You might think this is just a tall tale from a pub, but it’s historically documented. The Harefield Local History Society has actual photographs of that famous barge, the “Balthazar’s Revenge.” Okay, I made up the name, but the boat is real.
Brown bears can swim, obviously, but why would you when you have a floating couch? Balthazar reportedly spent hours on that barge, just watching the water go by. He was basically the world’s first bearicle—a bear on a water vehicle.
Local offers from our Rural Gems in the Colne Valley Park…. - Colne
Fun fact: bears have an incredible sense of smell, so Balthazar could smell every single picnic basket within a mile radius. That barge didn’t just ferry a bear; it ferried a walking, grumbling air-sniffer of doom for sandwiches.
The Unlikely Hero of Harefield
Here’s where it gets weirdly wholesome. The townsfolk loved him. One local, a baker named Mabel, would toss day-old scones onto the barge. Balthazar would catch them in his mouth like a giant, furry Labrador that could kill you but chooses not to.
There’s a famous story about a little boy who fell off the towpath into the canal. Before anyone could scream, Balthazar plunged in, grabbed the boy by his collar, and hoisted him onto the barge. The boy was fine. The bear? He just went back to eating a scone. No cape. No bow. Just fur.
That event changed the town’s view forever. He wasn’t “the circus bear.” He was “our bear.” They even printed a commemorative beer mat with his paw print. True story.
