Seasons Greetings

We did appreciate the Suffolk branch's seasonal post and it seems like it is all happening down in Suffolk. It's a good job Polly and her team are on hand to keep order. Here in Norfolk we are having a more traditional run up to Christmas and we're all looking forward to the big day on Sunday.

We have been to several sessions of carol singing, with more still to come. We particularly enjoyed an evening of traditional carols that we went to in one of our churches last Saturday evening. Two local folk musicians played us carols from the 1800s on some very old instruments: violin, hurdy gurdy, flute and Scandinavian bagpipes. They also sang and it was stirring stuff which transported us right back to the time of Thomas Hardy and Under the Greenwood Tree. We regretted the fact that many of the old carols have gone out of circulation, as we would have preferred to sing them, rather than some of the Victorian classics that are rather hackneyed nowadays.


The church was beautifully decorated and we had a good look round in the interval, while enjoying a glass of mulled wine and, no less than game pie and mince pies.

The next morning we were back in the same church for our Sunday morning service. We love the tiny Christmas tree which is a real one, and bear sized. As Gio peered over to see what was in the crib we had the same experience as the Suffolk branch - that of discovering that the baby Jesus had already arrived - or was it a stunt double, standing in until Sunday?


We are all looking forward to our multi branch re-union over the Christmas break. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun and much to report on, but until then, we wish all our readers a happy and peaceful Christmas.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Christmas Greetings from Suffolk

Hi everyone

Christmas came early in Suffolk - as you can see from our nativity scene baby Jesus has been born already and traffic officers were on hand with their first aid kit to give him the once over, as post natal care probably wasn't great in Bethlehem all those years ago. Polly was concerned that the wise men had arrived a little prematurely so she set up a road block and was fending them off in order to let the shepherds have plenty of time to visit without crowding out baby Jesus.

However, Polly then got some Police intell about Herod's nefarious plans so she quickly took up an observation post on the roof of the stable and fired a warning taser shot to see Herod off.

Unfortunately this woke up baby Jesus so other members of Suffolk Branch gathered under the Christmas tree, and after sharing their mulled wine and mince pies with him, they lulled him back to sleep with some carols.

Happy Christmas everyone!

House Sitting Can Be Such Fun

Just for a change, it's Blue Bear and Ungi here readers. While Gio, Pedro, George and Yorkie were away with our minders, walking the Camino, we had a very important job to do. We were looking after the house which includes our Bear Cave. As I, Blue Bear, am so big, our minders think I make a very good security guard and it is certainly true that I have a very deep growl, which I can make sound quite threatening, if I want to.

As well as looking after the house, we also did a bit of car sitting for a friend. The car we looked after, and still do from time to time, is a rather special car, especially for such a car enthusiast as me. It is a Austin Healey with a 'B' plate which makes it pretty old - 48 years in fact - many times old than me, and even older than Ungi!


As you can see it is a fantastic red model - what better colour can there be for a classic sports car? And on a nice day we can fold back the roof and go for a spin with the wind ruffling our fur.

As you might expect we turn quite a few heads when we go out in this car, affectionately known to us as 'Vroom'. We'd like to think this is because we cut such fine figures behind the wheel/windscreen, but it probably has as much to do with the fantastic throaty engine roar and the classic good looks of the car.


Being able to drive and look after this magnificent car was seventh heaven for me and I can honestly say I wasn't envious of the Camino walkers. I'd much rather have been behind the wheel of Vroom, which I was.

The current wintry weather and dark evenings means Vroom stays firmly tucked up in his owner's garage. I can't wait for the spring when I'll hopefully be allowed to take him out again. Before then we'll have to find Ungi a better booster seat as the wooden Rioja case he was sitting on to give him a good view, was apparently a bit uncomfortable!

Lots of love, Blue Bear and Ungi.

And to Finish ...

How do you finish the tale of such a great adventure, that has been a major influence on my life for the past 3 years, if not longer? I've been thinking long and hard, and there's no easy way to do it.

I think I'll just share a last selection of photos that have escaped the blog so far, and offer a few random bear thoughts to go with them.

The path of the camino has some lovely sections and some not so lovely, but if it were all the same, it wouldn't be half as interesting.

I did enjoy sections like the one in my first photo ...


We'd be walking through a woodland glade, with the sun shining through, enjoying a soft dirt track under our paws and some nice easy walking. And then, we'd come across a group of pilgrims having a picnic by a small stream. We would realise we knew them as companions along the way, and pause for a few friendly words. You might find it hard to see them behind my minder, but there were pilgrim picnicers there.

In fact, among that particular group of picnicers, were a lovely Dutch couple, minders of someone who became a good camino friend of George, Yorkie and myself. This was none other than Artis de Partis, who you see with me in my next photo (we were actually outside Santiago cathedral at the time).


I feel quite ashamed now that in an earlier post, before I got to know him, I referred to Artis as a strange creature! He is of interesting appearance, but that's as far as strange goes. He is delightful and has a very interesting life as the mascot of Amsterdam's Artis zoo. He is very well travelled and, if you look at the zoo's website you will see pictures of Artis all over the world. I'm sure a picture of him in Santiago will be appearing soon.

We'd like to visit Amsterdam before too long and, when we go, we will visit the zoo and look up Artis.

But back to the camino and another lovely quirk of the route. On more than one occasion we saw these adaptations to the sign used to warn motorists to drive carefully as the road was shared with the camino path.


We felt that the addition of the hair and skirt was graffiti at it's best - adding humour and not destroying the original. Everytime we saw it, it put a smile on our faces.

We didn't have a smile on our faces though, when we were woken in the middle of the night at the Rabanal alberque, by pilgrims getting up at about 5.00 a.m. to start walking in darkness. However, as we'd been woken up we also made an early start, setting out at 7.30 a.m. - even then it was still dark. We did feel it was worth it though to be able to see our beautiful surrounds gradually revealed by a lovely sunrise.


We concluded that perhaps every pilgrim should see at least one sunrise, and lots of sunsets (more of the latter as these don't require the early starts!)

Finally, for me, it was having such wonderful walking campanions as George, Yorkie and Pedro, that made our walk special. They may be veteran travellers, far better travelled than me, but they are definitely not travel weary and always take a great delight in each new day on the road.

Yorkie will always be Yorkie though, and here he is being thoroughly typical: trust him to find the biggest bottles of wine and beer on the camino. It isn't just that Yorkie's small, these were seriously big bottles ...


... the wine bottle must have held nearly a gallon. We couldn't take it with us though as we were carrying all our own gear: one of the things that makes a pilgrim a true pilgrim rather than simply a plastic one.

But I won't set off on that hobby horse again, so it's time to end. I hope you enjoyed travelling with us to Santiago via the blog.

We don't have a new adventure to report yet, but we'll be back soon with news of life in the Bear Cave.

Lots of love Gio, on behalf of the Camino bears xxx