Snowdrops and Mossy Woods.

We bears are very lucky, as we get taken on lots of adventures by our human guardians.  Usually, these are to places the humans know we will like but, yesterday, it was us bears who found a new and special place to explore.

About a year ago, Polar showed me how to use Twitter.  I made friends with lots of other bears that way but I also follow human things that I like, including canal and boating groups, museums and environmental charities, like the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, who look after one of our favourite places at Westport Lake.  

Yesterday, they shared some beautiful photographs of masses of snowdrops growing in some woods, taken at a place called Loynton Moss.  That is quite a long way from where we live but not so far from Stafford, where Grizzly had to go for a hospital appointment.

'Look, Polar!' I said.  'Isn't this pretty?  Do you think we could go for a walk there after we've been to the hospital with Grizzly?'

Polar said we would have to see how long Grizzly had to wait, but we bears could come with them, just in case there was time for a walk.  Luckily, Grizzly was seen early and it was a bright day, so Polar drove us down towards the Shropshire border, over the Shropshire Union Canal and into a little car park overlooking fields full of molehills and some woods.

We bears couldn't wait to go exploring, but Polar told us to stay in our bag for the walk through the fields, as the path was quite muddy.  This wasn't surprising, as we were walking towards an area of peatland, and the woodland smelt very different to any of the woods we had played in before.   We didn't know where the snowdrops would be but we were eager to see them so, as soon as Polar put our bag down, we jumped out and took the first path we saw into the birch woods.

The ground under our paws was very soft and springy, and there was moss everywhere!  It was growing out of the ground, on the trees and over fallen branches.  There were plenty of those for climbing on, too. 

'This must be why this place is called Loynton Moss,' I said to the smaller bears.  We climbed, ran and skipped deep into the pretty, mossy woods, although we made sure we didn't lose sight of Polar and Grizzly.

'Do you think fairies might live here?' asked Endon.

'I'm sure of it!' Hanley replied, and I agreed with him.  This was definitely the sort of wood where fairies would live.

However, we still hadn't seen any snowdrops.  When Grizzly and Polar caught us up, we were still looking for them.  'Maybe they are near the canal?' suggested Polar.  

Some steps led up to the top of an embankment, where we looked down into a shady cutting to the Shropshire Union Canal.  We bears haven't explored that by boat yet, but Polar said we might travel along it after Uppie has been repainted, as we could make our way across from Middlewich.  

'We could go to Chester, or Ellesmere Port, then come back down this way,' she said.  'There are other deep cuttings like this, but there are open sections too and lots of locks.'

We jumped out of our bag and skipped and clapped at the thought of boating again, then we ran off to explore the woods along the embankment, which were quite different to the mossy woods, as the ground was much drier and most of the trees were big beeches.  On the side facing away from the canal, between where we were now and the mossy woods, we saw there was a huge patch of reedy marshland. 

'That's the moss,' Polar explained to us.  'It's means bog or swamp in parts of north-west England.  It's a very important wildlife habitat - but it's too soggy for small bears!'

Up on the embankment, there were still branches to climb and places where we thought fairies might be hiding, and there were some bright red fungi which we thought were amazing, but there was still no sign of snowdrops.  We reached another canal bridge, then turned onto a path which we could see ran across some land cleared for wildflowers and back towards the molehill fields.

Little Endon Bear's back paws were getting tired, so he turned around to find Polar, so he could get back in our Bear Bag.  He gave a little squeal of delight.  'Look!  There are thousands of snowdrops in the woods!' he cried. 

Sure enough, the bank of snowdrops we had seen on Twitter was right behind us!  We waved to our human guardians, so they could see where we were going, then all ran into the snowdrop woods, being careful not to trample on the flowers.  

To us bears, they smelt of spring and the sun shining through their petals made them look like fairy wings.  We sat and sniffed them until Polar and Grizzly said it was time for lunch, and Polar lifted us back into our bag.  

We were sad small bears to have to leave the snowdrop woods, as they were so beautiful.

We had a lovely lunch surprise in store, however.  Polar and Grizzly realised we were near a canalside pub at Norbury Junction, so we went there for hot pies, and Hanley Bear had beer with Grizzly.  

It was too cold to spend long exploring the canal but Polar and Grizzly say we will go there on Uppie later in the spring, which we are very excited about.  

We can't wait to be boat bears again! 

At the Bottom of a Lock!

I hope you enjoyed Hanley Bear's football report.  He had lots of fun writing it and hopes to do more in future, but today it's back to me, Sonning Bear, to tell you about our latest adventure. 

On Saturday, Polar look us bears out for the day.  Grizzly was poorly with a cold, so he stayed at home.  We all gave him hugs, then Polar put us in the bear bag and drove us to Etruria in Stoke-on-Trent, where there is a canal junction, an industrial museum and lots of locks, including a 'staircase' of two locks together just after you go onto the Caldon Canal. 

During the summer, a canal festival is held there.  We thought one might be happening when we arrived at the weekend, as there were Canal and River Trust gazebos all along the water's edge.  Polar explained there was something else very special happening that we would like to see, but first, it was time for an early lunch.

'Yay!' cheered Hanley Bear.  'It's the Oatcake Boat!' 

We jumped out of our bag and ran along the roof of Mrs Kay's boat to the serving hatch, where we could sniff the oatcakes cooking and watch as Polar queued up with the other customers.  Polar bought us a scrumptious cheese and mushroom oatcake to share, although I think Hanley would have eaten it all himself if we had let him. 

'You had better get back in your bag for the next part of our day,' said Polar, when we had finished our lunch.  'We're going to see the staircase locks being repaired - and we're going to go right down inside them.'

'Won't we get all wet?' asked Endon.

'Do we have to wear diving gear?' I asked, wondering where we would get that from.

'No bears,' Polar replied.  'All the water has been pumped out so the C&RT people can do their work.  We can stay perfectly dry, although we will have to be careful as there are metal steps to climb up and down, which is why you need to stay in your bag and be carried for now.'

However, it soon got quite cramped in our bag, because Polar was given a lovely book about allotment gardening from the Community Food Network, which had to go in the bag with us.  Polar spent a while chatting to them about potatoes, which made Hanley Bear impatient, so he climbed on top of the book for a better look.

'There's a repair boat by the bottom gates,' he told us.  'And there's loads of scaffolding and fencing around the locks too.'

Polar took us right past the locks to the Bedford Street Bridge for a look down into the locks before we went into the site.  She pointed out how nicely the bridge had been repaired; it used to look rusty and ugly, but it is very smart now!

Then it was time for the main part of our adventure.  The first long flight of steps took us down into the top lock.  On the way down, we could see there were planks damming the canal where the top gate should be and there were huge new balance beams waiting to be fitted to the gates.  

Hanley Bear climbed out of our bag for a closer look, while Polar pointed out the cill and the big metal plate that stops the bow of a narrowboat rubbing on the masonry when coming up.

Soon we were well below the waterline.  It was quite frightening to think how much water was underneath us when we came through in our boat and it reminded us why we had to be good bears in locks, never be silly and always wear our life-jackets.

One of the C&RT men was talking about the repairs being made to the massive middle gates and how they carefully trimmed the wood to get a snug fit between them, so all the water wouldn't leak out.  Polar let us sit on the gate while we listened and several people took pictures of us, so we were glad we were smartly dressed.

Looking down, we could see one of the ground paddles, which lets the water in and out of the lock, close up - usually, these are right under the water (and the water is murky), so you don't see them.

Polar carried us to the far end of the locks, where the bottom one leads out onto the canal.  The boat Hanley had seen earlier had a pump on it, for pumping all the water out of the lock that was leaking into it through the stop planks.

After we left the lock, Polar carried us to the Etruria Industrial Museum.  We bears wanted a look around but she said we didn't have time, as we would have to go home to check on Grizzly soon, but we could have a cup of tea and some cake in the café.

 There were some other trading boats outside the museum, including a boat lady selling ornaments and pretty sparkly things.  While Polar was looking at those, we bears went to explore a strange piece of machinery.

We didn't know what it was for, but it was fun to climb on!

Then it was time to go home.  We waved to Mrs Kay and all the C&RT people, jumped back in our bag and went home to tell Grizzly all about our adventure.