An English Country Garden

The other day Bris talked to you about the mini marrows he found at the Hindolveston harvest. Today I bring you the other extreme and want to show you the real stonkers of marrows which I (gardening bear Tommy) grew in the Bears Unlimited garden this summer.


One of them was so big that I needed a big strong bear to carry it into the house. Blue Bear was exactly the bear for the job. Even he thought it was heavy, and when he stood on the scales with it, we found the reason why: it weighed a whopping 15 pounds. Head chef bear Oakley came into the kitchen to find out what was happening and got very excited about all the exciting things he could cook for us with these marrows.

Our marrows might be whoppers now but earlier in the summer the same plants were producing much smaller fruits, in other words they were producing courgettes.


Mind you, even as courgettes, they were bigger than average. They clearly liked the music I played to them and my daily conversations with them.

Chef Oakley got very creative when I presented him the fruits of my labours. Can you see what culinary delights he conjured up. We had delicious ratatouille and courgette cake. Oakley thought he had made so much that there would be spare for freezing but he had underestimated the size of bears' appetites when good food is put before them.

Lots of love, Tommy and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

An E-Mail for Bris

Bris was very excited today when he got an E-Mail from his friend Moose who visited last weekend on his way to Taiwan and Bris took with him to one of the harvest festivals.

This is Moose's E-Mail

Hi Bris,

It was great to see you last weekend, thanks for taking me around and letting me join in your harvest festival, here is a picture of the two of us and the apples and pears for your archive:


Sorry that the rest of the family couldn’t make it, but I was on my way to far off lands, anyway they [Gromit, Chick, Party Bear and Boulder ] send their greetings, and the latest family portrait:


After I left you I went to the airport (with a minor detour to drop off a VIP), where I left Gromit and the kids to look after Saabrina while I jetted off to on a very posh aeroplane, they were very keen that I buckled up and memorised the safety instructions, but everything was alright.

This time I got to sit upstairs on the aeroplane, I felt like a VIP myself !

It wasn’t long until I had to get straight into working, and going to important meetings, some were less well attended, but we did get plentiful supplies of water and toffees – which doubled as convenient chairs for small moose's.


Keeping in touch with the clan was a bit tricky, but I managed to find a payphone and was glad to hear that all was well back home – although the weather was a bit cooler than what we were having.


You’ll be glad to hear that after all the hard work was over I managed to get out for a drink and to see some of the sights


and even do a bit of demonstrating !


The flight home was over night, I was very tired and was missing the rest of the clan, perhaps I can get tickets for them all next time?


We’re all looking forward to seeing you all at Christmas time, then we’ll have a big family portrait done.

Best wishes

Moose.

Wheat, Wine & Mini Marrows

So far this year I've been to 3 harvest festivals. That's not bad going is it? I've also been to one harvest tea and one harvest supper. The food at the harvest supper was very nice but I didn't linger over it as I was eager to get back home to watch the rugby with the rest of the Bears Unlimited guys (the harvest supper took place on the same night as England's semi-final match against France, which was, after all, essential viewing).

The harvest celebrations have been a bit subdued this year as it's been a tough year for the farmers, what with bird flu, summer flooding, foot & mouth and blue tongue. We're lucky though, and a bad harvest doesn't mean we have to go hungry.


As you can see from the first of today's pictures we managed to accumulate a wonderful selection of harvest produce at one of the churches. I couldn't wait to try the scrumptious looking harvest loaf but was disappointed to learn that harvest loaves don't make good eating as they contain a lot of salt to keep them looking their best. Please note also, that the wine to the left of the picture has is Fair Trade - strangely enough I wasn't allowed that either.


See what I found decorating the top of the font. There were some really cool mini marrows as I called them - they were probably small squashes or gourds to be really precise. Perhaps I look a bit girlie though with those flowers decorating my ears. I reckon that if I'd draped that wonderfully coloured cloth round my shoulders I'd have looked just like Joseph with his coat of many colours.

Lots of love, Bris xxx

Why does Facebook Hate Bears?

Those of you who read our friend Naughty Bear's Blog will know that he, in common with hundreds of other wonderful bears, recently got kicked off Facebook for the really terrible crime of being a furry.

We were also kicked off Facebook at the same time and have been too angry to talk about it in public up til now (it also has something to do with the fact that we had other important matters to report on!)

Here is what we saw when we tried to login to Facebook to chat with all our friends, both old and new.


When we first saw the message we could not understand why our account had been disabled, our first port of call was the Facebook FAQ's for "Why was my account disabled?"

Your account was disabled because you violated Facebook’s Terms of Use, to which you agreed when you first registered for an account on the site. Accounts can either be disabled for repeat offenses or for one, particularly egregious violation.

Facebook does not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations.

This obviously did not apply to us, so we decided to send them an E-mail to ask why they had disabled our account. So this is what we sent:-

[Bearsunlimited@our-mail Wed Oct 10 13:41:14 2007]:

Our account has been disabled, yet none of your reasons for
disabling an account are valid. There is no false identity - are
bears not allowed to have names? and there certainly has been
no content that would offend. On the contrary all messages fall
into the charm category, make people smile and brighten their
day. What sort of an organisation is Face Book that it seeks to
ruthlessly and systematically terminate something that that
makes people happy and is entirely innocent - good, clean fun?
All I can say is that facebook is doing it's utmost best to make
the world a far worse place than it might otherwise be. Does it
make you feel better knowing that you have made happy
people sad because that is exactly what you are doing? We
really fail to understand. Only an unhappy, miserable person
would want to act in this way and we sincerely hope some
happiness comes into your life soon. Perhaps you should get
yourself a bear as they'll soon put a smile on your face.

Disillusioned Bears

Two days later we got a reply from their man Avery he wrote

From: Avery from Facebook [mailto:appeals-comment@facebook.com]
Sent: 12 October 2007 20:16
To: Bearsunlimited@our.E-mail
Subject: [rt.facebook.com #6715589] Baffled

Hi,

Fake accounts are a violation of our Terms of Use. Facebook
requires users to provide their real names. Impersonating
anyone or anything is prohibited. We will not be able to
reactivate this account for any reason. This decision is final.

Thanks for your understanding,

Avery
Customer Support Represetative
Facebook

We're still none the wiser. We're not fake, we've never impersonated anybody, and we've no desire to be anyone but ourselves (we quite like ourselves) !

So our message to everyone is if Facebook hates bears let's all boycott Facebook!

Love all at the Norfolk Branch
xxxxx

Comings and Goings

Dilly has now left us and returned home. This was sad for us as we greatly enjoyed having her to stay, and we do miss her now she has gone. However, it was not such a sad occasion for Dilly who was overjoyed to see her mistress again when she came to pick her up. We like to think Dilly had a good holiday with us and will ask to come and stay again the next time a holiday is planned.

Dilly's departure, however, coincided with a happy event, which cheered us up no end. This was the arrival of the newest member of Bears Unlimited. There is a link to Dilly, as our new friend was one of the gifts Dilly's mum brought us back from France as a thank you for having Dilly to stay.


As our latest member comes from France he has a French name. Il s'appelle Gilbert, pronounced Gil-bear (get it!). In our picture you see Gilbert being welcomed to Bears Unlimited by Marmaduke, as tradition has it that the previous newest member welcomes the new newest member (in the presence of the Bears Unlimited flag of course).

Gilbert is settling in well and already beginning to look a bit less serious than he looks in his picture. Our attempts at French and Gilbert's at English are proving very entertaining but we are all learning fast!

look out for some of Gilbert's adventures with us in the weeks to come.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Dilly Behind Bars

There are an awful lot of good dog walks which start right from our house. However, when time allows, we always enjoy heading off to the coast or one of the local estates, for a really long walk. There is nothing like a bit of sea breeze for really blowing the cobwebs away.

The only problem is that we have to hitch a ride in a Bearmobile to get to these more distant places. Bearmobile 1, being an estate car is dog friendly. We have plenty of room to move around in the estate area and 360 degree views of the roads we are travelling along.

It does mean we have to sit behind a dog guard though. Dilly wasn't used to this as she normally travels in the passenger footwell of her owner's car.


The first time she travelled with us and found herself behind bars she thought she was in prison. As you can imagine she wasn't too happy until we explained to her it was all about her safety and she hadn't done anything wrong.

When we arrived at our favourite walking spots and she saw where we were taking her she soon agreed it was all worthile and she soon got used to the prison van travelling.

It was great to have the extra company and 3 noses are much better than 2 when it comes to sniffing out some wonderful smells, such as odour of dead rat, that we dogs find particularly fascinating.


We found the woods in the grounds of Blickling Hall were particularly good for canine games. We played tag and hide and seek and lots of the old favourites. We think we might have annoyed our minders a bit as they just wanted to get on with the walk.

Lots of love Black Doggy, Jock & Dilly xxx

Introducing Our Waggy Tailed friend

Jock and myself (Black Doggy), the canine members of Bears Unlimited (no it's not a contradiction in terms before Birigit says anything!) have had a very exciting and busy couple of weeks as we have been playing host to a new friend of the waggy tail variety.

Here's her picture, isn't she adorable?


Her name is Dilly and we think she is best described as a Border Collie / Jack Russell cross. She lives in the neighbouring village to us and came to stay with us a couple of weeks ago when her owner went on a well deserved holiday to France.

We were very happy to be able to offer a holiday home to Dilly and, as she is such a friendly dog, she soon fitted in and we all became best of friends. We wasted no time showing her round the house and gardens and she quickly learnt where the warmest place in the house is, in front of the fire.


We did tell her not to get any ideas about trying any fire breathing stunts as we'd promised her Mum we'd see she came to no harm.

Early on in her stay we had a mini conference explaining to Dilly the rules of the house and what she could expect from a typical day in our household. As you can see she proved a very attentive listener and took on board everything we said.


But then dogs are like that, they listen very attentively and are mostly eager to please. Dilly certainly proved she was no exception.

Keep reading to see us exploring the Norfolk countryside together.

Lots of love, Black Doggy, Jock & Dilly xxx

Fond Farewells

Our arrival in Carlisle might have signified the end of our walk but it wasn't quite the end of our holiday.

We all piled into a taxi and returned to our favourite B & B in Keswick where we had left our cars and already spent 2 nights. This was Seven Oaks B & B which we would happily recommend to anyone.

We had a great night out on the town celebrating the completion of the Cumbria Way and the fact that we were all glowing with good health having spent so long walking in the fresh air.


The next morning there was time to linger over our last cooked breakfast, and Linda at Seven Oaks does cook a particularly fine one. Then it was time to perform an important and enjoyable mission. This was a shopping trip. We all love outdoor shops and think Keswick has the finest selection of outdoor shops anywhere in the U.K.

After replenishing our supplies, it was time for me (George), Yorkie & Wooly to say goodbye to Isaiah and Dale, as they were staying on in Keswick until the next day, but we had to return back to Norfolk that afternoon.

Not only did we have to say fond farewells to our Suffolk branch brothers, we also had to say goodbye to a new friend.


This was Bruno, the Derwent Bay Bear who lives outside Seven Oaks. He has become such a good friend that we will be keeping in touch, and we definitely hope to stay at Seven Oaks again and spend more time with him.

Then it was into the bear mobile for the long drive home. We hope you've enjoyed reading about our Cumbria Way walk. Sadly there aren't any more holidays in the pipeline but there will lots of home news to share with you, so keep reading.

Lots of love George, Yorkie, Wooly, Isaiah & Dale xxx

Wooly makes History

We were a bit depressed when we woke up on day 5 of our walk as we woke up to rain. It wasn't heavy, but it looked as if it might persist.

However, 2 things happened to lighten the mood. A flock of sheep came strolling down the road completely unattended. We think they had heard that Wooly was in town and were looking for him. They'd got the address wrong though, and before they'd spotted Wooly through the window, they'd gone up next door's drive and started tucking into the garden flowers. Needless to say the owners weren't too happy, but it did give all of us a really good laugh.


After the sheep came the ducks who arrived during our breakfast. As the gates were shut (presumably as a precaution against marauding sheep) the ducks either limbo danced under, or flew over the gates, then made themselves completely at home in the garden. It all made for a very entertaining start to the day.

As the final day's walk got underway, the rain continued and the going for the first few miles was extremely muddy. It was so hard trying to stay upright that we gave up and decided our time could be more usefully spent road testing the waterproof bear porter which had been acquired earlier in the week.

This did the trick, and no sooner had we taken cover, than the rain stopped. We didn't realise for a while as we were all talking so loud, but then Isaiah asked us to be quiet and listen, and we realised we couldn't hear raindrops. He volunteered to pop his head out to see what was happening, then gave us the go ahead to emerge.


It stayed dry for the rest of the day. By now we had left the Lake District behind so the walking wasn't too exciting, but there were compensations e.g. a conveniently placed hostelry for a pub lunch.

The last mile or so were into the heart of Carlisle, and we felt a bit out of place with with our rucksacks and muddy walking boots. The end of the Cumbria Way is a bit strange as there's no clear end point. Some people say it ends at the station, but we walked on past the station to the town square. There we found a market cross and the former town hall, now a tourist informartion office. At neither was there an acknowledgment that the end of the Cumbria Way had been reached. This is a bit of a shame after all the effort that goes into the walk.


We treated the Tourist office as the end point, and did a celebratory conga round the building. Wooly is looking very proud in his 'I've made it picture' and rightly so, as he had just gone into the record books as the first sheep to walk the whole of the Cumbria Way in one go. Well done Wooly, and well done all of us for that matter. To walk the Cumbria Way in 5 days is no mean feet, but there are few challenges we have enjoyed as much.

Lots of love, George, Isaiah, Yorkie, Dale & Wooly xxx

What's in Your Lunchbox Cumbrian Style

The right diet is very important when you're tackling a long distance footpath. It was especially important on the Cumbria Way as we had some long walking days and needed a slow release of energy for up to 9 hours at a time.

Every morning we made sure we took full advantage of the cooked breakfasts that were on offer (this was not difficult!) These kept us going until lunchtime, but then we needed to refuel.


Our most satisfying lunch stop was after leaving Keswick, when we were en route for Caldbeck. Before leaving Keswick we'd popped into town and called in to the Keswick Pasty shop. This shops sells an amazing selection of traditional and more exotic pasties and, despite having only just finished a fine cooked breakfast, our mouths watered as we read down the list of delicious fillings. It was very hard deciding what we all wanted to try, but in the end we settled for a selection, so we could have a taste of each at lunchtime. In our photo you see us settling down on a comfortable cushion of heather to enjoy spicy vegetable, beef & stilton, and cheese, broccoli and sweetcorn pasties. Note that the smaller the bear, the more eager they are to get at the food. Just look at Yorkie & Dale!

Serious walking also merits a substantial pudding. Here you see us enjoying our favourite one of the walk. This was the tiffin we bought in Coniston (theory about the smaller bears definitely now proven!)


It tasted good and what a spiffing name we thought.

We'll be back with news of the final day's walking soon. Sorry to leave you in suspense!

Lots of love, walking bears with a hearty appetite xxx

Suffering from an Attack of Wind!

It's amazing what a Chinese meal, some fine ale in the Keswick Dog & Gun and a good night's sleep can do. We set out the next day, not quite with a spring in our step, but with renewed enthusiasm for stage 4 of our walk which was to take us from Keswick over to Caldbeck.

The first few miles were pleasant walking on a gently undulating path above the Glenderaterra Beck with craggy fells rising above us. Wooly told us this was excellent sheep grazing territory and proved that sheep had been in these parts for more years than anyone could possibly remember by pointing out to us some old stone sheepfolds.


The one on which he was standing was very large. We all admired the craftsmanship of the construction and the perfect round shape. As the wind was beginning to get up we could also appreciate the shelter that such sheepfolds could provide.

After lunch the good path disappeared as we climbed up to an old shooting hut, Lingy hut, which we could see on the skyline as we set off, but disappeared out of sight just when we needed it for navigation. Our guide book said the climb up Gainsgill beck is a lovely climb even though the path is indistinct and boggy in places. We have to disagree, it was boggy and indistinct all the way and it certainly wasn't lovely!

After Lingy hut we climbed to the top of High Pike. By now the wind had got so strong we couldn't stay upright and had to rope and carabiner ourselves to our minders who had a bit more bulk to keep them on the ground.

Unfortunately our picture of us at the top of high Pike is a little bear (sorry bare) as we couldn't stay on top of the trig point long enough for a picture to be taken.


Unfortunately the buffeting winds meant we couldn't get a good look at the map and we went a bit astray on the descent. Fortunately our GPS's put us right but we had to walk an extra mile or so to get back on course for Caldbeck which we weren't too chuffed about. We must find out who is responsible for waymarking the Cumbria Way, and write to them, as there was a distinct lack of waymarks when they were desperately needed. When the path was obvious there were plenty about. It definitely seemed that they only appeared in places easily accessible by car!

Anyway, rant of the day now over, we reached Caldbeck without any further problems and enjoyed a very pleasant evening in the Oddfellows Arms. We thoroughly recommed its food and excellent Jennings beer.

Lots of love Wooly, Yorkie, Dale, George & Isaiah xxx

The Fittest Survive (that's all of us!)

As we told you yesterday, we were able to bound down the descent into the Langstrath Valley a lot faster than our minders. We therefore had plenty of time to stand beside some of those rain swollen becks, becoming mesmerised by the power of all that water. This was nature at its most awesome and some of these spontaneous waterfalls seemed a lot more impressive than some of the waterfalls that have become tourist sites e.g. Colwith force that we'd seen on the previous day.


The downside of the rain swollen streams and all that white water, was that on the occasions when we needed to cross them, what might normally be a simple crossing, became very tricky and several times we had to spend several minutes looking for a safe place to cross.

At the bottom of the descent, we were pleased to find that there was a substantial bridge across a real torrent of foaming water. While we waited for our minders to join us, we took advantage of the bridge to enjoy the world's fastest game of pooh sticks.


Wooly was acting as our line judge, but even with his sharp eyes, that water was moving just too fast for him to be able to tell whose pooh stick was through first.

It was a beautiful walk out to the head of Borrowdale, and when we reached Rosthwaite, a mile further on, shortly before 4.00 p.m. we thought we must be close to journey's end (for that day). We gave a collective gulp when the holder of the map and guide told us we had only covered half that day's distance and we still had 8 miles to go! We therefore took on energy boosting refreshment of sugary drinks and chocolate bars.

Fortunately the remaining miles were rather easier walking, much of it being along the shore of Derwentwater. The miles seemed long, but the going was faster. In the Manesty woods we found a lovely sculpture of a pair of hands.


It provided a very comfortable place for a few minutes rest before the final push into Keswick. We all had very sore paws/hooves as we hobbled into Keswick after a very long day. But what a walk we'd had: there's a lot of truth in that saying 'no pain. no gain' and when you've got a very comfortable B & B awaiting you, and a comfortable pair of Crocs to slip in to, the pain is soon forgotten.

Lots of love George, Yorkie, Isaiah, Dale & Wooly xxx

Day 3 is not a Doddle

It had rained all night, and was still raining when we set out for stage 3 of our epic walk. We weren't as depressed as we might have been, as we had all enjoyed fantastic breakfasts: ours at Millbeck farm was the biggest one of the trip and we were able to put together our own breakfast, choosing our favouritist ingredients, which were then cooked for us. We thought it was great.

Although it was heavy drizzle rather than rain, the fact that it had rained throughout the night and all the previous evening, meant the becks, rushing down from the hillside, were really swollen and there was water eveywhere. It was a good job we had waterproof boots, as the Cumbria Way had become a stream and we couldn't help but splash our way along the path.

Within a short while the path seemed to become a dead end with no way out - except up! We were surrounded by proper Lake District hills, so high we had to crane our necks to see to the top.


We had 2 choices, Esk Hause or Stake Pass. Fortunately there was a conveniently placed Cumbria Way sign, which not only provided a nice backrest for a rest, but also told us that Stake Pass was the way for us. This seemed to be the steeper of the 2 routes, but at least the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to emerge as we started to climb.

It was all uphill for about 45 minutes, and there wasn't a lot of conversation as we were directing all our energy to our legs. As always happens on these walks, no sooner do you get the top then it's time to come down. We were glad we were walking south to north since, as we surveyed our descent into the Langstrath Valley, we couldn't help feeling that the descent looked longer than our ascent on the other side.


We are all quite nimble and fast on downhills, especially Wooly. We try to give some helpful hints to our minders who seem to find it hard work for some reason, but we think it has something to do with them being so upright.

As our title suggests, day 3 was a bit of a marathon and there's lots to tell you about and more pictures, so we're dividing it into 2 parts and saving part 2 for tomorrow.

Lots of love, the Cumbria Way walking bears & Wooly xxx

Paws Up at the End of the Day

Good, comfortable accommodation with easy access to food and fine beer, is at the top of a bear's priority list after a good day's walking. Bearing this in mind, we thoroughly recommend Dungeon Ghyll as a place to stay. We managed to test out 2 lots of accommodation for the Friendly Planet Guide as we couldn't all get into the local B & B.

Yorkie, Wooly & I (George) stayed at Millbeck Farm where we had the great pleasure of making the acquaintance of Mrs Taylforth. We thought her B & B was top notch and it ticked all our boxes of what we think a good B & B should be. We had a friendly welcome, were shown to a cosy room and then served as much tea as we could drink, accompanied by home made cakes in a comfortable lounge with a real fire. From the front door it was only a short stroll down to the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel where Isaiah and Dale were staying.


We enjoyed some hearty pub food in the bar, with the most important ingredient, lots of chips! Despite his earlier large helping of grass Wooly tucked in heartily, and proved that not all sheep are vegetarian.

Good food has to be washed down with a pint or two and the tipple of the evening was a local Thwaite's brew, rather appropriately named Wainwright, after the famous Lakeland author and walker, Alfred Wainwright. As we were being long distance path walker bears it was only right that we give it our full attention. Here we are doing just that!


This beer is described on the pump clip as an 'exquisitely lovely ale' and we can only agree.

We all slept very well that night in our respective accommodation. Dale and Isaiah showed us round there room before we headed back to the farm and it was very fine.

Lots of love George and fellow walkers xxx

Day 2 is a Doddle

On leaving the memorial we rejoined the Cumbria Way which took us to Tarn Hows via a very scenic route. The view got even better when we got to Tarn Hows which really is a most delightful spot as you can see.


It was a real treat for us to be there and we could think of few places we'd rather be. We found it hard to believe that what we were looking at was man made. As we had a shorter and easier day's walk than day 1, we had time to linger in the sunshine. Wooly swears that Lake District grass tastes better than grass elsewhere, and, within the Lake District, Tarn Hows grass tastes best of all. We, therefore, left him getting his fill while we went off for something more to our taste - an ice cream from the van in the car park.


Our female minders spurned both grass and ice cream, and got out their exotically flavoured fruit lollies they had purchased in Coniston. Peace reigned as they were too busy licking to talk. We found it very amusing seeing their tongues turn the colour of their lollies, including stripes.

After stuffing himself with grass Wooly said he felt quite bloated. He didn't feel quite agile enough to leap over the next stile or two, so tried out the ground level animal passageway, although it took all 4 of us to lift the closing plank clear. Naturally, we were very careful not to decapitate Wooly!


The rest of the day's walk was very pleasant and we even had time for a pub stop in Elterwater. We arrived at our overnight accommodation feeling that we coul easily have walked a bit further. A bit different to yesterday!

Lots of love, Wooly, Yorkie, Dale, Isaiah & George xxx