And then there were Five!

In my next few posts, I will be sharing the story (so far) of a journey we have been making on Uppie, from Stoke-on-Trent down to Droitwich in Worcestershire.  However, before I tell you about this, I need to introduce you to a new member of our hug.

One morning, while we were travelling down the Coventry Canal, Polar and Grizzly went for a short walk from where we had moored, at a village called Huddlesford.  

 

Soon after they set off, Polar found a bear!

 

He was sitting on a tall post close to the hedge, just above the level of Polar's eyes, and he was very, very muddy.  Polar says she doesn't know how she came to be looking that way, as she and Grizzly had walked down to look at a canal junction and the West Coast Main Line railway, but we bears think she must have heard the bear calling to her.

Polar lifted him down and gave him a hug, then Grizzly carried him back to our boat and sat him in the cratch, where we were all sitting, about to start our breakfast.

The bear told us his name was Gr-Growl-Growl-Gr-Growl.  He was very pleased when we told him he was welcome to join our hug and let him eat most of our bread and marmalade.  He was not sure how he came to be sitting on the post but thought someone might have fished him out of the canal and put him there, although he couldn't remember being in the water.

"I expect our human guardians, Polar and Grizzly, will call you after where they found you," explained Endon.  "So you'll be Huddlesford Bear!"

"I like that name," he replied.

"You're going need a bath, pal!" Hanley told him, after Huddlesford had finished his breakfast.  "I'll help you do that, before our humans get back.  They'll be really pleased if we've got you all clean!" 

Hanley ran some cold water into the kitchen bowl and added a squirt of washing-up liquid, and Huddlesford lowered himself in cautiously.

 "Blimey!" said Huddlesford, after a few minutes.  "This water looks like gravy!"

It did, and yet Huddlesford himself still looked very grubby.  Hanley wondered what else we had to clean him.  Endon and I found some liquid soap and the humans' nail brush, so Hanley poured the first bowl of water away and ran some more, while Huddlesford rubbed the soap into his fur and scrubbed at the worst parts with the brush.  Soon, there were bubbles everywhere!

"I'm still not very clean," he said, looking into the water, which was gravy-coloured again.

"The mud must have got right into your stuffing," said Hanley.  "Come and sit back in the cratch, where it's warm, until Polar comes back - she'll know what to do!"

We found him a towel to sit on and, while Huddlesford carried on scratching little clumps of mud out of his fur, we told him about the nice baths we had at Polar and Grizzly's house

"At least we can see that your tummy and snout fur are paler than your body fur now," Waverley said.  "But, without wanting to be rude, Mr Huddlesford, you don't seem to have a nose!"

"I must have lost it!" replied Huddlesford.  He looked very sad.

"Don't worry," said Endon.  "Polar is sure to be able to make one for you, when she has some material.  And she'll make you some clothes too!"

But Polar's first job was to finish getting Huddlesford clean.  When she and Grizzly came back from their walk, she thanked us for starting Huddlesford's washes and said we were right to have used cold water for the first ones, but that now we would use warmer water to get more of the dirt out and some shampoo and conditioner to make his fur glossy.

Huddlesford enjoyed his soak in the warm bath much more than the cold ones.  By now, the water was a little clearer when he got out, although lots of dirt was still coming out, so Polar gave him lots of rinses before she decided he was clean enough to start drying.

Hanley Bear kept Huddlesford company while he sat on the draining board, rubbing as much water as possible out of his fur.  

 

"The most important thing is to get your stuffing dry," Hanley explained.  "Our friend Henry, who we talk to on Twitter, says you have to do that to make sure you don't get mouldy, so we'll do some exercises and running soon, then sit out in the cratch where it's really warm."

Hanley showed Huddlesford how to do some warming up stretches and to wiggle his paws about, then they ran through into the cratch, which was very warm.

"You'll need to make sure you dry your tail too!" said Hanley, so Huddlesford climbed up on the lantern and wiggled his tail.

 

 When he was mostly dry, the rest of us came to sit with him as Polar and Grizzly steered the boat down to Fazeley Junction, where they had to refill the water tank.  Then they took the turning towards Birmingham, and more boating adventures. 

Over the following week, Huddlesford settled into our hug.  He got a smart new T-shirt from our friend Tour Guide Ted's Stuffie Stuff shop and Polar made him a pair of trousers, and a nose!

We found out from his back paws and his label that he was a charity bear from St Giles' Hospice in Sutton Coldfield, and was born in 2009, making him the oldest of us bears as well as the biggest, as he is taller than me.  He only just fits in our bear basket, so Polar is looking out for a basket to make him a bed of his own.

But he is a brilliant new member of our hug and has already had lots of adventures with us.  I will tell you more about those in my next few posts, very soon.