Simply Special

By now we were really into our boating stride and the days started to pass far too quickly. There is always so much to see and do. A simple job, like stopping to fill up your water tank, can be so much fun when you make such amazing discoveries as this old lock paddle, close to the watering point.

I was able to use it to give my apprentice Louis a lecture on lock mechanics. However, he's such a bright spark that he'd already worked it all out, without seeing below the murky canal water. It's great to have someone as enthusiastic about boats as me, to talk over the finer points of boating.

George and Yorkie were more interested in the wildlife that abounds on the canals. Boating in April is great as you get to see so many baby ducks ...

... although you have to keep your paws crossed at all times, that they won't get snatched by a hungry pike for dinner.

Not this family, but another, did live very dangerously by going for a swim in an empty lock. They could easily have got crushed by tonnes of hard steel, as there is not a lot of spare room in a lock. Fortunately, with our careful supervision, they made it safely out, family intact.

This mooring near Greensforge was one of my favourites. It was simply idyllic and very quiet. At dusk, and again in the early morning, it was very atmospheric, with mist over the water. And the great thing was, there was a pleasant pub, with good food, just 5 minutes walk down the towpath.

Have we sold canal boat holidays to you yet?

Love Eddie and crew xxx

Time to take to the Ark?

The next morning everyone was in good spirits as we set off in the sunshine on our first full day of boating. The M5 motorway seemed a long way behind us as we rounded an early bend and saw this delightful stretch of rural canal.


It had much more of the feel of a river rather than a canal and the best thing was we had it all to ourselves. It was a real treat to all our finely tuned bear senses.

The relaxed feel of the day started to fade when 2 things happened that caused us all some anxiety, especially skipper Eddie who was responsible for us all and for our boat.

Our first anxious moment came when we saw the lock at the junction with the River Severn. This signified the end of the Droitwich canal, which was sad in itself, but what caused us consternation was the water level at the lock. It was very high and water was flowing over the lock gates and almost over the sides of the lock.


Memories of being flood bound on the River Avon a few years ago came flooding back. The thing about rivers is that they are only navigable by boat when not in flood. As water levels rise, the current becomes too strong for a relatively small narrow boat engine to contend with. The Severn was the only stretch of river, rather than canal, on this trip, but we couldn't complete the Stourport ring without navigating the stretch between Worcester and Stourport.

Although, at this stage we hadn't seen the Severn, the high canal level looked ominous. The most important job for the advance party, put shore to open the lock, was to check the colour coded water level gauge to see if it was safe to proceed onto the Severn. We'd have liked the level to be green, but it was in the amber zone which meant 'proceed with caution'. It was better than seeing it red, which would have stopped us in our tracks, but there were certainly no grounds for relaxing yet.

At this point, those of us ashore heard a cry of alarm from on board Maria. We ran back up the towpath to see what had happened. It was serious! No-one had fallen in, but ... the bear flag had got caught in a tree and parted company with the boat.


It was time to do a quick reverse and try and retrieve it. As Maria inched backwards, guided by Eddie, Fred's Mum gamely inched along the outside edge of the boat and managed to reach up ad retrieve the precious flag. We'd have lost our identity without it so were very grateful for Fred's Mum's minder length arms and gave her 3 cheers.

It was then time to deal with the lock and hopefully after that the river. Find out how we got on next time.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Eddie and the crew of Maria xxx

Canal Quiz

As I said last time, we like locks and we are very efficient at working them. We work as a well oiled team, as oiled as most of the locks are, thanks to the efficient services of the Canal & River Trust (formerly British Waterways) teams.

Even so, there is still a bit of idle time at a lock as we wait for it to empty and/or fill. This is good as it gives us a chance to relax and take in our surroundings. The first few locks of the Droitwich Canal were particularly interesting as they had lots of posts with information plaques for us to study. There were also trendy metal decorations which made them quite artistic and easy to climb.


On one side was a question, and on the other the answer. You won't be able to see the text, so I'll tell you that the first question was 'What are these locks built from?'

Being a bit of a canal anorak I thought I knew all there was to know about the canal system, then I realised that I wasn't sure of the answer. I had a hunch but I needed to check, so all I had to do was swing round to the other side of the post and ...


... I was right the answer was bricks.

There were several locks fairly close together, so while I steered Maria between them, Louis explored the tow path. It was a lovely rural stretch and Louis was thrilled to find a beautiful clump of cowslips beside the reeds at the waters edge.


It was all very pleasant and the rain which threatened at times didn't come, so we were all very happy and glad we had chosen to travel via the Droitwich.

Lots of love Eddie, Loius and crew xxx

Some T.L.C. Required

By this stage in the holiday, I was completely relaxed and totally at one with my boat and the canal. I was enjoying myself so much that I couldn't imagine the holiday ending - it wasn't going to for a while, anyway.


Ungi took this photo of me as he said it captured the essence of a contented bear. It was a lovely morning and I had the satisfaction of getting my lock ready before Muscovy arrived, so there was time to sit on the lock and reflect on how good life is when you're boating.

A little further along this stretch of the canal I saw a sight which wiped the contented smile off my face.


This boat was certainly the worse for wear and it must have been a long time since she was displaying her finery to the world. However, while a boat still floats, there is still hope. I took a closer look and was pleased to see there was little that couldn't be sorted with a bit of tender loving care.

I decided to leave a note for the owners offering the help and expertise of Bears Unlimited in boat restoration, in case our services would be required.

Lots of love, Eddie and Muscovy crew xxx

Out and About on Boxing Day

We hope we're not about to confuse you but, after reporting on our New Year activities, we're now going back in time to Boxing Day.

We're never too bothered about the weather on Christmas Day as it's essentially an indoor day. However, we always hope for fine weather on Boxing Day, so we can get out for a traditional Boxing Day walk.

On this occasion when we stuck our noses outside after getting up, we sniffed some mild and dry air and knew we were in for a good walk. As we were in the Midlands, the Midlands branch were our guides. They know our likes very well and included a walk along the canal, taking in the Braunston Locks, that we'd boated through last Easter, at the start of the walk.


We rather liked this diddy, working boat and thought it's name 'mouse' rather appropriate. We wondered whether we should take it with us on future canal holidays so we could dig ourselves out if we ended up 'on the putty'.

After leaving the canal we headed across some fields, and when we came across some sprout plants we realised the Midlands branch's motive for taking us this route. Being sprout lovers, we'd eaten so many on Christmas Day that supplies had run out and we needed to pick some to replenish stocks for our Boxing Day meal.


As you can see from our picture we were blessed by blue skies and mild weather. There were a couple of moments when we even needed our sunglasses.

Thanks to this fine weather we were even able to enjoy a picnic in the open air. We've got a really challenging 'What's in My Lunchbox' picture for you to guess what we were about to tuck in to!


In fact we're going to be really cruel and leave you in suspense and not tell you the answer until we next post.

We bet you'll never guess.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

That Sinking Feeling

As Eddie said the other day, the lock gates are a little too big for some of us smaller bears to manage. Sometimes we add our paws worth of help to the other bears' efforts, but often we stay on board to make cups of tea for the locking crew and to perform some vital boat in the lock checks. For instance we check that the front of the boat doesn't get flooded when the gate paddles are opened and, at the back, we check that the stern doesn't get caught on the rear cill as the lock empties causing it to go into a nose dive.


There were two lock flights on our trip that we particularly enjoyed: the famous Foxton locks with their double staircase and the Watford flight, also a staircase. The Watford locks were particularly deep ones. We sat at the back of the boat to give an idea of scale and you have to agree it was a very deep lock. It felt like we were descending into Hades and even though it was a hot day it got very cold.


The other advantage of having some paws free as we go through the locks, is that we can fulfil the role of crew photographers. We hope you like this photo we took of Eddie and Erik at one of the Watford locks and also the one below of Erik emerging from one of the Foxton staircases.


Lots of love George, Yorkie & all the crew xxx

Working My Passage

Canal boating can be a great way to relax and watch the world go by. However, for the real enthusiast, and I (Eddie) count myself one, the real fun comes in working your passage. I am hard pressed to decide whether I like locking or steering the boat best.

I guess that as I can steer at any time, and locks come up only intermittently, there is always a great excitement about winding the paddles to work the boat through a lock.


Fortunately I'm a big enough bear to manage a lock gate on my own, even though they are quite heavy and I usually have to have a rest after opening or shutting a gate. Some of the smaller bears have to work together to combine enough strength to manage a lock gate.

Steering, however, is also great fun as it is quite a challenge. The boats are long (50 feet on average) and the canals are narrow so sometimes you have to be really accurate in your steering to pass other boats, bridges, get into locks etc. And of course a narrow boat is nothing like these plastic tubs (as you can tell, I disapprove) that you see all too many of in our part of the world. These cabin cruisers, have a wheel, which is cheating, rather than a traditional tiller, which you always get on a narrow boat.


As you can see from my picture, sometimes in my excitement I forget my extra high stool for bear steering, required becasue of my short legs, and I have to beg some assistance from a minder while one of the other bears goes to find the stool.

I'm guessing that short legs wouldn't have been very good for legging through tunnels as they had to do when boats were horse drawn. Perhaps it's as well boats have engines now, but it would have been fun to meet a few working horses on the tow path.

Lots of love, Eddie & crew xxx