Unmasked!

Our escapades at Malham marked the end of our course. We'd already thought it was a rather good course, but we were even more of this opinion when our instructors told us we were going to celebrate the end of the course with a curry and a few beers in Settle - and also that we had all passed.

We all let our fur down at the beer and curry night and both students and instructors mixed really well. Even though they'd worked us hard, we thought the instructors were a great pair. When you look at our next picture, you may recognise 2 individuals, and understand our feelings ...


Yes, the two fine Bears Unlimited members - Ungi and Jimmy - that you see relaxing by the woodburner were our instructors. The course was an in-house event organised by our bigger and stronger B.U. friends and colleagues, who are always looking out for the interests of us vertically challenged bears. They wanted to show us that size and strength are not everything, and that brains and technique have a vital role to play when dealing with emergency situations.

It's a lesson we will remember, and our confidence in our abilities has been given a real boost, so thanks chaps.

Love the B.U. small bears xxx

Skating On Thin Ice

From the top of Malham Cove we were supposed to do a yomp through the snow, all the way to Malham Tarn. It wasn't quite at yomp speed though, as we kept encountering snow drifts which were deeper than we were tall. It was all quite energy sapping and we needed our emergency rations of Kendal Mint Cake to keep us going.

Once we got to the Tarn, we found it frozen over.


The instructors produced a pair of ice skates for each course participant. As we all love ice skating, we thought we were all about to have an afternoon off and lots of fun. To a certain extent we were, but there was still an important lesson to be learnt. Before we took to the ice, we all had a safety line attached to us and we soon had good reason to be very grateful for them.

As more and more of us launched ourselves onto the ice, there was an ominous cracking noise, followed by a splash as George fell into the water. We didn't have time to take a picture as the instructors took us straight into rescue mode and showed us how to safely achieve a rescue from icy water and how to deal with the casualty. It was very good training as George can testify as he suffered no ill effects and said that the brandy was very good.

Lots of love, the Bears Unlimited students xxx

No Ropes!

After our day off, it was straight back to work and the biggest challenge of the course so far. We wondered why our instructors had such smug smiles on their faces as we set off, but when we saw what lay at the end of our drive, we understood why.


In fact, when we saw the bulk of Malham Cove looming ahead of us, all of us bar Noel and Rocco went and hid as the prospect of climbing Malham Cove in snow and ice was just too scary.

Our instructors cruelly kept us believing we'd got to climb Malham Cove until right at the last moment. Rocco and Noel told the rest of us later that they had worked out that our challenge had to be different, as they'd spotted that there were no climbing ropes amongst all the gear.

What we were asked to do was to climb, both up and down, the steps at the side of the cove. This might sound quite straightforward, but actually it wasn't. As Malham Cove is such a tourist trap, even in winter, so many people had been up and down the steps that the snow on the steps, awkward at the best of times, had become so compressed that it had become solid ice. It was potentially lethal.

Our instructors gave us some useful tips for retaining a sure footing and keeping our balance, even so we made good use of 4 paws rather than 2! As a reward we were allowed to do the same climb using crampons. What a difference that made!

Lots of love, the Bears Unlimited students xxx

Time Off for Good Behaviour

We were proving to be such good students, that half way through the week we were given a day off. We looked at the map to see what possibilities there were, and we noticed that, one of our favouritist places, the Lake District, was within easy reach. So we loaded up a bearmobile and off we went.

Our first stop was in Ambleside where we had some shopping for specialist gear to do. This is to support a very big trip later in the year - more about that soon, so we won't let the cat out the bag just yet.


Shopping done, we made straight for Coniston, as this is the scene of so many happy holidays and definitely our favourite Lake District place. We were suprised at how little snow there was, compared to Yorkshire. This was good though as it meant we could do one of our favourite walks. You may be able to work out where we were from our photo.

Yes, we're about to stride out along the Walna Scar road, with the sides of the Old Man rising above us. The sun was well hidden that day and there was a lot of cloud. However, we kept warm by walking briskly and we didn't have to worry about navigation as we just followed our noses, having done the walk so many times.


We stopped for a break at the lake filled former quarry which, in the summer sun, is a lovely shade of blue and always looks very inviting. In the depths of winter it didn't look so inviting and we took care not to go too close to the edge and risk falling in.

After walking through the farm, where we usually camp, we came to the shores of Lake Coniston.


In the late afternoon light, with no wind, it was calm and peaceful and, as always, a stunning sight. We all thought of Eddie, who wasn't with us on this trip, and how he would have loved to be there to do some boating. His turn will come soon though, and boating is so much more fun in the sunshine.

To finish off our visit to Coniston, we did something very predictable; we had a pint of Bluebird Ale in the Black Bull. We do like Norfolk, but there are times, such as this, when we wish it was a bit closer to Coniston.

Lots of love, the B.U, students xxx

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Some of the snow drifts made fantastic and very comfortable cushions, so when our instructors backs were turned, we took advantage and had a rest.


If you take a close look you might see something familiar - Yorkie's legs and bottom waving in the air! He assured us that this time it wasn't in order to get a drink, it was because he has so little padding on his bottom, that he had got a frozen behind and he was trying to keep it off the cold snow!

We all had a laugh at the bottom prints we had made in the snow and looking at them gave us a great idea.


We could write in the snow with our trekking poles and do a useful bit of advertising for our blog spot, by etching in our www address. We realise you probably can't read it, but we wrote in big letters and left a big paw print as a signature, in the hope that any other walkers out that day would see what we had written and be tempted to look us up - and hopefully become blog friends for life.

Lots of love

George, Yorkie & Co xxx

The Alternative Bear Cave

We were very lucky bears as the bright and sunny weather continued throughout the week of our course. It was very cold though (which stopped the snow melting) and there was a biting wind. We could therefore appreciate the need to be able to seek shelter, and paid special attention to the lesson on building a snow cave.


You wouldn't believe how cosy it was in our snow cave especially for Curly who had taken up a strategic position at the back. And it had hardly taken any time to build. We just regretted the fact that we hadn't brought a stove and kettle with us, as it would have been great to have a brew up in our snow cave.

Our instructors had other ideas though, and had more practicals in store for us. Yorkie had to resort to drastic measures to get the drink he was so keen to have (the extra effort working in the snow requires, does make you very thirsty, very quickly).


As you can see, he took a dive into the snow in order to fill his mouth and cheeks with plenty of snow, hoping it would melt quickly and slake his thirst. The rest of us thought that perhaps he should have a new nickname of Ostrich, as an alternative to his usual one of 'piranha', but on second thoughts, perhaps not, as there is already an ostrich in the family - she knows who she is!

Lots of love George & friends xxx

It's Seriously Deep

We didn't have to walk too far before we had the snowy countryside all to ourselves, and we could stop looking over our shoulders to see if hungry lambs were approaching and concentrate on our survival skills.

We found that navigating in the snow was quite hard as the path would be covered by snow and quite often we were the first to set paw in the lovely blanket of virgin snow, so there were no footprints to follow.


Here we see George using a bear's intuition for the right path. He could tell us, without resorting to compass or GPS, that we were on the right path, as he had cleverly worked out that where a gate is, the path must be!

Mind you, we soon found that gates are not always a blessing, especially when they attract some deep snow drifts.


This snow wall was many times bigger than us and required us to beg bootlaces from a minder's boot, to use as climbing ropes to get ourselves up.

Lots of love, the B.U. students xxx

We're Not Sure About the Natives

So did the eagle eyed among our readers spot the bottle of red wine warming in front of the log burner? It proved a great aid to evening relaxation and we had worked hard during the day to earn it!

So what else happened on our course? We had some interesting tips on how to defend ourselves from a fierce sheep. You might think this sounds a bit strange but we have the evidence to show it was necessary ...


We were practising our kung fu style defensive kicks on quite a steep and icy road, so we had to take care that we were sure pawed, otherwise we might have slipped all the way back down the hill to the village we'd set out from. Mind you, provided we slid faster than the pursuing lamb could run, we would have been o.k.

The same day we had evidence of more strange strains of well known animals in Yorkshire. We were quite taken aback by this sign ...


We felt rather sorry for the local dogs who are not allowed the right to roam on territory dedicated to them. We were beginning to understand the phrase we'd heard a few times, that 'it's tough up north'.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie & Co xxx