We had a lovely day yesterday, as Grizzly came out for a trip on our narrow boat for the first time since he had his stroke. Polar got a takeaway Sunday dinner for us from the Rising Sun pub at Scholar Green and Grizzly was able to steer the boat into a lock. We are very proud of him!

We have been busy Small Bears over the weekend, helping to look after Grizzly during a visit by his son, Mr George. On Saturday, Hanley Bear celebrated a famous victory for Stoke City against Sheffield United...

I helped Polar do some work on our narrow boat yesterday, putting little brackets in place to secure the gas pipes, which Mr Rupert the boat safety inspector said we needed to do. And we unpacked the pretty storage tins we got in the Emma Bridgewater sale, and set up the damp traps.

We had a lovely day out on Sunday, when Polar took us all to the Churnet Valley Railway to watch the trains. And we had oatcakes and cayk! Grizzly did some more walking with his quad pod stick too.

Hanley Bear went to the match with Polar and Grizzly today and saw Stoke City beat Charlton Athletic by four goals to nil!

Human Guardians Polar and Grizzly took Endon and Hanley Bear to Trentham Gardens yesterday. Although many of the plants had suffered in the drought, the Rudbeckia and Helenniums looked good.

Polar has spent the last week repairing one of our ponds that was leaking - with a little bit of help from Hanley Bear and lots of rainwater from the water butts, thanks to all the thunder storms

I have been forgetting to post on here, so you might have missed the amazing story that, thanks to some very special hooms and @tourguideted.bsky.social, our human guardian Grizzly got to fly in a Spitfire earlier this month!

We are in this coming month's @towpathtalk.bsky.social newspaper!

A marvellous boating day, travelling from Etruria Junction through Hanley Park (with Hanley Bear helping on the tiller), lunch at Emma Bridgewater and finally mooring just before the heavy rain started at our favourite spot outside Milton. #Staffordshire #StokeOnTrent

We had the most marvellous weekend at the Etruria Canals Festival this last weekend. We came to the Festival on "Uppie", our narrowboat, and saw lots of historic boats and the Fund Britain's Waterways campaign cruise!

It's bath day, and we have all been washed in Polar's nice Herby shampoo...

Huddlesford Bear and I joined our human guardians for our first trip of the year on Uppie (Uplander II) our narrowboat. We had a lovely day, and I had a little drink of Polar's shandy, while Huddles had some beer bubbles.

One of our Best Bear Buddies, Little Brown Bear from @geckocomms.bsky.social is missing! Please look out for him if you are in North Devon. We hope he is found soon as he will be sad and scared without his Human Guardian and his Hug

Hanley Bear thought it would be fun to send Vale-rie a #ValentinesDay card. We hope she liked it!

Hanley Bear and I had a marvellous day out yesterday with @tourguideted.bsky.social and @geckocomms.bsky.social and other Stuffie chums watching the Stoke City v West Brom game. We had lovely noms first and met Baggie Bird the mascot. And the game was a draw so no-one was sad at the end.

Hanley Bear had a great evening with Polar on Tuesday seeing the "Light Up Hanley" (or "Light Up Me!" event, as he called it) put on by @appetitestoke.bsky.social We are going to share a few more clips of film from the evening...

Hanley Bear's old "lucky jumper" stretched so much from being washed that it fits me now, so we both went to the match against Southampton yesterday. Hanley was very sad, because Stoke lost by two goals to nil, but Grizzly's son Mr George was pleased, as "Saints" are his team.

Human guardians took us to see the local starling murmuration again yesterday. I think there are even more of them now!

Aunty Tina brought two tiny Bears to live with us yesterday. They were living in her loft but didn't have any friends up there. They seem to be tiny Paddingtons as they have a big jar of marmalade (although it's actually an old cotton reel) and a picture of Aunt Lucy!

January can feel a bit...January. A quiet walk beside the water can help more than you think. These peaceful areas are vital, but they're at risk from chronic underfunding and a changing climate. Propel IWA action forward and join us for as little as £4.50 a month. waterways.org.uk/support/ways...

Have you seen this, @hattieotter.bsky.social ?

Malcolm Stoneman@malcolmstoneman.bsky.social · 9mo ago

St Cuthbert’s Church, Crayke, North #Yorkshire “St Cuthbert” window (2020) #HelenWhittaker The detail shows the Tale of the Affectionate Sea Otters who were reputed to have warmed & dried Cuthbert's feet after a night of him meditating & praying whilst standing in the sea. #StainedGlassSunday

My friend Hanley Bear has asked me to share this poem about his home city. He says it explains why he is sometimes a fierce Small Bear, but is very good at heart. Mr Nick Degg was poet laureate for Stoke-on-Trent's centenary last year. We like his poems.

We Bears are thinking of using this as our main social media account this year, because X is being so horrible at the moment (not to us, but to some female humans and human cubs). I am also going to write more for my blog and share some of Polar's pictures. This one is of the "Wolf Moon".

I have been a very, very buy Small Bear today, and written another post for my blog. This one also stars Hanley Bear, going to Parliament to seek #VotesForSmallBears. bearonaboat.blogspot.com/2025/10/orde...

"Order! Order!" - A Small Bear Goes to Parliament

A child-friendly blog about a small bear who lives on a narrowboat.

bearonaboat.blogspot.com

I have managed to get to Polar's laptop and do a little blog post about Hanley Bear's Stoke-on-Trent Centenary mission - to find all the Bottle Kilns in The Potteries and get a photograph of himself with them. This is the first part of the mission... bearonaboat.blogspot.com/2025/10/hanl...

Hanley Bear's Centenary Adventures - Part 1: A View to a Kiln

A child-friendly blog about a small bear who lives on a narrowboat.

bearonaboat.blogspot.com

We had a lovely day at @nationaltrust.org.uk Quarry Bank Mill near Wilmslow yesterday. We explored the grounds, visited one of the workers' cottages and saw the machines that made the cloth for my best boating shirt (and Endon's) which we were wearing.

Hanley Bear helped Human Guardian Polar show human cubs how to make mini allotments for salad leaves in "Me Park" today, with the Friends of Hanley Park. But it started to rain so hard that everyone had to pack up after about 90 minutes.

I have (at last) written a blog post about our friend Tunstall and his journey around the world with little pal Amy. *Biggest hugs* to @hattieotter.bsky.social @oliverbear.bsky.social @millymammoth.bsky.social and @bearspipe.bsky.social. bearonaboat.blogspot.com/2025/09/tuns...

Tunstall's Travels

A child-friendly blog about a small bear who lives on a narrowboat.

bearonaboat.blogspot.com

Here's another one of my blog posts. This is an article I wrote about boating in Stoke-on-Trent because so many boaters go straight through our city without stopping, when there is a lot to see and enjoy. bearonaboat.blogspot.com/2025/08/boat...

Boating Bear Adventures

A child-friendly blog about a small bear who lives on a narrowboat.

bearonaboat.blogspot.com