Starting at the Beginning

We're confident that our readers are all so intelligent that you will know by now that our latest adventure was a cycling trip to Poland.

We joined an organised tour, but flew out courtesy of our friends at Easyjet a day early, so as to have a chance to look round the historic city of Krakow.


First glimpses of a country we've not visited before are always very exciting. Here you see us getting our first impressions of Poland from a very modern and clean red and yellow train which took us from the airport into the centre of Krakow for the bargain price of 4 zlotys each (that's under 80p!).

We are pleased with our train photo as it shows what excellent posture bears have - just look at our straight backs! Our minders would do well to emulate us. Secretly, between you and us, we think our excitement and desire to make ourselves taller so as not to miss anyof the sights from the window was largely responsible for our straight backs.

Our travelling got even more exciting when we got off the train and found a tram which was going to our hotel.


We had a great view out of our hotel window and as it was very hot sitting on the window sill was the coolest place to be. We watched the trams coming and going and thought how good it would be if we had more trams in English cities.

We'll start our exploring in our next post so keep reading.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Where in the World are We?

Dzien dobry readers (there's a clue for you), George & Yorkie here. We've been very patient waiting for our friends to write a few posts, but now we've been back from our latest adventure a whole week, we really do want to get going, before it all becomes a distant memory. We've therefore talked very nicely, and persuasively, to the rest of the gang and they have handed the blog back to us.

So where have we been and what have we been doing? As with our last trip, the national flag provides the first clue.


We have to admit that if we'd been shown this flag prior to our trip we wouldn't have known where we were going.

By now you should be getting to know us quite well, so our next clue, a picture of us wasting no time in getting stuck into the local beverages, should come as no surprise.


We spotted this beer in our local supermarket last Sunday so it might be familiar to you. As an aside, we thought the litre glasses were quite something (but you'd be wrong in thinking we were in a German beerkeller - the only other place where we've seen glasses this size).

In case you haven't worked out where we spent the week before last, we'll tell you tomorrow. Our clue about what we were doing is a whole lot easier. Just take a look at the picture below and you'll see we've made it very easy for you.


See, we told you it was easy, although those of you to think we were cycling haven't got it quite right, we were actually pannier riding, and a great sport it is too!

Lots more to come,

Love George & Yorkie xxx

Friends to Stay

One of the things we like about living in North Norfolk is that we get a lot of visitors over the summer as it is such a lovely place to visit and a popular holiday spot.

Chelmer had a whale of a time when his cousin Spike and a number of friends came to stay. They managed to pick one of the sunny spells so were out and about all the time doing lots of daring outdoor things, especially tree climbing.


It's a good job they're confident and sure footed as they did reach some lofty heights.

The most exciting time of all though was had by Marmaduke, who you may recall is one of the latest arrivals at the Norfolk Branch. Marmaduke was rescued from a Christmas fayre stall after we took one look at him and realised that he was so much the spitting image of a couple of the Suffolk branch members that he must surely be related. A hasty phone call to the Suffolk branch established that Marmaduke was the long lost brother of Bailey and cousin of Smiley.

Although they talked regularly on the phone, it took a while to arrange the long awaited reunion. The anticipation made it all the more exciting for them when they did finally meet.


The happy reunion brought tears to the eyes of the rest of us. The talking, toasting and scrutiny of the photo albums went on late into the night.

We do love a happy ending!

Lots of love, all at the Norfolk Branch xxx

It's Show Time!

One day last month we diverted all calls to the Suffolk branch and closed the Norfolk branch office so we could have a company outing to the Royal Norfolk show.

This is a simply great day out with loads to see and do and some delicious free samples of food to try in the food hall.


Our first interesting encounter was with one of our wild cousins. Noel was the bravest and got up close to say hello. He didn't get much of a response though and we quickly realised that this bear wasn't alive. His size though did make quite an impression on us and made us feel really small.

We also enjoyed making the acquaintance of one of Randolph's friends. This was a simply gorgeous reindeer with some lovely velvety antlers. We simply couldn't stop stroking them and he agreed to send them to us once they had fallen off. This reindeer is for hire for Christmas events so we think we might just have to find a way to include him in some of this year's Christmas festivities.


At lunchtime we had a special treat. We sampled our favourite brewery's latest offering: Woodforde's Sundew. This was simply delicious and we immediately ordered the biggest barrel they sell for next day delivery to the branch office.


Now, we always make a point of going along to see the Sheep Show. Not surprisingly it is Woolly's favourite part of the show. Although we've heard all the jokes before and know the script off by heart, we simply wouldn't miss it.

This year was rather special though as Woolly was recognised for the fine sheep he is and invited to take part. He couldn't believe his luck as he was invited on stage to meet his heroes.


Woolly reported that Nobby was especially friendly and looked after him well. He was pleased, however, that he wasn't the sheep that got shorn as the summer hasn't been hot enough yet for him to lose his coat.

It was a simply great day out and we have the date for next year in the diary already.

Lots of love from the Norfolk branch xxx

Norfolk Branch Report Back In

George & Yorkie are safely back from their latest adventure with a lot of new material for the Friendly Planet guide that they are eager to share with you. However, we, the less frequent travellers of the Norfolk Branch, have persuaded them to hang fire for a couple of days so we can update you on some of the things that we have been up to on home turf. As the end of George & Yorkie's posts about one holiday seems to coincide with the start of the next one, we thought that if we didn't make a concerted effort to get a few words in, there was a danger that you'd be reading about our summer activities in the middle of winter.

As we've enjoyed reading the Suffolk branch's tales of their French adventure so much, we also thought we'd like to give them the opportunity to tell us more, if there is more to tell.

Anyway, back to Norfolk, it has been a busy summer so far and we'd like to share some highlights.


Not long ago the garden was buzzing, literally, with activity. This was because the chain saw gang of Blue Bear and myself (Ungi) were in action. Now, we love trees and we wouldn't want any of our readers to think for a minute that we would cut down a tree without good reason. However, sometimes there comes a time when a tree (or three) have grown too big and sad though it is, they have to go.

In the photo above you see the before 'now you see it' shot. Monkey being a very agile tree climber was giving us a hand to get ropes tied on. Below, you have the 'now you don't' shot.


In total three trees had to come down and it was a whole day's work for a gang of us to chop up the trees into logs. We ended up with quite a large stack of wood as you can see in our next picture. Sadly, being fir, the wood wouldn't have been suitable for our wood burner for several years and as we couldn't store it that long, we had it taken away.


More news on the gardening front from Tommy, the chief gardening bear, is that the vegetable beds are doing well and we have had a particularly bumper crop of broad beans. This is good news as they are one of our favourite vegetables. Below you see Tommy handing over one of his pickings to Chef Bear Oakley. They decided they would pod the beans and freeze them so we could enjoy them over a long period.


As well as producing great vegetables Tommy also fills the garden with lovely flowers. We thought the following was a great example of what his green paws can achieve.


We'll be back soon with more news of our Norfolk summer.

Lots of love Ungi, Blue Bear, Tommy & the rest of the gang xxx

Culture vultures - or kiwis anyway!

Being educated cultured bears and kiwis, we didn't spend all of our holiday boozing and beaching! We also absorbed some of the local sights and history, hitching a ride in a luxury bear and kiwi transporter, namely our minder's camera bag! Very comfy!



Our first port of call, 'scuse the pun, would be of interest to Eddie as it was the ancient port of La Rochelle. The tower behind us is one of 2 protecting the harbour from marauding pirates / baddies - the locals actually stretched a big chain across the mouth of the harbour from one tower to the other, effectively catapulting back out to sea any intruders. Smart move!



We also admired some lovely shell murals at Les Sables D'Olonne, particular favourites being the cat (for Panda the Bears Unlimited Suffolk Branch cat)and the penguin which made Kiwi feel quite at home as it reminded him of his penguin friends back in NZ. We might try to recreate a bear / cat / kiwi scene at home with pasta shells rather than sea shells - could be fun and if it doesn't work out, we can always eat it!

Fun in the sun - when we get some!

We do like to get some fresh sea air when not wine tasting for Bears Unlimited as we find it clears our palate, so we cycled off to some lovely beaches along the Atlantic coast during our recent French holiday. We also did some bear paddle in the sea but had to take it in turns to be on jellyfish patrol as there were some whoppas 10 x the size of us! Here we are relaxing after a swim and letting out fur dry naturally to create a cool surfer bear look.



We then decided to bury Tiny, which didn't take long as he's so tiny - comment from Tiny: "I didn't mind, it was quite fun and I was perfectly safe. It was a bit tickly though!"



Finally, we made a castle fit for a bear and complete with a wine cellar of course! It wasn't as splendid as some of the chateaux in the area, and perhaps looks more like one of the many neolothic menhirs (standing stones to the uninitiated!)in the area but we think it was quite good for a quick 10 minutes work!

Salut!

While Norfolk Branch are worldwide beer specialists we Suffolk branch bears are oenophiles (wine aficiandos in case you didn't know it!)and our recent trip to France, to the South of the Loire, was a wine lover's delight. We stopped off at Rouen and while commiserating with Joanne of Arc for having the misfortune to get burnt at the stake we did find ourselves a very nice wine bar with tasty bear nibbles such as stuffed vine leaves and mini bruschettas, which awakened our taste buds very nicely. Once we arrived at Bearcamp in the Vendee we wasted no time in getting on our bikes and cycling as fast as our paws would take us to the nearest supermarche in order to try out the local vins.



Here you can see us relaxing over a drop of Fiefs Vendeen, discussing its qualities and working out how we would describe it in our tasting notes.



Unfortunately the bugs wanted to try it too! We liked the bats and didn't mind them swooping down for a quick sip but we did take objection to the flies having a swim in our glass - especially when there was a very fine swimming pool on site - so I had to adopt a special guard position to protect the delicious contents. I did get a bit of a cold tummy though so had to go for a spot of sunbathing afterwards to warm myself up again!

All Good Things Come to an End

All too soon the day I really had not been looking forward to came round: our last day's sailing. I was trying to make every minute last for two minutes but it didn't work and the day flew past.


We all took our final and admiring glances at the Bear flag flying proudly at the back of the boat knowing that it will be a while before we see it flying at sea again.

Before I knew it it was time to call up the lead crew on the VHF radio for the last time as we came into Sivota harbour.


After a thorough cleaning of Spetses, ready for the next lucky crew who would be enjoying a holiday aboard her, it was time for our final party night.

The crews of all 10 boats in our flotilla and our lead crew came together for a final meal and the infamous Sailing Holidays flotilla awards ceremony.

With full stomachs we settled back in our seats to enjoy Skipper James' speech and to find out the awards which we were up for grabs and who had won them. I was a little disappointed not to win the dancing divas award, but did agree that the recipients, John & Emily, deserved it. George, Yorkie and I were, however, pleased with the award we did get which was the 'Lou Love' award.


This probably needs a bit of explanation for the uninitiated. Lou is short for Loutraki our lead boat and we earned ourselves the award on the occasion we were at the same taverna as another Sailing Holidays flotilla. There is always great rivalry between flotillas and the crews of each think theirs is the best flotilla. On the occasion in question everyone was 'well oiled' from the earlier punch party and there a lot of singing and cheering. We led the cheering for Loutraki and this is how we got the Lou Love award for our very vocal support.

We are very proud of our award and now we are home it has pride of place in our display cabinet.

It is quite timely that we have finished our postings on our sailing holiday as George & Yorkie will be heading off on their next adventure at the weekend, armed with the camera. I won't be going though as it doesn't involve boating.

Hope you have enjoyed our sailing adventures. Keep reading, as the guys who stayed at home are waiting for a chance to get a word in and report what they've been up to.

Lots of love Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx

Gone Fishing!

All that talk of food from George & Yorkie, reminds me that I haven't told you about my fishing attempts yet.

As you will know, I tend to leave most of the island exploring to George & Yorkie as I am happiest being on, or not far from, my boat. I therefore spend a lot of time on board and there are few things I like better than a spot of fishing.
Sometimes I use a line and fish for my supper but, more often than not, I just like to throw out a bit of food and see the fish gather.


I find the best way to do this is to sit on the swimming platform armed with a hunk of bread. I throw this into the sea in little pieces and immediately I am joined by hundreds of little fish. In my picture you can see some of them darting around, with their silver bodies glistening in the sunlight. The water is so clear that I can even see their expressions. It is a truly magical sight and one I never fail to tire of.

When the bread runs out and I've got a bit hot in the sunshine, I simply unclip my safety line and dive into the water. As the fish get used to me they aren't frightened and swim around me tickling my fur.It's not quite swimming with dolphins but the next best thing.

Lots of love, Eddie xxx

What's in Your Lunch Box Returns

Do you remember our 'what's in your lunch box?' postings from the beginning of the year? We particularly liked these blogs, even though they didn't generate too many responses, so we're bringing the subject back today with a Greek theme.

Those of you with really good memories may remember the unusual sandwich fillings we enjoyed in Derbyshire did in fact come from Greece!

Anyway, today we see Eddie enjoying the perfect Greek lunch:


The key ingredients are some Greek salad 'horiatiki' with olives and feta cheese, a can of Mythos, a great view from your boat and some sunshine. Eddie can't imagine many things more heavenly.

Now that Eddie has shared with us his favourite Greek meal, George and I would like to share our Grrek favourites.

We agree with Eddie about the Mythos beer, although we like ours out of a glass, preferably a big one and a full one. We don't care if it's heavy, we just have to drink quite a bit before we can lift it. You can see what we mean ...


As for food, we bears have rather a sweet tooth and really fell for the Greek donuts with chocolate ice cream.


They taste even better than they look!

We'd better go now before we get accused of making all our readers hungry!

Lots of love Yorkie, George & Eddie xxx

Final Shore Side Adventures (we think)

As you will probably have gathered by the number of mentions it's had in recent posts, our favourite Ionian Greek island is Meganisi. We were very lucky, therefore, to stop at 2 different harbours on this island - not one immediately after the other. Instead we arrived, left, went over to the mainland and then came back the next day.

Little Port Vathi, our first stop, is a great place. As on the previous flotilla that we (George & Yorkie) did, (it was before Eddie joined Bears Unlimited) we didn't moor up at the town quay we moored at George's taverna. What a great name for a taverna, I (George) say! Eddie particularly liked the opportunity to practice using lazy lines instead of throwing the anchor overboard. He'll explain lazy lines at great length to anyone who is interested!


Between George's taverna and the town quay is this great bear sized chapel. O.k. it's a bit bigger than bear sized as we realise what small blobs we are in the picture - have you seen us, we are there? - but even so it is a lot smaller than your average church. Believe it or not, this chapel is a shrine to the massive tuna that used to mate annually in the bay and sustained the islanders for centuries.

Apparently the tuna have now all gone. We wondered if we might summon them back by ringing the bell. We thought it a bit of a long shot, but it would give us an excuse to ring the bell.


This is another picture where you have to look hard to see me, but I am there putting the whole of my body through the end of the bell pull to get enough downward momentum to produce a satisfying dong (actually it was more of a ding!).

After leaving the church we went to explore the submerged wreck of a plane which was round the other side of the town key. We snorkelled round it but thankfully didn't find any signs of occupants.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Shore Side Adventures No. 4

Our day off was a bit of a difficult day for me, Eddie. My problem was that it meant no sailing. To be on a sailing boat, and not to sail, is something of a tragedy of Grecian proportions for a boating bear like me. It seemed like a real waste of quality holiday time.

However, the day was rescued for me, and George & Yorkie by the fun we had exploring the area round Vonitses, where we had our 2 day stopover. This was not at all a tourist area, being on the Greek mainland, so it was all uncharted territory to explore.

A short walk away from the harbour where we were moored, was an amazing bridge over to a delightful island.


As you'll quickly spot I'm not the beatiful lady, although I was with her in a loose sort of way, but if you look hard you'll see me lurking in the corner of one of the parapets.

The causeway over to the island looked even better by night when it was all lit up. The island was just the right size to circumnavigate and the water was lovely and clean for our swim.

On the east side of the island I realised that I could see the harbour where my boat was moored. This made me very proud and excited.


Follow my gaze in the picture to see the masts I was eagerly scrutinising. I'm not expecting you to know which one belonged to my boat as it takes an experienced skipper to tell one mast from another.

I began to day dream about the next day when I'd be out sailing again, I could hardly wait.

Lots of love, Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx