Hanley Bear goes to London

 Ay up, everyone!  It's Hanley Bear here, to tell you about a journey I made with Grizzly a couple of weeks ago.  I was a really lucky bear as I was the only bear to go with him - and we went all the way to London on the train!

Grizzly was going to see one of his friends - a man called Nick who he used to work with when he was with Network Rail - and then meet his son, George.  We travelled on off-peak trains because we thought they would be quiet, so there would be less chance of Grizzly catching the nasty virus - but we didn't realise he had probably caught it already by then!

We caught our train at Kidsgrove station, after Polar dropped us off, walking over the new footbridge which Grizzly spent years and years campaigning for (the lifts have not been finished yet), then had to change trains at Stafford.  

We arrived in London at a big station called Euston, where Grizzly didn't take any photos, and Grizzly walked along a nice quiet route away from the main road to St Pancras Station.  I remembered coming here with Sonning when we went to Belgium in 2018.  

It is a really cool station! 

Grizzly, me and Mr Nick had lunch there, then they took me across the road to Kings Cross Station, to see Platform 9 3/4s, where the Hogwarts Express leaves from.

"Can we go back to Stoke on the Hogwarts Express?" I asked Grizzly, but he said he was only a 'muggle', so we couldn't.  

"Maybe we could if I had an owl?" I thought, so I slipped out of Grizzly's pocket while he was talking to Mr Nick, found a very small owl in the shop and bought him.  But even with my owl, I couldn't get through the wall, and hurt my shoulder charging at it.  

Grizzly picked me and my owl up and put us in his pocket.

"Never mind, Hanley," he said.  "It's quite a nice day.  Let's go for a walk and see if we can find the Regents Canal - it's not far from here."  

So we set off past some posh flats and suddenly, there was the canal!  I wonder if we'll even get here on Uppie?

Then it was time to say goodbye to Mr Nick and to find Mr George.  He and Grizzly met back at Euston, then we went to a great pub and had a big dinner with chips, and some beer, then got the trains back to Stafford and Kidsgrove, where Polar came to meet us.  What a brilliant day we'd had!  

I still need to think of a name for my owl pal, though.  I might call him Shaqiri!