Boats and Trains

The morning after our day at the beach, we had another day out with Polar, Grizzly, Mrs Ann and Mr Derek. 

Firstly, Mr Derek drove us to the south coast of Cornwall and down to the pretty little harbour at Charlestown, near St Austell.  Polar let us out of our bear bag to explore, so we ran down to the quayside to see the boats and to sniff the sea breeze.

We thought this little cabin for the harbour master would make a very good home for small bears!

After a little while exploring the historic harbour, Mr Derek said we had to leave, as we had a train to catch.  We thought it might be a steam train, but it was actually one of the most modern trains on the railway network, and it was taking us to Penzance.

We liked the modern train, as it was nice and bright inside and we had good views out over the countryside, but our human friends said the seats were quite hard and they were glad it only took an hour to get to Penzance.  There was a table for our bear bag by the window, so we could see the fields and woods, plus towns like Truro and Redruth, and disused tin mines on the moors. 

Soon, we were by the sea again at Hayle on the north coast, then very shortly afterwards we were running along the south coast at Marazion.  Grizzly showed us a map of how narrow Cornwall is when you get towards the 'toe'.

When we reached Penzance, our humans bought lunchtime snacks, then Polar carried us as we had a walk around the town.  There were lots of narrow streets running up and down the hill from the coast, with some very old and very strange buildings, including one called the Egyptian House.

Our human friends climbed down lots of steps from the church to get back to the seafront.  Lucky for us, we were being carried along in the bear bags, so we could rest our paws and enjoy the view. 

Mrs Ann told us that although today was calm and sunny, the previous weekend there had been a big storm.  That was why there was seaweed on the road - and all over a parked car!

'Oh no!' I said.  'The driver will be very cross when he or she sees this!  Salty water isn't very good for cars.  I hope it didn't get wet on the inside.'

After a nice long walk along the promenade, we turned up a little road and came to the Morrab Gardens, a park full of palm trees and tropical plants.  The small bears wanted to climb them but Polar said it was best to stay in our bag and just look, as some of their stems and leaves were rough or sharp.

On the way back to the railway station, we saw the fishing boat harbour and where the ferry boats that go to the Isles of Scilly moor.  It was very interesting but quite smelly too! 

We had another ride on one of the new trains back to St Austell.  On the way back to their home, Mr Derek took us to see where china clay was mined.  Hanley Bear was quite sad and shocked to see what a mess it had made of the countryside. 

'Is this all because we make china from it in Stoke?' he asked.  'I feel very guilty, if it is.'

'It's not your fault, little Hanley, nor even all down to the pottery industry,' Polar explained kindly.  'China clay is used in medicine, make-up and building materials too.  Next time we're here, we'll take you to a museum where you can learn more about it, and we can visit the Eden Project, which shows what can be done to use the land well afterwards.'

Hanley Bear was still very quiet all the way back to Mrs Ann's house, but he cheered up a lot when we got there, as she gave him homemade cakes and flapjacks!

Bears at the Beach

After our visit to Rosemoor, Polar and Grizzly drove us across north Devon to the coast road and into Cornwall.  Their little car went up and down some very steep hills, while we bears sat in our bear basket on the back seat, looking out at the views and singing happy small bear songs.

'I can see the sea!' cried Hanley excitedly, as we reached the top of one of the hills.  'Are we nearly at your friends' house?'

'Not yet, little bears,' said Grizzly.  'We still have quite a long way to go.  You could have a nap.'

We were far too interested in where we were going to sleep, so were wide awake when the little red car came down a long hill and very close to a wide sandy beach, then up the hill on the other side of the cove and down a little lane.  Polar put us in our bear bag and carried us up to meet Mrs Ann and Mr Derek, who gave us pats and cuddles, and tea and cake.  

From Polar and Grizzly's room, we could just about see the sea, but we could smell it and hear it very clearly.  We were almost too excited to go to sleep that night.

In the morning, we scrambled into our bear bag to be carried down to the beach.  There was a little path through some woods and lots of steps to go down before Polar was standing on the sand.

'The waves are quite big today,' she warned us, as she helped us out of our bag.  'I don't think you should try to paddle but you can watch the surfers, explore the rocks and caves and make a sandcastle if you like.'

Grizzly was going for a paddle, as he has poorly feet and the sea water is good for them.  Hanley Bear jumped about in front of him, asking to be carried out for a closer look at the waves.

'Come on then,' said Grizzly.

Hanley held on tight to Grizzly's hand as he was carried out into the waves.  He jumped onto Grizzly's shoulder when a bigger one came in that came right up to Grizzly's knees and got his trousers wet, but Hanley stayed dry and so did Endon and I, as we ran up the beach towards the cliffs, well away from the sea.  The damp sand was lovely to run on and the salty smell of the sea was very refreshing.

After doing some running, we climbed on some big rocks and examined some that had fallen out of the cliff, which Endon and I thought were partly made of gold.  Hanley Bear, who is interested in geology, came over to investigate.

'That's iron pyrites,' he explained knowledgably.  'There are all sorts of minerals in these rocks, because they have been heated up and put under lots of pressure in the past, when there were volcanoes here.'

Endon looked around nervously.  'I hope there are no volcanoes now,' he said.

'We could build one out of sand,' Hanley suggested.

'I would rather build a castle,' said Endon, who had seen some human cubs making one nearby.

We set to work, scraping the sand out of a circular trench with our paws and claws to make a moat, then moulding the sand from the moat into a wall.  

I asked the human cubs if we could borrow their bucket to make a tower and by the time our human friends were ready to leave the beach and go out for lunch, we had made a super small bear castle.

Hanley wanted to come back the next day to add extra towers and to fetch his City of Culture flag from the bear basket to fly from one of them.  Polar had to break the news gently to him that the rising tide would wash our castle away later in the day, and that his special flag was safer where it was.

'Can we make another castle tomorrow?' asked Endon.

'We will be having a different adventure tomorrow,' said Polar.  'You will still be by the sea and it will still be lots of fun.'

We all cheered and got back in our bag to be carried back to Mrs Ann and Mr Derek's house.  We wondered what our next adventure would be but we didn't ask, as that would spoil the surprise.

A lovely Autumn Garden

We bears have recently enjoyed another little holiday with our human guardians, Polar and Grizzly, which was a lot of fun.  We visited a place called Cornwall, where we stayed with some of their friends and, later, Grizzly's sister's family.  

As it is a long way from Staffordshire, Polar decided we should break up the journey and stop overnight in Devon, at a nice small pub with a thatched roof.  Polar picked it as it was very close to the gardens at Rosemoor, run by the Royal Horticultural Society, which she was very keen to visit.

'It's a very big site,' she said to us, as she carried us to the entrance in our special bear bag.  'You can run about and explore but try to keep us in sight and then, if you want to save your paws, you can always jump back into your bag and let me carry you.'

The first thing we noticed when we came into the garden was a lovely smell of apples, coming from a display by the entrance.  As soon as Polar let us out of our bag, Hanley climbed up to sniff them.

'No nibbling, Hanley Bear!' warned Polar.  'Although I don't expect they will mind you eating any you find on the ground later.'

Hanley, who was feeling hungry, as usual, ran off to look for the fruit garden.  

Endon and I kept closer to our humans and started to explore the flower gardens.  The trees and shrubs looked beautiful, with colourful berries, pretty bark and, of course, glorious autumn leaves.  

There were lovely roses to admire and to sniff and we loved the bright colours in the 'hot' garden.  Hanley and Endon found plants they could climb for a better view.

I found a trough with some small alpines in, that made a perfect small bear garden.  I showed it to Polar and suggested that we bears could make our own little garden in a big pot when we got home.
'That's a lovely idea, Sonning,' she said.  'There might be a corner of the patio where we could put one.'

I was very pleased about that and skipped away to tell the other bears.  Hanley and Endon had found a play area for human cubs with big insect sculptures in it.  

We had lots of fun climbing on them, especially the woodlouse, then we went in different directions to explore again.  I found some very pretty leaves to skip through and roll in but Hanley and Endon found even more exciting things to do.  

Endon went climbing in a ferny glade and saw a lovely waterfall and Hanley discovered a dinosaur skeleton!

It was a long way to the top of the hill after that, so we scurried back to Polar and Grizzly and had a lift in our bear bag up to the arboretum, which is a collection of trees from all over the world.  We jumped out of our bag to play in the leaves again.  

After lots of rolling down the hill and running on the grass, Polar gathered us up and put us back in our bag as it was time to go.

We were very sad small bears to leave Rosemoor, as it was such a beautiful garden, but Polar says she would like to visit again next year, in the spring, so hopefully we will be able to see it again.  

'Cheer up, little bears!' said Grizzly.  'We are going to visit some friends who have been reading your small bear adventures - and they live beside the sea, so you can go to the beach tomorrow!'

We all cheered and then we sang happy small bear songs for the rest of our journey into Cornwall.