An Autumn Cruise: Part 4 - New Mills

 

On our way back to Marple from Whaley Bridge, we stopped for lunch near New Mills, the town where the sweets are made.  As we weren't in a rush to get anywhere, Polar suggested we all have a walk along part of the Goyt Valley Way before we moved on.

"I think you'll be amazed by what you'll see as we go along the valley," said Polar.  "But I won't tell you any more now."

We were intrigued.

"You'll see a clever way of making electricity too," said Grizzly.  Hanley and Huddlesford's ears pricked up at that, as they love science.

On the way along the towpath to the footpath, we saw a group of paddleboarders making their way down the canal.  We like seeing people using the canal in different ways, whether it's on the water in canoes or different boats, or on the towpath as walkers or cyclists, as long as they are all careful and considerate to each other.

The footpath took us across some fields and past a nice old farm, then right underneath the huge stone railway viaduct we had seen from the boat on the way to Whaley Bridge.  Then we followed the river into some woods and a steep, rocky valley.

We all promised to stay away from the river, which was flowing very fast now, so Polar let us out of the Bear Bag for a little while.  Endon found some big boulders he could practice his climbing on and there were trees to climb too.

There were some more big stone bridges, this time carrying roads across the river, and between the two, next to a big weir and beside a high cliff, was a little building.  "That's a mini hydro-electric power plant," said Grizzly.

"Wow!" said Hanley.  "It's so simple - just like a big corkscrew!  They could fit lots of these on the bywashes at locks, like the big staircase locks at Etruria, and make green energy!" 

You can read more about it here.

"They've been using water for power here for hundreds of years," said Endon.  "And we can climb on the ruins of this old mill."  So we did.  

We thought it was amazing how the old mill chimney had been built right into the side of the gorge!

Further down the gorge, there were humans doing some climbing too, right under one of the road bridges.  After that, the valley got even narrower and the river got more turbulent, and we thought we would need to turn back or follow the path up to the road, but there was a surprise ahead.

There was a spectacular walkway right along the gorge!  We got into the Bear Bag for that, as the safety rails were designed for humans and human cubs rather than small bears and it was a very long way down to the river!

It made us very sad to see that the brilliant engineer who oversaw the building of the walkway had died in a terrorist bombing in London in 2005.  We all had leaky eyes when we read about that.

The walkway runs along above a very turbulent section of the river, under the railway embankment.  Because the guard rail is quite high, Polar and Grizzly both felt very safe on it and Polar took lots of photos.  When we reached a bridge across to the other side of the river, our human guardian went that way, as the old mill on that side had been converted into a pub and community centre, and there was a craft market taking place there.

Endon and Polar liked the way flower beds had been made in among the crumbly parts of the walls.  We found an outdoor table and enjoyed a cup of tea, before setting off up the hill to the Swizzles mill and the canal towpath.

We noticed that the sweet factory was recruiting workers.  "I wonder if there are any jobs that small bears could do?" I said to the other bears.  "If we got jobs there, we could get paid in sweeties and give them away to human cubs whose families can't afford to buy any for them."

Polar gave us all hugs and said she didn't think there would be safe jobs for small bears in the factory, but that she would help us think of something else we could do to help human cubs.

Walking back to the boat, Polar was cross when she saw that a new "Canal and River Trust" branded warning sign had been put up about the Giant Hogweed that grows on the non-towpath side just past the long-term moorings, rather than getting the dangerous weed removed, and this year's had been allowed to go to seed.  We thought that was very silly and could be dangerous for boaters and the paddleboarders we had seen earlier.

But we didn't stay cross for long - we had enjoyed a lovely, interesting visit and hope to go back to New Mills one day soon.