Our Fiery Reward

From one great meal - our soup lunch - to another - our end of course celebration meal.

Although only one previous course hardly sets a precedent, we had enjoyed our Indian meal, at the end of last year's course, so much, that it had to be repeated. Just the thought of it was quite a spur to us to work hard all week, to make sure we all passed and earned ourselves the celebratory meal.

And so, on our final night we headed into Settle as soon as we decently could and piled into the Ruchee Indian restaurant where a feast was soon placed before us ...


We were not disappointed. The prawn puree starter was superb as was the madras style balti dish which followed. As we were 'up north' we were pleased to find the curry had some real heat to it, much more than we would get at home in Norfolk. When our mouths started to burn with the chilli we took some big swigs of the Jennings Cumbrian Ale we had taken with us.

After a superb meal and lots of dissection of course highlights and lowlights, it was back to the cottage for another treat. There was a 6 Nations rugby match on, and we were back in time to see it all.

We're already looking forward to next year.

Lots of love, the B.U. course participants xxx

Tips for Keeping Warm

Sorry we've been quiet of late, but now that the holiday season is under way, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that we were off on another adventure last week. We'll just finish our Yorkshire posts then will tell you all about it.

When we left you, we had just had an exhilarating time descending Catrigg Force, but we had got rather cold and wet. We hoped to follow this experience with a rather drier event.

Fortunately we got it. While Chelmer and Curly demonstrated their snow and ice climbing skills ...


... which they did very ably (who needs ice axes and crampons when you've got a bear's leathery paws!) those of us waiting for our turn, found a sheltered spot in which to wait. It was under a snowy overhang, so completely our of the wind - of course, we had checked for unstable cornices first.


However, when we came to find out 'what's in our lunchbox' we did find the ultimate way to keep warm while out and about in the cold. Our lunchbox contained a large flask of home made soup - piping hot and delicious. It warmed the cockles of our hearts and more besides.


After that soup, we were ready for anything.

Lots of love, the B.U. course participants xxx

Who Dares Wins

Within Bears Unlimited, the girls are very much part of the gang, and Rosa set out to prove this, by putting up a stirling performance as she stormed through the course exercises.


Her favourite exercise was the snow hole building and she said it was very cosy in her snow hole with Rocco. There wasn't room for Chelmer when he enquired, but that was a strategic move on Rosa's part, to force him to make his own, and so reinforce the skills he learnt last year - after all practice makes perfect.

A new challenge for this year was absailing down a waterfall - and it was no ordinary waterfall, it was Catrigg Force, swollen by a lot of winter rain.


What an exhilarating descent that was. Fortunately we'd all spent a lot of time watching one of our heroes, Bear Grylls, doing similar on television, so we knew exactly how to do it safely. Sorry you can't see action bears in the picture, but when each of us took our turn to spectate, we had to keep well back for health and safety reasons.

It was a very wet day when we did the waterfall challenge, but at least being wet to start, we didn't worry about getting wet from the spray.

Lots of love, the B.U. instructors & trainees xxx

Spot the Difference

Do you remember our very successful course, survival skills for small bears, from last year? It was run for us by instructors Ungi & Jimmy, and took place in Yorkshire in February, although, due to a busy year, wasn't reported on until the end of March.

When February came round again, for the second time, we had the offer of the loan of the lovely cottage that we used as a base last year. We leapt at the chance of going back. For some of us it would provide an opportunity for refresher training, and for others, such as Rosa, who wasn't with us last year, it would provide some vital skills for life training.

We'll start with a flash back to last year and how it was then ...


If you can't remember, you can see from our photo that we were blessed with sunshine and blue skies. We were very lucky, as we also had the snow and ice, which we needed for authentic survival training.

This year it was a little different. We still had the snow - not quite as much as last year - but, not only was it white on the ground, it was white in the sky, as it was quite foggy.

You'll see what we mean when you see our next photo, where we tried, as far as our memories allowed, to re-create last year's shot. This is why we've entitled our post 'spot the difference'.


Our survival training was therefore less of an exercise than last year, and more for real, especially when it came for navigating. We still had great fun though, and relished, even more than last year, returning to that lovely woodburner in the cottage.

More to come.

Lots of love Chelmer, Curly and the small bear posse xxx

Our Bank Holiday Monday

Having made inroads into our Easter egg mountain on Sunday, on Monday, we were in need of a bit of exercise to burn off some of those extra calories.

We had the perfect opportunity, as our Archdeacon, John, was doing a 10 mile challenge run to raise money for our local air ambulance, which had helped to save his wife's life, following a serious car crash last year.


The event took place at a local hall with some beautiful grounds, not normally open to the public. Curly and I, being fitness freaks and personal trainers, joined the runners on 3 laps of a 3.3 mile circuit.

Our minders joined a posse of walkers and took time to enjoy the attractive grounds of the hall. There was parkland, woodland and a lake. There was also a delightful partly ruined church, which we investigated at the end of our run as it was close to the finish line.


The font was an open air one, being at the bottom of a ruined tower. We took the opportunity to have a cool down at the end of our run before looking inside the intact end of the church.

We really loved the inside of the church, especially the altar which doubled as a moving war memorial. It was very special. We sat on the altar rail and took it all in.


We then adjourned to the refreshment hall for tea and cakes. One of our minders, inspired by our running, ran 5 miles home. We all then spent the afternoon in the garden helping gardening bear Tommy prepare the ground reading for potato planting.

By this time we were ready for a bit more chocolate!

Lots of love Chelmer, Curly and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Happy Easter from all at Bears Unlimited

A very happy Easter to all our readers. What a great day it has been so far. Bris and I were up very early, while it was still dark, to join a group of 10 for a dawn service, followed by a scrumptious cooked breakfast.


It was a special moment when the Paschal candle was lit and it brought home to us the miracle of the Easter Sunday events.

It was lovely to see lots of daffodils brightening the church and they were an excellent tonic to lift the spirits.


While our breakfast was cooking, as well as admiring the spring flowers, we also took a good look at the Easter garden. A lot of hard work had gone into creating it and a great job had been done ...


We came home to discover a huge mountain of Easter eggs and lots of excited bears. How lucky we all are to have such generous friends who understand how much bears love chocolate.


We're not quite as bad as one of our minders' friends who had given up chocolate for Lent, but had a chocolate feast at just gone midnight this morning, when she could eat it again. We're pacing ourselves this afternoon though, as we have lovely leg of lamb slow cooking in the oven as we write, and we don't want to ruin our appetites.

This lamb will be relished even more than usual as we all gave up meat for Lent. We had some lovely creative vegetarian dishes cooked by Chef Oakley, but, after our abstinence, the roasting meat doesn't half smell good.

Lots of love, Gio, Bris and all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Our Palm Sunday Afternoon

We were lucky; the weather continued fine into the afternoon. We all fancied an outing, so took a vote as to where we should go. The verdict came down in favour of one of our favourite walks.

The reason it is so good, is that it combines the delights of the beautiful Sheringham Park, with coast path along the cliffs back into Sheringham - so we get the best of both parkland and coastal scenery.

When in Sheringham Park, it is a B.U. tradition to climb to the top of the gazebo and hang out at the top.


Getting to the top involves quite a few steps, and a lot of puff, but is well worth it for the views. We could see all the way along the coast to Blakeney Point and, nearer to us, we could also see Blue Bear indulging in his hobby of driving a steam train on the Poppy line.

Do you remember our coastal watch activities, reported in the past, where we do our bit to keep the coast safe and sustainably managed? Well, as we arrived in Sheringham, and walked along the prom, we found a rather different coast watch job awaiting us.

A huge caterpillar tracked digger was ready and waiting for us to do our bit to even out some fresh shingle to build up the beach after the winter storms.


Now driving that machine really was fun, especially for a dare devil action bear such as myself (Chelmer), and it was all in a good cause, so worthwhile as well as enjoyable.

The fun didn't end there. As we walked through the town we made a new friend outside one of the pubs.


What a fine lobster he was and patriotic with it too. You may not be surprised to hear that the name of the pub he was guarding is 'The Lobster'.

We definitely enjoyed our afternoon out.

Lots of love Chelmer, Curly and all at Bears Unlimited xxx