An Autumn Cruise: Part 5 - the Journey Home

 

This is the last post about our autumn canal trip and takes us back to Kidsgrove from New Mills.  

Hanley and Endon went on the roof for the late afternoon journey back through New Mills, where they saw some building going on with what looked like giant Lego!  Hanley said it was "bear-illiant".

 We found a nice mooring near Disley, which Polar had marked on our map the last time we'd been on the Peak Forest Canal.  After a nice tea and some reading time, we settled down for bed.  The smaller bears thought it was chilly enough to leave their hats on that night!  As you can see, there's really only room for four bears at a time in the basket, so we take it in turns to sleep in my old boat bed - except Waverley.

In the morning, it was time to set off again, but no bears could go on the roof because it was rainy.  Instead, we climbed up on the back of Polar's chair and looked out of the window.

There are no locks on the Upper Peak Forest Canal but there are a couple of lift bridges and swing bridges for our humans to deal with.  They are gradually having electric controls fitted, so they are not such hard work for people, and can be worked from the towpath side if boaters are on their own.

It didn't take too long for us to get to Marple, where our humans went ashore to get more tasty treats from the nice bakery, before setting off down the Macclesfield Canal again.

We were glad we were inside where it was warm and dry.  From our window, we could see the birds that live by the canal, including a big cormorant that didn't fly away even when we went right past, and lots of herons.

Although it was wet, Grizzly stayed warm and dry in his new waterproof coat from the nice shop in Buxton.  He and Polar took it in turns to stay on deck and steer the boat.  Grizzly had a nap when it was his turn not to steer, so we had naps too.

There were more heavy showers about on the next day, when we were heading for Gurnett Aqueduct again, as Polar and Grizzly planned to go out for dinner at a nice restaurant nearby.  It was a special day for our human guardians, as they had been married to each other for 30 years. 

We sat in the cratch until Polar came in from steering and wanted to do some painting.  She was working on a special project for some friends (which is still not finished) and doing "castles" rather than just "roses" on this watering can.  I will make sure I share a photo when she has finished it!

When we reached the Gurnett Aqueduct, Polar and Grizzly moored Uppie and got ready to go out for their dinner.  We could see the lights on in the restaurant across the canal from us.  As it was a special, romantic evening for them, Endon said we bears should stay aboard Uppie, and we all agreed.

Polar sorted out some nuts and fruit for us for our tea and Grizzly put the radio on, so Hanley could listen to the Stoke v. Bournmouth game.

 

"I'm going to get my mini stadium out, and we can all pretend to be at the match!" said Hanley.

We all settled down for a bears' night in, when we heard the hatch being opened - and Polar and Grizzly came back.  They had walked over the bridge and all the way down the drive to the restaurant, with the lights along the drive and in the building twinkling away, only to find the car park empty and a big sign outside saying they were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!  Poor Polar and Grizzly!  We offered them some of our bear food, but Polar opened some tins and made a nice dinner, and it would still have been a perfect evening - except Stoke City lost.

There was a weather warning for heavy thunderstorms the following morning, so we had to stay indoors again, although it might have been an indoor day even if it had been sunny, as we had the Bosley Locks to work through.

Grizzly went on the tiller and Polar, with lots of help from a really nice C&RT volunteer called Ruth, worked us down through the locks.  Most of the time they dodged the showers but they were caught in one very heavy downpour.  We reached the foot of the flight in time for a late lunch and Polar suggested staying there, which proved to be a good idea, as there was more very heavy rain that afternoon.

The following morning was gloriously sunny, but rather cold.  We asked if we could go on the roof and Polar said "yes", but not all at once.  We decided between us that Hanley, Waverley and I would go first, then Huddlesford and Endon would go up in the afternoon.

"Are we going home today?" I asked Grizzly.

 "Not today, little pal," he replied.  "We're going to stop at the Rising Sun where we know we can get a nice evening meal, and have a belated anniversary dinner - and, this time, you can come with us!"

We had a marvellous morning cruise.  As there were no locks to worry about, Polar got off and took some photos of Uppie and the canal, as well as autumn leaves and this beautiful (but very poisonous) toadstool.

We chatted to Grizzly and sang him our little "Grizzly is our friend" song, until we reached the aqueduct just outside Congleton, where we stopped for lunch.

After lunch, Hanley and I swapped our life-jackets with Huddlesford and Endon, and they went up on the roof with little Waverley.  It was still very sunny and not too cold - a perfect boating day!

Just south of Congleton is a bungalow that has these amazing sculptures of giraffes in its garden, which Polar always photographs when we go past.  This is because our nice next-door neighbour, Mrs Liz, was doing a towpath walk there with a friend one day and stopped to take a photo on her phone, when the owner suddenly came out and shouted that she wasn't allowed to take photographs and was very rude, so this is Polar's revenge.  

Polar is naughty sometimes!

We reached the moorings at the Rising Sun and were soon moored up.  After naps, it was time for dinner and our humans had a very nice three course meal, with lots of delicious seasonal vegetables which they shared with us, and some wine, which they didn't!

In the morning, we just had a short journey home to our mooring, then it was time to pack everything up while Grizzly caught the bus home to fetch the car.

We had loved being on Uppie again and can't wait for our next journey.  I wonder when that will be?