Sonning - the Bear on a Boat.: An Autumn Cruise. Part 1

We bears have been so busy having adventures that I am getting behind with my blog about them. Fortunately, although we are in the middle of another adventure, we are staying somewhere with Internet access and Polar has brought her little laptop, so I am going to start trying to catch up.

Last month, Polar had some leave booked and she and Grizzly decided to have an adventure on Uplander II (Uppie) the narrowboat. They decided to explore the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals, and five of us were allowed to go with them (the Air Bears stayed at home to look after the house).

We set off in sunny weather, so Hanley and I fetched our life-jackets and sat out on the roof for the trip up to Congleton. We know that part of the canal network better than any other but we still love it, as there are lovely views across the countryside and we often see kingfishers.

When we reached Congleton, Grizzly and Polar moored Uppie for the night and Polar set the stove up for a nice warming fire. Poor old Grizzly was in trouble, though, because she found he had not loaded very much wood for the journey, despite telling her they had plenty when she had asked him earlier.

Rather than cut our trip short, they came up with a plan; in the morning, Grizzly would catch the train back to Kidsgrove, go home and get the car and some wood, bring it to the boat, then take the car home again and come back by train.

Hanley Bear wanted to go with him to help, but we were worried he might get left behind at home, or even on the train. Instead, he helped Polar make room in the lockers for the extra wood and went with Polar to meet Grizzly when he came back on the train at the end of the mission, which meant he got a little bit of "all day breakfast" at the pub before we set off again.

Huddlesford borrowed my life-jacket for the next part of the journey, and he and Hanley sat on the roof for the trip from Congleton to the foot of the Bosley Locks, where we stopped on our second night,

We love it here, because the views are so nice. We could see a big hill called The Cloud very clearly in one direction and, in the other, the very long railway viaduct across the Dane Valley, carrying the main line from Stoke to Manchester.

We once saw an otter here, but there were none around that evening.

In the morning, Polar said it was an all-bears-on-board day, because they had twelve locks to work up through and the weather was a little bit drizzly.

So she made us a comfortable seat on the table in the cratch, where we could see what was happening, after first making sure all he paints were safely sealed in their pots and none could get on our fur.

Grizzly worked the first few locks and these were the hardest, as he had no-one to help him. Polar was luckier, as there were more boats coming down when it was her turn, so the other crews helped with the gates and paddles.

When we reached the top, Polar and Grizzly filled our water tank and made lunch. I asked if any bears could go on the roof now the locks were behind us, but Polar said it was too damp, so we enjoyed the rest of the journey towards Macclesfield from the cratch, mooring just outside the town at the Gurnett Aqueduct that afternoon.

The next day was damp too, so we stayed inside as we went through Macclesfield, getting a super view of the huge Hovis Mill, which is now flats and offices, so sadly doesn't make flour, bread or buns anymore. There are lots of boats here, with people living on them, so we waved to the humans and looked out for other boat bears (but we didn't see any).

Further north is Bollington, where there are two more massive mills - the Adelphi Mill and the Clarence Mill. Both of them have stopped being mills and are now flats, offices and other things, but they are still very handsome and interesting buildings.

Opposite the Adelphi mill is a nice boatyard where we got extra fuel for our journey. It is the base for Nb Alton, a lovely vintage fuel boat, and you can also hire two little day boats here, or bikes for exploring the Middlewood Way, a cycle route that runs along a disused railway route.

Grizzly brought us one of their leaflets to read and we saw that the bikes could be ready-stocked with picnic things in the baskets on the front - which would also make great bear-carriers!

"Maybe we can bring Uppie to Bollington and have a bike journey with our human guardians next summer?" I suggested to the other bears. They all agreed it would be great, especially if we had a picnic too!

Thinking about food made us feel hungry, so we were pleased when we found somewhere to stop for lunch at the other end of the town, near the Clarence Mill. This has lots of small businesses in it, including a radio station, an art gallery and a very good café with brilliant cake!

We all went ashore in the Bear Bag and, once Polar and Grizzly had eaten their savoury food, we jumped out for a taste of their cake. Grizzly had coffee and walnut, which is Hanley's favourite too, and Polar tried some tangerine and almond cake,

Huddlesford and Waverley thought this one was the best, although Endon and I thought they were both equally good. We also spotted some Victoria sandwich crumbs left on a plate on the neighbouring table so, being good small bears, made sure they were not wasted.

In the afternoon, being very full of cake, we had naps in the chair while Polar and Grizzly steered Uppie further north.

Polar was pleased to see the repair boats hard at work near Four Ways, and we woke up in time to see the wide section near High Lane. If it is fine, there are amazing views all across Manchester from here, but it was so misty we couldn't see the city at all.

We moored near High Lane that evening and, in the morning, cruised past another huge old mill into the town of Marple, where there is the canal junction with the Peak Forest Canal and two railway stations.

Polar and Grizzly were going to visit Manchester, as Polar wanted to buy some new walking boats as her old ones had got holey. They decided to go from Rose Hill Station, and were very glad that they chose that one as it was a lovely little station, being looked after by a very nice man called Tony in the ticket office.

We had just missed a train, so we had some tea in the pub next door, then Grizzly and Tony had a long chat about railways, while Polar kept an eye on Endon as he explored the garden.

Mr Tony was so kind he even gave Grizzly a book about the local railways just as our train was ready to go!

We enjoyed our train journey, but our human guardians didn't like it in Manchester as it was very busy and very few other humans were wearing masks, so they soon came back to Marple.

We came back to the other station, then walked back to Uppie along the locks. Hanley, Endon and I had seen them before, as we came through them on our trip through Manchester in 2019, but Waverley and Huddlesford hadn't seen them before.

There are sixteen altogether and they are full of interesting little details, like this tunnel under the main road for boat horses.

Near the top is a pub which is very special to Grizzly, as it was near here that he was reunited with an old friend called Peter, who he hadn't seen for many years, who happened to be there looking at the canal when Polar, Grizzly and another pal came through on a boat.

Mr Peter and his wife Mrs Val are great followers of our adventures, so we all posed for a photo where Grizzly and Mr Peter were reunited, then went for a drink at the pub.

Hanley helped Grizzly drink a toast to Mr Peter, then it was time to go back to Uppie.