Namche Bazaar in Sight

We've all had a lovely Christmas and have enjoyed going to Christmas services, gathering with family, eating lots of delicious food and braving the cold for some scenic walks, this year in the Hertfordshire countryside. We hope all our readers have had an equally good time: we at the Norfolk Branch are especially looking forward to a 'second Christmas' next weekend,when there is a big B.U. gathering in Norfolk, for our Company A.G.M. Five members of the Midlands Branch have arrived early, eager to bag bed spaces and enjoy Chef Oakley's culinary masterpieces, as he tries out new recipes from Christmas present cook books.

Anyway, back to Nepal. Our first views of Everest revitalised us and put a new spring in our step, so we almost flew up the last stage of the climb to Namche Bazaar.


As we spied these first few houses appearing along the trail we knew we were getting close. As we rounded the final bend and saw the whole of the town nestled into a natural bowl in the mountains we were surprised at how large it was. The town has expanded a lot to support the demands of an expanding trekking industry and the myriad of buildings (mostly tea houses) literally cling to the sides of the mountain, as you can see ...


Having risen 900 metres to reach Namche, most trekkers have a rest day there to help with acclimatisation to altitude. We were no exception. Being such a big and bustling place, Namche Bazaar is an interesting place to spend a bit of time, and we look forward to sharing the secrets of this wonderful town with you soon.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Everest In Our Sights

We didn't get to see Everest though until we'd done quite a bit of climbing. It was a very pleasant path up and, between you and us, we secretly found it quite easy going, although we bears don't carry a lot of extra weight, unlike a lot of humans we know.


We had frequent rest stops as we waited for others in our party to catch up. Our picture gives you an idea of the terrain: the chap in black is Bhakta our excellent Nepali leader. As you can see from his crossed arms pose this was an easy walk in the park for him.

We all know that good things are worth waiting for, and this was true of our first view of Everest. So here we are, appearing with the famous mountain as it allowed us a first, and yes, distant, glimpse through the foliage.


Just in case you think Everest is too small in our picture for you to be sure it is the genuine article, we'll also give you a zoomed version.


There's no mistaking it now, but you will be seeing more pictures as we got to trek much closer.

Sorry we've been too busy recounting our Nepal adventures to be very festive, but we do all, very much, want to wish all our readers a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Enjoy your celebrations, as we will most certainly enjoy ours.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

The Calm Before the Storm

Our lunch that day was very leisurely. It was cooked for us by our trekking crew while we rested on a sunny tea house verandah, surrounded by pretty flowers.


We were allowed time for a siesta after eating and we soon found out the reason for such a relaxing lunch. We were about to leave the river and begin a 900 metre climb to the bustling town of Namche Bazaar.

Not only was it long, hard climb lasting 2 -3 hours, as the path was relentlessly up, there were no refreshment stops en route. This was quite a change, as along the river there had been tea houses every few steps.

First though, was a final short stretch along the opposite side of the river, to get us back into our stride, before we started climbing.

It was easy to tell where the end of the flatter walking came, as there was quite a gathering of people, having a final rest before the hard work started. There was another reason for the gathering though, which you will appreciate, if you look in the direction we are looking.


We were all looking at the highest suspension bridge in the Everest region, and it was very high. Just to get to it required a steep climb. Once there it was very exciting crossing: this is how it looked as we prepared to go across. As you can see there were some zopkis crossing, and, given the width of their horns, it was a sensible decision to let them finish crossing first.


It was on the climb up that we had our first views of Everest. We'll share them with you next time.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Meet the Zopkis

Once inside we found that the tea house provided everything we needed, but nothing extra - this was fine by us. Our room simply had 2 beds and was separated from the next room by a fairly insubstantial partition wall, so we had to be careful not to make too much noise. We had to wash in our rooms with a big metal 'dog bowl' of water brought to us by our wonderful trekking crew - once it got dark it was too cold for anything more than a quick freshen up anyway. The only heating was in the dining area across the road, so we all gathered there to relax, drink tea house tea, and have a fine hot meal before retiring for an early night.


The next morning our pack animals, the zopkis, (pronounced dropkey) arrived to carry our red trek kit bags. Each one carried 3 bags which wasn't too heavy a load, as we had been encouraged to pack light, and leave as much kit as we could in the Kathmandu hotel store. We were also warned to pack everything in waterproof bags in case the zopkis peed on them. We didn't see them doing this, but we did once see them trampling on some of the bags! The zopkis were yak/cow cross breeds and they were the perfect pack animals for us, as, unlike yaks, they can survive at altitudes under 3,000 metres. They were very characterful, but we were warned not to get too close as they had some rather fearsome horns.

We continued along the river for all of the morning's walk. It might sound like flat walking, but it wasn't: there were lots of undulations. Before we had gone far, we discovered where the electricity, we had enjoyed in the tea house, came from.


As we sat under the sign in the shade - the sun got very hot, very quickly - a little boy spotted us and came up to tell us all about the hydro electric scheme. We had already witnessed the power of all that foaming white water, so it was great to think that it was helping to bring power to the region, so reducing the number of trees cut down for firewood.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Our First Tea House

As we were walking down in the valley bottom beside the river, the land was very fertile. There were a few flowers - and a very pretty sight they were too - but given the remoteness of the area, and the fact that the nearest road was a week's walk away, most of the land was given over to vegetable growing.

You can see from our picture how well the vegetables were growing. What a backdrop for your vegetable garden! We knew gardening bear, Tommy, would be envious when he saw our pictures.


We learned from our guide that we would be eating lots of vegetables over the next week, and probably no meat. For most wild bears this might be a problem, but not for us. We are domesticated bears and we love vegetables. As you know, Tommy, grows lots for us in the garden and we all devour them gusto.

Before we were ready for our first leg of the trek to end, we came to the entrance of the village where we would be staying.


As we looked at the loads that some of the porters ahead of us were carrying, we knew we wouldn't have enjoyed our afternoon anything like as much, had we been carrying heavy loads.

The village was called Phakding and it was only a couple of minutes walk further to the first of many tea houses, where we would be stopping each night. We weren't sure what to expect, but as we waited outside first impressions seemed quite good.


See what we mean? And we knew we should at least be able to get a good cup of tea!

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Getting the Show on the Road

Having arrived safely in Lukla, our long awaited trek could get underway. But we didn't rush right off: we had just flown into an altitude of 2,860m, which is well over 9,000 feet, so we needed to slow things down while we adjusted to the thin air. We also had to meet our excellent trekking crew and pack animals (more about them later).

We had a short walk through the town, followed by a very early (11:30 a.m. lunch). Despite the altitude, the sun was shining, so we could sit outside and bask in it's warmth as we ate.

Anyway, you know what people and bears look like eating, so lets move on to the stuff of interest and our first trek photo.


We started off by losing a couple of hundred metres of altitude and descending to the river, which we walked along for the rest of that day. We had to cross the river and it's tributaries lots of times, and these steel suspension bridges provided the means of doing so. They might look quite rigid, but believe us they were very bouncy (and that was with our negligible combined weight). As you can see, we waited for the heavy humans to clear the bridge first.

Everything we saw was new to us and completely fascinating. We had moved into Buddhist territory and loved seeing all the many aids to Buddhist worship.


Some of the prayer wheels such as these ones were very colourful and we enjoyed giving them a spin to gain blessings for our journey. We made sure to do everything clockwise of course. As you can see the native animals were friendly and on hand to give us some tips.

Our trek had got off to a great start and we knew we were really going to enjoy the next few days.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

In Safe Hands

As the flight progressed we began to relax a little bit, but we were still on edge, knowing the tricky landing was still ahead. We weren't worried for ourselves as stuffing is very resilient and bounces well, it was our minders we were worried for, as bones and organs are a lot more fragile.

We distracted ourselves by admiring the incredible views out of the window.


In the distance were beautiful, snowy, Himalayan peaks. Far closer, at times frighteningly close, was the ground below us. Although we were flying quite high, the ground below us was so mountainous that it wasn't far below us. We were quite amazed to see that steep slopes didn't deter house building and farming.

One thing that reassured us no end, was the fact that the co-pilot was relaxed enough about the whole flight to spend some of it filming.


We weren't surprised by this as it wasn't exactly an ordinary flight. When the camera turned on the passengers, we made sure we could be seen and gave cheery smiles and waves.

It wasn't a long flight and after about half an hour we could see the Lukla airstrip ahead.

Rather than try and describe the landing, we'll show you it, using the promised video clip. Obviously it isn't our plane, but one very like it. Be sure to have the sound turned up on your PC for the full effect, as it sounds more dramatic than it looks.



Enjoy, and thanks Agni Air for a safe flight!

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

A Fur Raising Flight

We think that story of bears blasting into space was both amazing and inspiring. What brave bears they were. We think our stuffing must be a bit softer than theirs! We were pleased though, that with their landing site being so close to Ipswich, the Suffolk branch were able to be quickly on hand, to welcome them back to earth and proffer warm blankets and flasks of hot coffee.

Mind you, we think our flight out of Kathmandu, up to the Everest region, was nearly as scary. Our flight was to the infamous Lukla airstrip, widely acknowledged to be in the top 10 of the world's scariest airports. There are lots of reasons for this: the runway is very short (just 502m), with a big drop at one end and a wall and mountains at the other, giving no second chances to go round again; the altitude is very high, at around 2,800m the runway is frequently obscured by clouds, and if that's not enough, the runway has a pronounced slope, to slow down arrivals and aid departures. You'll see what we mean about the length and the slope when you see this picture of ours.


We knew all these scary facts about Lukla before we even left home, but what we didn't know until we got to Nepal, was that 2 weeks to the day earlier, a plane had crashed on landing at Lukla and killed everyone on board except the pilot. It was a real tragedy and, as you can imagine, it made us all the more apprehensive about our flight.

We were pleased to learn that pilots have to have at least 7 years's flying experience before they can land at Lukla. As the planes have to be very small to land there, we were able to get a good look at our pilot and we thought that he looked as if he had a safe pair of hands.

In fact, as we sat in the front row, we were so close that we could have tapped him and his co-pilot on the shoulder. See what we mean ....


In the end we decided it would be best not to distract them so we settled for a seat on the pilot's briefcase where we could keep an eye on what was happening.


We'll be back soon to tell you about the rest of the flight and hopefully to include a video clip (technology permitting).

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

First Bears in (Real) Space

STOP PRESS: we interrupt our Nepal reporting to bring you some breaking news of huge significance to bearkind.

The Banner headline says it all -

Teddy bears blast off into space

Four teddies have taken a giant leap for bear-kind after being blasted to the edge of space by university boffins.

The cuddly toys were attached to a helium balloon and launched 30,000-metres into the atmosphere from Churchill College in Cambridge.

They were fitted out with space suits designed by schoolchildren from the city as the toys braved freezing temperatures.

The computer-controlled quartet, who were fitted with a GPS system and camera to track their progress, landed safely just north of Ipswich, Suffolk, following their pioneering flight of just over two hours.

Cambridge University said the project was part of an initiative to "engage local schoolchildren in science and engineering".

Aiyana Stead, 12, one of the pupils who helped make the space suits, said: "This was a really fun thing to do. The best bit was when we set the balloon off with the bears."

Kane Robbins, also 12, added: "I really enjoyed launching the teddy bear into space."

The project was overseen by the Cambridge University spaceflight team - a student-run society launched two years ago.

Ed Moore, one of its 10 members, said: "There can be few more worthwhile things for us to do than to try and provide that spark for the current generation of school kids. We had a fantastic time working with the kids."

A university spokeswoman added: "No treasured possessions were endangered in this experiment."

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Well done bears, a great achievement, which beats our adventures at the National Space Centre hand down.

Love from all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Almost Bears with Sore Heads!

While watching the dancing animals and listening to the Nepali music was fun, the real reason we were there was to enjoy some authentic food and drink.

Please believe us when we say we didn't plan it this way, but we seem to have no pictures of the food but lots of the drink. Now what will that say about us to our readers? We hope you won't get the wrong impression, as we really do like our food. We'll just have to describe it to you while showing you pictures of our drinks. Perhaps it all has to do with wanting to keep our fur clean as food can be a bit messy and food on camera lenses is definitely not good.


Anyway here we are about to try to local hooch. We think it was rakshi. Whatever it was it was powerful stuff ... just look at the effect it had on us ...


We thought this potent brew should have a health warning attached. Our small sip was more than enough, but we didn't want to be rude and leave it all, so, as you can see, we discreetly spilt a quantity on the tablecloth, making it look like an accident!

We then decided that drinking on an empty stomach was not a good idea, so we turned our attention to the food and tucked into some delicious dishes. It was one of those meals where you get given a spoonful of a huge number of dishes so you can experience the breadth of the cuisine. The bits of the menu we remember (and it's a bit like the Generation Game here) included pop corn, bean soup, black lentils, chicken, wild boar, spinach, rice, dumplings and a yoghurty pudding.

To wash it down we stuck to a firm favourite, a bottle of beer.


We opted for another macho sounding beer, Everest beer (apologies to all female sumiteers!) as we were due to fly out to the Everest region the next day. It certainly made us feel really excited about the next stage of our trip.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Anyone Seen a Yeti?

During our tour round Kathmandu we had a scary animal encounter, when we came across some decapitated animal heads on a open air butcher's stall. We do have a picture, but we'll not share it with you, in case any of our readers are of sensitive disposition.

That evening though, we had some much more fun animal encounters at a traditional night of Nepalese food and music, albeit, as invariably happens, organised for the tourists.


Our first animal encounter was with this Yak. We were a bit confused, as we knew that Yak's are high altitude animals and the altitude of Kathmandu would be too low for them to survive. The mystery was solved though when we heard human voices coming from, what turned out to be, a Yak costume.


Hot on the heels of the yak came a marauding peacock. The peacock had quite a vicious beak and was trying to extract money from the guests, so we gave it a wide birth.

Not so the Yeti though, as he was our favourite.


Here he is showing how well camouflaged he is against the snow (a bit out of place in sunny Kathmandu).

You've got to admit it, our blog does give you the opportunity to see sights that you'll almost certainly never see yourselves. How often do you get to see a real live Yeti!

We were thrilled, hope you are too!

Lots of love, George & Yorkie xxx

A Beautiful Goddess & A Scary God

As you can see the superb carvings just kept getting better and better. We were also rather taken by the figures at the top window: either these were also carved or they'd been there a bit too long.

From this fine building we moved on to view some even more intricate carvings at the Kumari House, the home of the Living goddess, the Kumari. Yes, it's true, Nepal does have its very own living goddess who is worshipped as a source of supreme power as part of both Hindu and Buddhist traditions.


Normally, the Kumari will appear for tourists at the top window shown in our picture, but the current Kumari is a new one, having been selected less than 2 weeks before our visit (a girl can only be Kumari until she menstruates for the first time, at which point she becomes mortal again and returns to her family). The new Kumari is only 3 years old and wasn't yet making appearances, so we had to use our imaginations. One of our minders had seen the the last but one Kumari, on a previous visit in 1987, so was able to tell us all about it.

Our next interesting sight was a much more scary one.


Disputing individuals come before this god image to settle their differences. It is essential to tell the truth otherwise the god will visit dire consequences on the lying individual. This god was so scary that we would certainly have been scared into telling the truth - not that Yorkie and I ever have arguments.

Back soon!

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Walking Tour Highlights

The reason we wanted to be fresh the next day was because we were going on a walking tour of Kathmandu with a local guide.

The first thing we need to say was that Kathmandu was very busy. As a result it was necessary for small bears to stay with minders and peer out of pockets and bags, otherwise we might have been trampled or swept away by the crowds. You'll have to forgive us therefore if we don't make an appearance in all of our photographs. Hopefully though, they will give you a good flavour of what we were seeing.


One of the things we found quite fascinating was how everything is jumbled up together. In a few square metres you'd find very old carved wooden buildings, motorcycles,temples and market stalls, concrete buildings and power lines.

We were also fascinated by the offerings made at the temples. This was one of our favourites ....


This deity had had a big piece of, what looked like banana, plastered over it's mouth. Normally we have thought someone had been quite disrespectful, but here we soon realised that it was a valuable offering.

It was also very clear that religion is very much a part of every day life in Nepal. There were shrines and temples everywhere and they were receiving a lot of attention from the people who passed by. We're rather used to visits to religious buildings on Sundays only. In Nepal every day is a religious day with much time given to the making of offerings and devotions.

The ancient wood carvings are also something to behold. Take a look at the carvings at this temple ...


Isn't it all simply wonderful?

Although we're only sharing some of the highlights with you, there are far too many for a single post, so we're saving some more until next time.

See you soon.

Love George & Yorkie xxx

A Real Man's Beer

It wasn't long before we felt hungry, and ready for the interesting task of selecting a local restaurant in which to dine.

We peered in a few doorways and examined a few picture menus before making our decision. We were to discover that to walk a long way from the entrance to the dining area, along narrow and gloomy passageways, frequently with lots of steps, is quite normal for Kathmandu, but we didn't know this at the time of our first meal.

As I was muttering to Yorkie that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find the way out again, we arrived at the dining area which was rather special and well worth the walk.

We sat on floor cushions to dine at some very low tables. It was a good job we had brought a few of our new friends from our tour group with us, as we were the only diners in the restaurant.


We started our order with beers as we thought getting acquainted over a beer is a truly fine way to get to know new friends. The beers we were drinking were authentic Nepalese Gorkha beers, honouring those real men, the Gurkhas. The beer was as fine as those soldiers are, and it went down a treat.

The food was very good too and a real bargain. Four of us ate and drank for the equivalent of about £4 a head.


As you can see, the restaurant also laid on some after dinner relaxation. Trying out this hubble bubble water pipe was fun, although we didn't try anything too strong as we wanted to be fresh and raring to go in the morning.

Lots of love, George & Yorkie xxx

First Impressions

What we could see (but you can't as my head's in the way!) as we looked out the plane window, as we approached our holiday destination, was the beautiful sight of the snow capped Himalayas.


For those who hadn't worked it out, our flag is the national flag of Nepal and this is where we went for our latest adventure.

Our prime reason for travelling there was to write the Everest region trekking chapter for the Friendly Planet Guide - of course we planned to enjoy the trekking as well - it wasn't all going to be work.

However, like all good trips to Nepal, before we went trekking, we spent a fascinating couple of days in the capital city, Kathmandu.

From the airport we were transported to a rather nice hotel - the Hotel Mountain - within walking distance of the city centre. Starting off in a quality hotel was great as it helped us acclimatise to such a different culture to our own, and all the noise, bustle and fumes.


Just exploring the hotel's reception area was an adventure in itself. There were all sorts of amazing wooden carvings of Hindu deities. We wondered if we could get garlands of flowers, like they were wearing, and tikka marks on our foreheads, as they might help us blend in and look a little less like tourists.

We had a couple of hours to explore before dinner, so made our first foray out of the hotel on paw. Only a few doors down was the American Embassy, bristling with armed guards so we felt quite safe, assuming there were no terrorists around. We obviously did look very much like tourists though, as lots of shopkeepers wanted to talk to us, and to sell us their goods.

We felt very glad to have arrived safely in such a fascinating place.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Whose Flag?

Well, we think Gilbert deserves a pat on the back for entertaining us all with some excellent stories and pictures from our adventures in France. Well done Gilbert we've all enjoyed a great read!

Having come to an end of his pictures and prose, Gilbert has now handed the Blogger reigns back to Yorkie and myself as he knows how eager we are to start telling you all about our latest adventure.

Last month's adventure took us further afield than we've been for a long time, so it was especially exciting. We had to go on three planes to get to our final destination! This was one of the reasons that we had a reduced travelling squad of Yorkie and myself only - sadly, there was room for small bears only.


We wonder how many of our readers will recognise the flag of the country we travelled to, which we're exhibiting in our (at home) photo. We're very proud of our flag, not only because it is interestingly different to most countries' usual rectangles, but because we got it for free! Yes, we were doing some Christmas shopping in the capital of the country we visited, and, as it is the custom to barter (yes we were outside Europe), we asked for this flag in lieu of a discount, and got it.

We know a lot of our readers know where we went but, for those who don't, keep guessing, and we'll be back with the answer and some travellers' tales very soon.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

A Strange Looking Shuttle

As our French adventures took place in September, nearly 2 months ago now, you'll probably have forgotten all about the excitement which was inevitably going to affect our journey home.

If you think back to the beginning, you'll recall us happily starting our holiday with a trip on Le Shuttle. Remember this picture ...?


We had every expectation that this was how we would also return home, so does our next picture look a little bit strange to you?


The eagle eyed amonst you should have spotted that there's a whopping great ferry at the back of our picture.

There is a simple explanation. We were due to return home the weekend of the recent lorry fire in the tunnel. We had been warned in advance by our friendly camp reps that the Tunnel was most definitely closed, so we would have to go to the ferry port at Calais and swap our Eurotunnel ticket for a ferry crossing.

We commend all parties for a well organised operation and it was a pain free experience (although sadly we did have to cut our wine buying shopping expedition short!).

We actually like travelling by Ferry especially when it's a fine sunny day as you can see it was.


It was lovely to feel the breeze on my fur and to be able to say a longer goodbye to my homeland.

Lots of love Gilbert & all at Bears Unlimited xxx

A Colossal Crater

Our tour round the battlefield sites and war graves of the Somme region, took us right to the location of the front line, and also to the small hamlet of La Boiselle, famous for being the home of the simply enormous Lochnagar crater.


The crater was blown as the result of a massive underground explosion, early on the morning of 1st July 1916, to mark the start of the Somme offensive. Two charges of explosive totalling a whopping 54,000 lbs created this crater, which originally measured 300 ft across and 90 ft deep. As you look at it, it is not hard to imagine that debris from the explosion flew some 4,000 ft in the air.

The sad thing about this colossal explosion, magnificent though it was, was that it happened in not quite the right place and, as a result, did no harm the German defences.

Fortunately for visitors such as ourselves, the land containing the crater was privately bought in 1978 to prevent it being filled in and built upon by local farmers. It is now one of the most visited war time sites and a ceremony takes place on 1st July each year at the big wooden cross, to commemorate the start of the Somme offensive.


As I posed for this picture at the edge of the crater in order to give a sense of scale, two visitors mistakenly took me for a commemorative tribute to the war time dead, that some-one had left behind, instead of flowers. Those same people looked a bit surprised when I was reclaimed by my minder and secreted well away in a rucksack. While this was a very interesting place to visit, I had no intention of being left behind!

Lots of love Gilbert and friends xxx

Remembering ...

Our visit to the museum complete, we left Albert and headed into the surrounding countryside to visit some of the war graves and battlefield sites.

Of particular interest to us was the Thiepval memorial to the missing of the Somme.


This imposing piece of architecture bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme area before 20 March 1918, and have no known grave.

72,000 sounds a lot, and believe us, as you stand under the roof of the memorial, close enough to read the names, you find there are so, so many, that the tragic loss of life really hits home anew. And then when you think about all the thousands of Commonwealth war graves, for known soldiers, which are in addition to all these thousands of names, the reality becomes so horrifying that you begin to wonder if you will ever smile again.

Anyway, our interest in Thiepval was that we were looking for one particular name, that of a young man from a neighbouring village to us. Amongst all those thousands of names, we found it, one F W Eke, from the small Norfolk village of Hindolveston.


Earlier today, since today is Remembrance Sunday, we remembered Mr Eke again, this time at the Hindolveston war memorial. As we gathered for the act of remembrance and two minutes silence, we again saw his name carved into a memorial, this time one much closer to the home he was never to see again.


And as we remembered the fallen this morning, we learnt one very interesting fact about Mr Eke. The house where he lived in Hindolveston, was the very house where some very good friends of ours now live. We hadn't known this previously, as the house is no longer called by the name mentioned in the war graves registers.


So today, Remembrance Sunday was particularly poignant for us as we gave thanks for the heroic acts of so many young men and one young man in particular.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Trench Life

Suitably refreshed, in more ways than one, we walked the short distance to the entrance of the Somme 1916 Museum.


Once Chelmer spotted the field gun outside the museum and quickly moved into firing position (what's it they say about boys and their toys?) I began to wonder whether we would actually get inside the Museum.

Fortunately everyone wanted to look inside, so we were in a couple of minutes later. The geography of the museum is very interesting as well as the life-like displays. Having bought your ticket, you immediately descend underground, giving a feel of going into the trenches. This is because the museum occupies what was originally the crypt below the basilica, used as aircraft shelters in the Second World War.

We were all quite quiet as we became absorbed in the realistic scenes of trench life which really gave us a feel for what everyday life was like in the trenches during the 1916 offensive. Not only did the alcove displays use genuine uniforms, props and weaponry, there were also some rather horrifying sound effects as we got to experience what a barrage of overhead shelling would have been like.


Afterwards, as we sat outside admiring the wonderful museum mural, we found our tongues again and unanimously agreed that a trench was not a bear friendly place, not that they were man friendly either. We counted our blessings that we live in a free and peaceful society, thanks to the sacrifices made by so many, all those years ago.

Lots of love Gilbert and Bears Unlimited travellers xxx

Our Poppyfields Tour

While we were happily experiencing the Somme Bay and environs, as a fine holiday destination, we were, nonetheless, conscious that the area had a special historical significance that was as far removed from holidays as you can get.

I'm sure you hardly need reminding that the Somme area was the scene of some of the worst trench warfare of WW1. We thought it only proper that we pay our respects and so we arranged to spend a day visiting battlefield sites and war graves.

We started our tour in the lovely town of Albert.


After a longish drive it was lovely to sit in the fresh air in a lovely little square in front of the Basilica. We enjoyed cans of Orangina while the water fountains rose and fell just over our shoulders.

Albert was the main town behind the lines for the Allies during WW1 and the golden virgin on top of the Basilica was one of the most famous icons of the war for the British. I therefore thought that it would be fitting for us to call in to the Basilica on our way to the Battle of the Somme museum.


The building looked so fine now that it was hard to believe it had sustained as much wartime damage as it had.

Lots of love Gilbert and all at Bears Unlimited xxx