workshop, and he offered us a tour of the other work in progress and the other locomotives.

'Hanley Bear will be very jealous,' I said to Waverley.  'Although he and I have been here before, he's never been in the workshop or the loco yard.'

As well as steam engines, we saw a diesel loco which Polar's dad used to drive.  

'Hanley would like that too,' I said.  'Because it's red, and because it's called Spitfire, after R J Mitchell's famous fighter plane.'

Grizzly wanted to see this Class 4 steam loco, which was one of the first to run on the line after it became a preserved railway but isn't in running order now.

Instead, the railway rely a lot on these big American-built locomotives, which were sent to Britain and Europe during and just after the Second World War, although somehow one had ended up in China and the other in Hungary before they got back here!

They are very, very powerful, which is useful as the Churnet Valley Railway now has a line that runs up a steep gradient to Ipstones, and their smaller engines can't manage that with a full train of passenger carriages behind them.

Because we had been good bears and been sensible while Polar and Grizzly were looking at the engines, we were allowed to get out of our bear bag and explore during our visit to the signal box.

 

The red boxes that look slightly like old-fashioned radios are special safety equipment.  They hold 'tokens' that are needed to operate some of the levers for the points, and make sure that trains travelling in opposite directions can't end up on the same track.

Hanley Bear was very interested to hear about our adventures over Elevenses but said he wasn't jealous, as he was looking forward to visiting the watermill.

Polar and Grizzly worked back through the Cheddleton Locks and moored for lunch and to wait for the mill to open.  The blue skies clouded over and it started to rain, but Hanley Bear didn't mind.

 

'More rain will make the mill work even better!' he insisted.

He invited Waverley to go with him while Endon and I stayed with Horsey, as Endon wanted to visit a country park later in the afternoon.  Little Waverley didn't have a coat so I loaned him my hat, which he could wear like a sou'wester!

Unfortunately, there were no volunteers staffing the mill that afternoon, so although Hanley and Waverley could visit the outside of the buildings and see the wheels, nothing was operating.

 'Booo!' said Hanley, but Grizzly promised he would take him to see it again another day, when it was open.

There is a very special boat moored nearby, which does canal journeys for groups of people and is specially adapted so it can carry people who use wheelchairs, as it has a special lift from the bow down into the saloon.

It stayed wet and cold for the rest of the afternoon.  Polar and Grizzly moored Uppie near a pub where they got some fish and chips, then they lit the fire, which was very cosy but shouldn't have been needed in May!

But we don't mind wet days, when we have a cosy bear basket to snuggle up in at bedtime.

 

More Adventures on the Caldon Canal

 We bears were all together again, with Horsey, and looking forward to more adventures on the second morning of Waverley's boat trip.

We had hoped to sit out on the roof of the boat but the day started grey and rainy.  That made us bears rather sad and, as Horsey was missing his human guardian too, we all got together for a shared hug.

Polar and Grizzly decided to stay where we were until the rain eased.  Polar showed us where we were going on a map, then showed us a little surprise she had bought us - some Paddington fabric!

"I'm going to cut it into shapes to make you patchwork quilts for your bear baskets," she said.  "Would you prefer squares, diamonds or hexagons?"

"No!" cried little Waverley.  "You can't cut Paddington!".  We all agreed that Polar couldn't do anything that would mean cutting through a Paddington or putting pins in him, so instead she agreed to use the fabric pieces whole to make our new bedclothes.

The rain eased a little later in the morning, so Polar stopped sewing and Grizzly stopped reading, and they worked Uppie through Engine Lock, then along the canal to the five locks at Stockton Brook.  We bears found we could see out of the window very well by sitting with Horsey on the back of Polar's usual chair.

Grizzly pointed out a funny little island near Endon (the village, not the bear!) which had once been the pivot of a railway swing bridge, and showed us where the Canal and River Trust had done lots of dredging work and made more stable banks along the canal.

At Hazelhurst Junction, our human guardians decided to follow the Leek Arm of the canal, because they wanted to see the bluebell woods along that section.  We had planned to moor at an aqueduct that carries this arm of the canal over the line to Froghall, but it was busy with other boats.  Luckily, Polar and Grizzly found a good mooring overlooking the Froghall Arm further along, and we settled down for the evening.

Horsey was starting to miss Nearly-doctor Rachael again, so Hanley decided we could cheer him up by teaching him to play football.  Because he was so big, Hanley Bear said Horsey should be the goalkeeper, but Horsey was such a good goalkeeper that Hanley couldn't score any goals at all!

If he was feeling cross or sad about that, Hanley soon had a reason to cheer up, as Polar had warmed up some rice pudding for tea, which is one of our favourites.  Grizzly made sure we all had a share and Horsey agreed it was very nice!

In the evening, we played the 'Peril of the Pole' board game from our Once Upon a Time in the North book.  Grizzly joked at the beginning that Hanley could have some of his beer if he won the game, not expecting Hanley to win - but he did!

When it was bedtime, we were thrilled to find we had a bright new Paddington cover for our basket, made by Polar - and she hadn't cut any Paddingtons to make it.

We were delighted to see the sun was shining the next morning.  We climbed up to Horsey's lookout on the back of Polar's chair.

We could see across the valley to the lower arm of the canal, where more boats were moored, and soon we were on our way through the bluebell woods.

We couldn't be sure but we thought there might have been even more than we had seen at Parrot's Drumble earlier in the year.  It looked as if there was a blue mist through the woods and we all agreed it was one of the prettiest places we had ever been on Uppie.

We thought we would turn at the wide section at the end of the bluebell woods, where we have stopped before, but this time, Grizzly decided we would carry on through the tunnel.  None of us were scared, because it is only a short tunnel and you can see right the way through it, unlike the big Harecastle Tunnel.

It is also high enough that even Polar can steer the boat through safely!  It was exciting for us, as none of us bears had been through it before or travelled along this section of canal.

When we reached the other end of the tunnel, we saw rolling hills and green fields.  Grizzly explained that the canal didn't go all the way into Leek anymore, but that one day it might be restored.  

 "For now, we have to turn around before we get to what used to be an aqueduct over the river," he explained.  "Polar and I are going to have a walk a little way along the feeder from the reservoir, but we think you bears ought to stay aboard and look after Horsey.  You could all come with us, but there is a risk of thundery showers, and we don't have a bag big enough to put Horsey in to keep him dry.  If it's a walk we think you bears would enjoy, we'll come here again another day."

We didn't mind staying on the boat with Horsey that morning and, when our human guardians got back, they said their walk was through a country park that would be perfect for small bears to explore, so hopefully we will be back in Leek again quite soon.