Bogside from the Walls

We soon realised that it was possible to enjoy a fine walk all around the city walls so we decided this was how we would spend the rest of the morning.

There were information boards every few steps and, as there was so much history to read about, our progress was fairly slow, but did that matter? - no, we were carefree bears, making the last day of our holiday last as long as possible.


As well as stopping to read the information boards we also stopped frequently to take in the views over the different part of the city. Not far to the left of where are looking in our picture was the green hill which inspired the hymn writer Cecil Alexander to write the famous hymn, There is a Green Hill Far Away.

However, the focus of our attention at the time the picture was taken, was the famous area of Bogside. It looked quite peaceful as we gazed across it and we found it hard to believe that it had witnessed so much of the troubles in the city since 1969. We certainly felt very safe even though we were sitting in quite an exposed postion. We were fascinated by the artwork depicting the toubles appearing as huge murals on the sides of buildings. There are about 11 of them and we think we spotted them all.

It was so peaceful now that we could have stayed there all day, but Patrick reminded us there was more to see and led the way to the next interesting sight.

Lots of love, Patrick, Eddie, George & Yorkie xxx

Climbing the Walls (cheerfully)

It seems a long time since we started relating our Irish adventures and no doubt you'll find it hard to believe our holiday was only a week long.

However, for us, the last full day of our holiday came around all too soon. We were offered a day out in Londonderry and thought it would be a very fine way to spend our last day especially with such a fine and knowledgeable guide as Patrick.


As you can see we travelled from Ballymoney to Londonderry by Northern Ireland Rail. It is such a spectacular route, all along the coast, that even if you have cars available, it is best to leave them at home and sit back and enjoy the scenery. At one point we were so close to the beach and the crashing waves that we were quite glad the train had a non-opening window otherwise sitting where we were, we would have got very wet.

Once disembarked we strolled into the city centre and being bears who appreciate history and culture, we made for the historic city walls.


We knew we were in the right place when we found ourselves at this information board. We climbed up onto the walls intending to take in the views over the city. However, we quickly found ourselves distracted by some wonderful old artillery. The cannons were in such fine fettle that we were convinced that if only we had a cannonball to hand we could have really brought this city to life. The only problem was that we don't often travel with a cannonball in our pocket!


There was lots more to see from the walls as you'll find out soon.

Lots of love, Eddie, Patrick, George & Yorkie

4,000 Years of History

It's time to engage your agile minds again, as we're heading back to Ireland. You can tell what a great week it was, as the photos are still coming. There were just so many interesting places to visit and photograph even in the middle of winter. We simply must go back in the summer, when everything will look even more splendid and, more importantly, the water will be a better temperature for surfing!

Anyway, the day after the Giant's Causeway visit, in the interests if variety, we decided it was time to explore inland again. And so we spent the day in the Ballypatrick Forest.


This was a good time of year to walk in the forest as we had it all to ourselves as the forest drive (for cars) wasn't open. This meant we could sit quietly and enjoy the birdsong and commune with nature with no disturbances, other than the chatting of our minders who had linked up with friends and were catching up on all their news.

Our pointy perch wasn't too comfortable, as you will appreciate from our picture, and this, along with the background chatting, meant that although it was a lovely spot, it wasn't the best place for a bit of shut-eye (Patrick had kept us up late enjoying Guinness and good craic, so we were feeling a little tired).

Yorkie was the first to notice that this wouldn't have been a good place to sleep anyway, as it was a burial ground and we might have been taken for dead and accidentally buried if we'd been found. In fact, as we went to investigate, we found this was no ordinary burial ground. It was a 4,000 year old burial ground, dating back to the megallthic (note not megalithic) period. No, we haven't suddenly become culture vultures to know all this, we simply read the sign that was kindly provided.


Mind you, looking at the sign, we reckon it had probably been around a few thousand years. We took great care not to get any of that green slime on our fur. The risks we take in the interest of keeping our blog readers entertained!

Lots of love, George & Yorkie xxx

We're Dreaming of a White Easter

We're breaking off from our Irish adventure once again, but this time to wish all our readers a very happy Easter.

We were up early this morning - in fact, at 4.30 a.m., we were up so early that we beat the snow which has been falling for several hours now! The reason for our early start was to take part in the dawn service at one of our local churches.

I (Bris) took my new friend Giovanni along. Giovanni will be introduced properly in due course, but he has just moved from the Hillfield Franciscan friary in Dorset to be with us and he was keen to find out how we celebrate Easter in Norfolk.

We wish our camera time stamped our pictures so you could see that we really were waiting outside the church for people to arrive at 5.00 a.m. It was very cold and very dark, although our flash makes it look lighter than it was.

Before long though we had an Easter fire burning to dispel the darkness and provide light and warmth - powerful metaphors that sum up why we were there.


We lit the special Paschal candle from this fire and then, from the Paschal candle lit candles for ourselves and moved into the church taking the light with us. Giovanni thought the service was great and we both especially liked the bit when we had to make a loud joyful noise: we both clanged the gong which George & Yorkie had brought back from an adventure in Thailand.

After the service, when it had become light, I showed Giovanni round the church and pointed out the design on the altar front which depicts the rising sun.


We both agreed it was a fantastic Easter symbol, and incidentally, a fitting theme for this year's Greenbelt festival.

By this time we were rather hungry and how lucky were we, that some very nice people made us all a lovely breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches. They were simply delicious. Giovanni got so enthusiastic about his that he fell onto the buttered bread and got a very buttery nose. Can you see it?


Then it was home to another wonderful Easter treat. We shared round some scrummy Easter eggs (Fairtrade Dubble eggs no less). We'll be cracking these open very shortly before going out to make a snow bear.


If it keeps snowing as it is, there should be enough for a snow bear. The only question is, will it be Yorkie or Blue Bear sized?

We agree with our friend Naughty Bear that Easter is an amazing time of year and better than Christmas when you get to the heart of it.

Lots of love Bris, Giovanni & all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Our Big Climb

As you will recall, we have been talking about some of the less well known sights of the Giant's Causeway. Well here's another one!


Yes, it's one of those sad but true facts, that it isn't too often that you see bears out enjoying a picnic in the fresh air and with a great view all around. It should be an everyday sight, but sadly all too many bears seem to suffer from agoraphobia and rarely venture outside the house. The Bears Unlimited helpline for distressed bears, is always available to offer help and advice to any bear needing help to make a bid for freedom.

Anyway, back to the Causeway, we needed that lunch to give us the energy needed to walk back up to the cliff top from the Causeway. We certainly weren't going to cheat and take the easy road which you can even travel by bus. Our route back to the top was via the Shepherd's steps, a climb which is not for the faint-hearted or a bear with an empty stomach.


The steps seemed to go on forever, and while they might be the perfect size for humans, the rise of each step was a mountain to small bears like us. At the time we could have told you how many steps there were, but now we've been back for a few weeks we've forgotten. It's a good job that we spend so much time at the gym that we are very fit bears.

Once back at the top, it was a wonderful 5 mile coast path walk back to the car. We saw lots more rock formations of the same geology as the Causeway that were well worth seeing. We were very glad that we'd decided to incoporate some more coast path walking into our day out.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Patrick & Eddie xxx

One Very Big Boot

So back to our day out at the Giants Causeway. The causeway covered a suprisingly big area so it took a while to wander its length and breadth. There were quite a few foreign tourists and it was strange hearing foreign accents after getting used to hearing the charming Ulster brogue everywhere we went.

A couple of minutes walk away we found an indicator of the size of the giant who laid down the causeway: we found his boot.


As you can see, it suddenly went dark as we posed on the boot for our photo, and we had a scary moment when we thought it might be the giant's shadow being cast across us. Our moment of panic passed though, as we realised that the boot was so old and fossilised that the giant couldn't have been around for a good many years. We were quite pleased by this as just look how small we are in relation to that boot! We began to appreciate that with feet that size it wouldn't have taken many strides to get across to Scotland.

Being musical bears there was another causeway sight that was a must for us to see, and that was the rock formation known as 'the organ'. When you look at our next picture you'll get a hint of why it is so named.


We couldn't give you the whole picture or you would never have been able to see us. Even with our close up shot it's probably not easy, but you can probably appreciate that these big examples of basalt tubes do resemble organ pipes.

Sadly we weren't lucky enough to hear a recital on the day we were there, but our visit was still not over, so we'll continue in our next post.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Patrick and Eddie xxx

Happy St Patrick's Day

Top of the evening to all my friends and a very happy St. Patrick's Day to you. Today is a big day for all Irish folk, but especially for those who, like me, are named after the great Saint.

When I asked the guys yesterday if they celebrated St Patrick's day, they said not usually, but my arrival among them had changed everything and, as they now appreciate how many good things come out of Ireland (including me), they agreed they we had good reason to celebrate and have a party.


And so we are now relaxing by the fire and enjoying some good craic aided by a few glasses of Guinness and some party food. It's making me a bit nostalgic for my homeland, but I don't regret coming to live in Norfolk one bit, as I'm now at the heart of the Bears Unlimited family and been made to feel very welcome.

I'm enjoying helping George & Yorkie with the posts about our Irish holiday though as it reminds me of the great country that Ireland is. As everyone enjoyed their Irish holiday so much I'm sure I won't have any difficulties persuading them to visit again soon.

Anyway, we do expect to be returning to the tale of our Giant's Causeway adventures for our next post. Apologies to anyone who is being kept in suspense, waiting to see the less well known sights of the Causeway.

Lots of love, Patrick and all my Bears Unlimited friends xxx

Did Gilbert make the Balls?!

Tensions have been running high in the Norfolk Bear Cave today. We've spent the afternoon glued to the television set watching the concluding matches of the 6 nations rugby tournament and cheering on our respective teams. We're sure you'll forgive us for breaking into our Irish adventures to talk about the rugby, but we could hardly talk about it after today.

As we're quite a cosmopolitan household, we have Bears Unlimited members representing 4 of the 6 nations of the competition. It makes for rather noisy spectating and some interesting alliances.

Poor Scotty Dog was so disappointed with Scotland's performance in the first match, that he went off to be on his own and we haven't seen him since. We'll tempt him out with a glass of Wherry shortly.


The England v Ireland match was eagerly awaited. Patrick made sure he got a front row seat to support his team. As French bear Gilbert knows what it is like to be in a minority of one, he cheered on Ireland as well, and between them them made nearly as much noise as the large English element of the Norfolk branch. In the end, as it was such as good match, everyone agreed that the final score didn't really matter and Patrick took the Irish defeat with good grace.


When it came to France's turn to play, Gilbert began to get quite nervous. He really did want his team to win, not only the match, but also the tournament. He proudly displayed his French rugby rosette and tried not to look too worried. As we have no Welsh B.U. members and Gilbert is very popular, he had the whole of Bears Unlimited rooting for his team, not just Patrick.

Sadly, Gilbert's dream was not to be realised but he was the first to admit his team was completely outplayed. With a typical Gallic shrug he turned to the one thing that he knows his country never fails to excel at - red wine.


What better way to drown your sorrows and enjoy the company of your friends.

Lots of love, all at the Norfolk branch xxx

In the Steps of Giants

The day after Shrove Tuesday was another big day out for us. We headed for the biggest tourist attraction of the area. As we've mentioned the Causeway coast path a few times, you should be able to guess where we were headed.

Yes, we were off to explore the Irish end of the Giant's Causeway. We were very lucky to have our own local guide with us - our very charming and knowledgeable new friend Patrick.

We didn't want to just drive to the Causeway, pay lots of money to park, view it and them drive away as most visitors do. We wanted to make the visit a full day out and to make the most of the stunning scenery of the area. As we had enjoyed our previous day walking the coast path, we decided to park some miles away and arrive and return using paw power.


By the time we reached the causeway we were ready for a rest and relaxed in the sun taking in the incredible sight of all these thousands of basalt columns. Individually, they're pretty weathered and not particularly impressive, but it is the sheer numbers of the columns and the size of the area they cover that makes seeing the causeway close up quite an awe inspiring sight. While we relaxed, Patrick told us the story of the 2 giants, the Irish giant Finn Macool and the Scottish giant Benandonner and also impressed us, David Attenborough style, with his account of the geological formation.


As you can see, we made an attentive audience and it really was a lovely sunny day.

There's so much more to the Giants Causeway site than just the causeway so keep reading to find out about and view the less well known sights.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Patrick & Eddie xxx

Pancake Party

All that walking, rock climbing and surfing left us feeling very satisfied, but also very tired and very hungry. Yorkie was regretting forgoing the chocolate raisins to steal a march on the rock climb.

Now it just so happened, that the day of all this action was Shrove Tuesday. We didn't overlook the importance of this day as the start of Lent, but we do admit that our first thoughts on getting back to our holiday bear cave, were of pancakes.

Fortunately Eddie and Patrick had not spent the whole day chatting and drinking Guinness, they had taken time out to organise us a delicious two course pancake meal.


First we had the savoury pancakes you see in our picture. We polished off about 4 pancakes each - stuffed with spicy mince and lots of vegetables. We immediately realised that if he could cook this well, Patrick would settle in well to Bears Unlimited and make a fine sous chef for head chef Oakley.

After the savoury pancakes came the sweet ones. We drowned them in sugar and lemon and, of course, a bear's favourite, honey (not nutella on this occasion, Bear!)

We ate so well that we knew we'd have lots of energy for the next day's adventures.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Eddie Patrick

Meet the Beach Boys

As we left the quaint harbour of Portbradden with its sweet little church, we commented to each other on how bear friendly the local council was. They had thoughtfully put their Causeway Coast path footpath sign at a height suitable for walkers with short legs. See what we mean? Yes, that is the ground just inches below us.


Unfortunately, just after this point the coast path was closed - they'd obviosuly had some bad winter storms. We were not ready to turn back though, as we had already had glimpses of what lay ahead and we were quite excited by it. We therefore, took to the road and followed it along to the next bay which had so captured our interest.

This was White Park Bay, and you'd have to have been there to appreciate its attraction to a pair of action bears. The wide sandy beach extends for a good mile and a half, and, what's more, it has some great surf. It looked quite big from the top of the cliffs, and as we descended to sea level, past the local Youth Hostel, it began to look seriously big. We were a bit dismayed to find signs warning us that it was dangerous to swim. However, we are trained lifeguards and strong swimmers, and we had promised ourselves a surf, so we were not to be deterred, especially as our minders said they would keep a safety watch.


And so, despite it being early February, we headed for the waves, and, take note we weren't even wearing wet suits. If that doesn't qualify us action bears, I don't what what does.

It was lovely having the beach all to ourselves. We bet it's a bit different in summer.

Lots of love, surfer bears George & Yorkie xxx

A Very Wee Church

As our coastal exploration continued there were more surprises in store for us.

The first was this rather incredible bear sized church, which was even better than the shrine to the tuna which we found in Greece last year.


This is St Gobban' Church, said to be Ireland's smallest church, located in the equally small fishing village of Portbradden. Sadly it is privately owned, but as we don't approve of 'private' churches, this didn't stop us getting a closer look, even if we did have to trespass a bit. Have you found us in the picture? Here's a close up for anyone who needs glasses and isn't wearing them.


We looked up the Greek word by the door when we got home, although we were fairly confident, having studied a bit of ancient Greek, that it meant 'welcome'. However, one of our minder's biblical Greek dictionaries said it meant 'sing' (which we would happily have done, had they provided a translation) while another suggested it meant 'world' or 'mankind'. We don't suppose there are too many Greek scholars will be reading a bear blog, but if there are, and they can clear up this confusion, do post us a comment.

After that cultural interlude we became adventure bears again. Keep reading to find out how.

Causeway Coast by Paw Power

After exploring inland on the day we walked the Moyles Way, we thought our next walk should be along the Causeway Coast. We had already seen, on the day we arrived, that the Antrim coast is very spectacular, but you miss a lot from the car, so we were looking forward to exploring the coast on paw.

We thought it might also be a bit drier underfoot than our boggy walk, but there we were wrong. The coast path was almost as boggy and a lot muddier!


Still, at least when we wanted a rest there were some nice dry rocks to sit on and admire the view. The reason we're not looking at the sea in our picture, is not because we were posing for the camera, but because we were transfixed by a rather spectacular waterfall coming into this rocky bay.

In our next picture you can see it in the distance (or at least get the impression of white water) from the other side of the bay.


Being a rocky coastline there were some great opportunities for us to be action bears and do a spot of rock climbing. While our minders paused to ransack their rucksack for some chocolate raisins we tackled a serious climb up a craggy sea cliff.


I'd like to point out that Yorkie was only ahead of me because I'd lingered to see if I would get offered some of the chocolate raisins - I did! - and they were worth being beaten to the top by Yorkie.

This was quite an exciting day out so we'll continue our adventures next time.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Lip Smacking Good Food

While we're on the subject of food we simply must tell you about the wonderful fish and chips we enjoyed on the evening of our walk.

Having been out walking all day, we didn't feel like cooking (and anyway Chef Bear Oakley wasn't with us) so we thought we would take a stroll down to Ballycastle harbour and pick up some fish and chips from Mortons fish and chip shop which had been recommended to us.

As we queued in the shop, having placed our order, we began to get a bit worried. Everywhere we looked we saw references to fish and chip or just chip. Now we rather like our chips and were hoping for rather more than just the one being advertised. Fortunately, as we had a local, Patrick, with us, he was able to explain that 'chip' is just an Irish term for chips in the plural, and to reassure us that we would not be disappointed.


As you can see from our plates and our happy faces, Patrick knew what he was talking about. Perhaps we should say, before anyone thinks they serve strange looking fish in Ballycastle, that the plate on the left was loaded with scampi - the plate on the right had the fish. Incidentally, the fish was pollock. It was our first taste of this sustainable fish and we highly recommend it for taste its and environmental benefits.

These plates of food were simply delicious, especially after a 13 mile walk. One of the reasons they were so good, and why this fish & chip shop has the reputation it has, is because the Morton family are also local fisherman, who catch their own fish so it is always freshly caught and local. Incidentally, the Morton family also gave assistance to the R.N.L.I. when the local lifeboat was stranded on rocks at Rathlin Island - we talked about the incident in a recent posting - so they are clearly good people.

As well as the fish & chips, we can also recommend the Fab Cab red winebox which you see lurking at the back of our picture. It was a rather fine vintage which goes rather well with chips!

Lots of love, Eddie, Patrick, George & Yorkie xxx