Although it looks like the remains of a ruined castle, Mow Cop Castle is actually what humans call a "folly", something wealthy landowners used to build because they thought they made the landscape look more beautiful or more dramatic - which it does! The castle is built on an outcrop of a very hard sandstone rock called Millstone Grit, because it was used to make millstones for grinding wheat into flour.
"We're fierce wild bears!" shouted Waverley, but I don't think the humans going past believed them.
It was a slightly hazy day, but we still had some great views across Staffordshire towards Shropshire when we reached the east side of hill. We will definitely get our humans to take us there again when it is less windy but clearer, as I think we would be able to see all the way to the Stoke City ground from the castle itself.
Polar and Grizzly rounded us all up and back into our Bear Bag so we could cross the road and take the path north along the ridge to the Old Man of Mow.
The old Man of Mow is not an old man. It is a big chunk of rock. Polar said that, from the side, it reminded her of the funny carved figures on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (which she has only ever seen on the television). Humans say it was not weathered naturally, but nobody knows for sure whether it was carved as a statue or just left because the stone wasn't quite good enough to use as millstones.
I think he might have been a giant Cheshire troll trying to invade Staffordshire, who got caught by the rays of the rising sun coming over the summit of the hill and turned into a pile of rocks.
We read more about the Gritstone Trail on a noticeboard near the Old Man. It goes all the way from Kidsgrove Station to Tegg's Nose Country Park in Macclesfield, which is too far for even a long-legged human like Polar to walk in one day, especially as there are lots of hills.
We walked a little further along it to see the views towards Manchester and Liverpool and the Peak District. Even though we were high up, some of the path was still boggy, as we have had a lot of rain recently, so if any of you want to walk it, you will need good boots.
Endon, who also likes anything to do with plants and flowers, was very interested in all the moss and lichen growing on the dry stone walls, so he asked Polar to take some pictures for him.
By now, the sun was getting low in the sky and it was getting very chilly, even for small bears with fur and Christmas jumpers to keep them warm, so we let Polar put us back in our bag and carry us back to the car.
We walked as far as the big radio mast on the highest part of the hill. We could see the hill known as The Cloud, which is near the Bosley Locks on the Macclesfield Canal, right ahead of us and Croker Hill in the distance behind that.
"I'd love to climb those hills!" said Endon, who is a keen mountaineering bear.
The castle looked even more dramatic with the sun behind it and I can't wait to visit again and climb right to the top!You can find out more about Mow Cop, the Old Man of Mow and the Gritstone Trail in this leaflet, although it needs updating to include the official Hanley Bear line of the Staffordshire-Cheshire border:
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