Small Bears and Steam Railways

We bears enjoyed lots of fun days out in April, including a visit to the Churnet Valley Railway.  We saw it last year, when we travelled along the Caldon Canal on Polar and Grizzly's narrowboat, Uplander II, but we had not been for a ride behind one of the engines before.

While we waited for the train at Cheddleton Station, Polar let us climb on some vintage luggage that's left on the platform to make it look like a long time ago.  There are pigeons in the baskets but, fortunately for them, they aren't real ones.

       

We were catching a special train, which went in a big loop north from Cheddleton, through a long, smoky tunnel and past the junction where the lines used to run to Stoke and Leek, and climbed up into the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Polar and Grizzly found us nice seats with a table we could sit on, giving us good views of the fields and high hills behind them.  It was a bright, sunny day, so we could see a very long way.

It was quite a tough climb for the little steam engine, so the railway people put a diesel locomotive on the back to help push all the heavy carriages up into the hills.

I think the animals who live in the farms were quite surprised to see us!

The railway lines go all the way to a big quarry at Caldon Low, but the train didn't go that far.  We stopped near Ipstones, then came back down the valley.

Grizzly pointed out where the line to Stoke branched off.  He told us that there were plans to reopen it for passenger services, although no work had happened for a while.  We hope it will be repaired soon, all the way to Leek, as it would give us something else to do on our days out.

The end of the line is at a station called Kingsley and Froghall, near the end of the Caldon Canal (and the start of the Uttoxeter Canal, which you can't take boats along, at least for now). 

We got back in our bear bag and let Polar carry us, as there were lots of people on the platform, as a couple had been holding their wedding reception on the train, in some very smart dining car carriages.  Our little furry tummies rumbled when we smelt roast dinners!

Travelling back to Cheddleton, we recognised the Black Lion pub beside the Caldon Canal, near where we had moored last year on Uppie.

'Last time we came here, we had baths!' Hanley Bear remembered.

'I think you're going to need baths again, little bears,' said Polar.  'You're getting quite grubby after all your adventures.'

       

We didn't say anything and hoped she would have forgotten about giving us bear baths by the time we got home.  We liked smelling of bear and adventures!

When we got back to Cheddleton, Polar and Grizzly drove up into the Peak District, going over the level crossing at the station and crossing over the Caldon Low line further up the road.

We were going for a walk along part of an abandoned railway which is now a cycle route, through the Manifold Valley.  Grizzly explained that they had walked some of the middle section of the route, but not the north or south ends.  This time, they were going to explore the northern part, near Hulme End.

We enjoyed the walk, but thought it would have been much more fun to have another ride behind a steam train.

On the way back, we got a good view of The Roaches, near Leek.  Endon said he would like to climb them.  Grizzly said he would have to be very careful, as they are very high and steep and the mountain rescue people might not be very pleased if they had to save a small bear who. had got stuck.

'We can go and visit them, one day,' said Polar.  'As long as you are very good and sensible bears.'


I think we are always good and sensible bears, don't you?

Bears and Bulbs

The day before our Manifold Valley adventure, our humans took us to Trentham Gardens again.  Polar wanted to see the tulip display but she was worried that the flowers would have been smashed to pieces by the stormy weather at the weekend.

As you can imagine, she was delighted to see that the bulbs still looked lovely.  We were pleased too, because we love playing hide-and-seek in the flowers at Trentham.

Polar sat us on one of the benches near the rose garden where we could admire the gardens, while she and Grizzly took some photos.  We bears jumped down into the flowerpots to take a closer look at the blooms.

The tulips were really pretty, some with rounded cups and some with pointy petals, while the small white daffodils had a lovely scent.  They were Endon's favourite.

There weren't enough flowers in the pots for us to hide from each other, so we ran up to the terrace to see if we could play there instead. 

That was a much better place for hide-and-seek, as there are lots of little box hedges just high enough to hide a small bear and more terracotta pots to sneak behind.  We had lots of fun here, taking it in turns to look for each other among the wonderfully bright flowers.

Eventually, Polar and Grizzly gathered us back to the bear bag and carried us through to formal gardens to the café, for lunch, before we set off around the lake.

We stopped to look at more pots of tulips and even little boats with spring bulbs in them.

'Don't step back, bears!' warned Polar, as she took our photograph.

Soon we were in the woods again, our favourite part of the garden.  Polar put the bear bag down so we could climb out and play again, climbing on some logs and nosing into their hollow cores.

Then we went to see what new flowers were blooming in the woodland meadows.  Everything was bathed in soft, green light from the fresh beech leaves just unfurling on the trees above us.

I found some lovely springy grass to bounce in, while the smaller bears made dens in the new leaves.

We were amazed at how many different shapes and colours of leaves there were, with lots of little blue and yellow flowers on delicate stalks popping up in between them.

We had lots of time to play, because Polar was busy taking photographs.  There are lots of swans at Trentham, including a pair of black swans with four little fluffy cygnets, about the same size as us bears!

There are very fancy ducks and grebes too, including great crested grebes and this very dapper mandarin duck.

Polar came to fetch us after she had finished taking her pictures. 

'I hope you've all had fun, little bears,' she said.  'We've seen lots of birds while you've been playing, including a kingfisher.'

'We're very lucky bears to have such a brilliant place to play,' Hanley Bear said, and we all agreed.  

'I wonder what flowers will be out next time we come?' I asked.  

We'll have to wait and see, won't we?

The Invisible River

We have been enjoying so many adventures that it's becoming hard for this small bear to keep up with writing about them.  I have a long list of special things to tell you about so I think I will have to start with what we did yesterday and work backwards..

Yesterday, we went for a very long walk with our humans along a disused railway line which is now part of a long-distance cycle route.  Most of it runs along the valley of a river called the Manifold, although we walked from Waterhouses along the part that follows the river Hamps and joins the Manifold near Weags Bridge.

It runs through a lovely part of the Staffordshire Peak District quite close to Ilam and Dove Dale, which we visited about a month earlier. 

When we started along the path, safely tucked into our bear bag over Polar's shoulder, we could hear water splashing and gurgling over the rocky river bed, even when we couldn't see it behind trees and bushes.  But then, it went quiet.

When we looked to see why the river was so quiet, we saw there was no water in it!

'Where has all the water gone?' asked little Endon Bear.

I didn't know what to tell him but Hanley Bear, who likes learning about science and nature, knew the answer.

'It's underground!' he said.  'Unless there's been very heavy rain, all the water disappears down sink holes into limestone caves and flows along where we can't see it.'

We could see the plants on the dry river bed were muddy and all bent over in the same direction, where there had been water flowing over them a day or two earlier, after the stormy weather on Saturday, but there was no water now.

'How very strange,' I said.  'I wonder how wild animals find water to drink if it all sinks underground?'

'Maybe they buy cups of tea at the farm, like Polar and Grizzly are going to do,' suggested Endon.

They did oatcakes and homemade cakes, but Polar had made us a picnic as she didn't know there was anywhere to buy food along this part of the walk, so we will have to sample the farm's goodies another day.

Polar carried us quite a long way furtheralong the valley, towards a long ridge of land.  As we got closer, we saw big caves high on the rocky hillside.  Although our human guardians tell us there are no wild bears here, we were not sure we believed that now - these were obviously bear caves!

Then we had another surprise - we could hear running water again!

'We've reached the River Manifold,' said Grizzly.  'This is where we've got to turn around and make our way back. 

Before we set off, Polar said we could have a run around on our own while she and Grizzly had a little rest and a drink of water.

We climbed on a farm gate, then did some running and jumping on the bouncy turf among all sorts of pretty spring flowers.  There were lots of new smells to investigate and plants to nibble to see if they were good to eat, but we enjoyed scampering about most of all.  Soon, we had tired ourselves out.

We were very glad that we were going to be carried back along the trail in the bear bag, rather than having to walk all the way on our own small paws.  Hanley and I decided we were going to have our afternoon naps!

Endon said he was going to stay awake to look out for wild bears in the caves when the humans got back where he could see them, but he is only a small cub and he soon fell asleep too and none of us woke up until Polar lifted us out of the bear bag and tucked us into our cosy bear basket at home.