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.