Pottering in Portugal

Greeting readers, we hope you didn't think the blog had ended as it hasn't - hopefully that's good news for you. We've simply been incredibly busy having fun, travelling (of course) and running the Bears Unlimited business, so we decided to have a bit of a sabbatical from the blog.

Keep checking the site though as we'll try and write often enough to keep you interested and make it worth your while checking for new posts.

We've clearly got a bit of catching up to do, so where do we start? Perhaps the New Year would be a good place. While Blighty was wet and windy, albeit not that cold, we jetted off to the Algarve, arriving on 2nd January (we couldn't arrive any sooner as there was a race meeting at Fakenham on New Years Day which we couldn't possibly miss!)

As you can see from our first photo, you don't have to travel far to find sunshine and blue skies in early January.

The rocky Algarve coast with its cliffs and sandy beaches was a real joy and we were out and about exploring and researching material for the Friendly Planet guide, almost as soon as we arrived. In the evenings we swam in the covered pool at our apartments, watched DVDs from the library, played pool in the Holiday Property Bond clubhouse and tried one or two of the local wines. It was heavenly and a great way to banish the January blues.  

We were out and about every day, and made good use of our Cicerone walking guide. We were particularly fascinated by the cork trees which we encountered on several walks, as we'd never seen them before.

As you can see, only a section of cork gets harvested at a time and the harvesting is a very organised process. The number on the tree indicated the year of the last harvest (in our picture 2008) and 10 years will be left between harvests, to allow the cork to grow back even better than before. We shall always look at cork in a different light now.

Towards the end of the week we went over to the west coast and here there were some simply huge seas. Sorry, we had to use humans to provide some scale, but us travelling bears, are just too small in relation to swells of this size.

We'd like to say that we were out there surfing, but it would be a lie. Perhaps if we'd had action bear Chelmer, with us, he'd have been tempted, and might have encouraged us, but we decided our duty was to keep our minders company ... honest!

Cape St Vincent was definitely worth a visit. It's the most southwesterly point in Portugal and it has a big lighthouse ...

... and it's a great place to sit and watch the sun go down. As it was getting cold outside we sat on the dashboard of our Corsa hire car. We like Corsas as we have one at home.

We hope you've enjoyed our Portuguese highlights and will join us again sson.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Rocco, Rosa and Douglas xxx

A European Adventure Gets Under Way

Sorry we've been off air for a while, but we're having so much fun going on adventures this year, that we never seem to have the time to report on them.

Last time, you may recall that we were in the Lake District, doing a spot of training for a big walk. That walk happened at the beginning of July, and it all started with an Easy Jet flight to Geneva. Our flight was an early one, so we arrived in Geneva several hours before we were due to meet our tour leader and fellow walkers, for a transfer to the start of our big walk.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and we had no intentions of hanging round the airport for hours on end, so in true Bears Unlimited fashion, we went exploring, especially as the Friendly Planet Guide we are writing, was in need of a chapter on Geneva.

Catching the train to the city was straightforward as all trains stopped at the central station, so you could get on any one you liked. It was a lovely train with lots of space, as many continental ones are, so it was a shame our journey only lasted about 6 minutes.


Our first stop was at the Tourist Information office where we picked up a guide and map and made friends with our first Swiss cow, who wasn't exactly the beautiful brown cow we were expecting. He was a fount of local information though and, please don't worry, it wasn't as painful for Gio as it looks, as the cow's horn was up his t-shirt, not part of his anatomy!

In no time at all we had reached the Lake, which was what we most wanted to see, as shops and museums don't really do it for us. As it was a boiling hot day, it was lovely to stroll beside the water, and the famous jet spout was high on our list of things to see.


After this picture was taken we did get really close, and all that power was completely awesome. The spray was lovely and cooling on our fur, although didn't take away the need for a cooling pistachio ice cream, a little later.

Seeing all the people enjoying the water, and also the public beach that we discovered, was great and helped put us into holiday mode. The gardens edging the lake were also lovely and we were all impressed with this floral clock ...


We did have a quick foray into the old town and a look at the cathedral, but it was a quick one, as it was time to head back to the airport, meet up with our tour group and start our holiday properly.

We'll reveal all next time, and hopefully it won't be quite as long to wait for our next post.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Being British: Talking about the Weather

So how have you all fared with the recent rather varied weather patterns? In true British fashion it's given us plenty to talk about.

We were disappointed bears on Tuesday, when the frosty weather meant that the racing at Fakenham had to be abandoned due to a frozen course. Naturally we didn't want any horses hurt, so it was completely the right decision, but we had so been looking forward to wearing our members badges, that, as you will recall from a recent post, we were thrilled to receive for Christmas. Never mind, hopefully they'll be able to re-arrange the event soon, and we would have got very cold watching if it had gone ahead.

Closer to home, the recent gales have wreaked a fair amount of havoc in the garden.


The most obvious damage is that we now have 3 fence panels down giving our garden rather more than an open plan feel that we would like.

We're now able to see right through to the churchyard we adjoin; at least our the neighbours are quiet and don't have dogs!

We will need to send a work party out soon to do some repairs as gardening bear Tommy is worried that there will be plants underneath that might be squashed and will certainly be wanting some light. On the plus side, under the fence panel will be a nice sheltered area for any animals needing a warm and dry place to rest. Fortunately the flat panel just missed a clump of snowdrops and some good news is that the aconites, Tommy's favourites seem to be spreading with a new clump close to a bit of fence that is still standing ...


We've decided that we need to escape to warmer climes, so this week, many of us will be heading off on a new adventure, to research a new chapter for the Friendly Planet Guide. We can't wait.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Sirs George and Yorkie of Arabia

As evening approached, the following day, the new headscarves came out again, this time to be worn for real. They were rather large for us bears to wear, so no photos of us wearing them as you wouldn't see us, but we thought we might be able to make use of them at night to wrap ourselves in.

And why were we thinking this way ? It was because we were about to head out into the Sahara desert on a desert adventure. We were very excited for 3 reasons:

a) we'd never been to a desert before, so this would be an important new chapter for The Friendly Planet Guide

b) we were going to stay out in the desert overnight in a temporary camp, and

c) we had a great mode of transport to get us there, and here it is - or rather, one of them ... (still trying to work out which one of us is the most handsome!)


We were travelling there in a camel train. There were 2 small trains of 3 camels each. We both elected to ride with our female minder and were very glad we had after our male minder's camel couldn't get his footing on a muddy stream bank and fell over, causing our minder to roll off into the mud. We were very relieved he wasn't hurt; once we'd established this, we had a good laugh!


It felt very strange camel riding. As the camel's head and neck went forwards and backwards so did we, and combine this with a bit of up and down, and we felt like we were describing circles as we rode.

Although we had our sleeping mats on top of the saddles, our minders found they had very sore bottoms after a while - not a problem bears suffer. They were therefore glad when the camp came into sight, and it was time to dismount ...


The camp was exclusively ours, and there was no-one else in sight and nothing to see but sand for miles. There was a white tent for our crew where they did the cooking, a black nomad style tent for the the tour group and, a sensible distance away, a toilet tent. As you can see from our next picture, that was all there was, apart from our camels - by now hobbled - and lots of sand.


There was time to explore before dinner - part 2 follows shortly.

Lots of love George and Yorkie xxx

Our Iberian Itinery

Hemos ido a Espana! It's us, George and Yorkie, back from our latest adventure that took us to Spain, and we're more than ready to take up the reins of the blog from Eddie, who has done such a great job and no doubt whetted your appetite for a sailing holiday in Greece.

So what took us to Spain, apart from the need to do more research for the Friendly Planet Guide? There were a couple of reasons. For the last 3 years or so, our first holiday of the year has been taken in Britain and, while we always have a good time, we would have liked some better weather. The sunshine of Spain and some Spanish Rioja seemed very appealing. Second, as you may recall, we spent several weeks in the north of Spain, 18 months ago, when we were walking the Pilgrimage route to Santiago. Having seen the north of the country and enjoyed practising our Spanish, we thought it would be good to see the opposite end of the country and practise our Spanish a bit more.

And so we came by plane and our hire car, Trig, to the Holiday Property Bond's newest development, El Pueblito del Alfaix. We're quite unusual in Bond circles as there aren't too many Bondholders who are bears, but we're always given an enthusiastic welcome. 

Our studio apartment is the very one that you can see in our first picture. It was right at the end of the the first row of apartments. We didn't have the upper floor, that was another apartment, but the big patio windows opening onto a balcony were ours. We just thought we'd point out that we are sitting on the wall, as you may not have spotted us.

Our apartment was everything we could have wished for. It was well laid out, well equipped and still very new. 

While inside was great, we tended to spend a lot of time out on our balcony. Sadly the clouds had descended for our picture, and they are hiding some gentle mountain slopes, but you can still see all the citrus trees in the foreground.

As you may have noticed, there are 4 of us, not 2. We invited Gio along as he was with us in Spain on pilgrimage and loves the country, and the 4th member of the gang is Pedro, wearing the red t-shirt. Pedro has kept a low profile in the blog so far, while he's been learning English. He is in fact a true Spaniard and moved to England from Spain to join Bears Unlimited. There was no way that we were going to leave Pedro behind when heading for Spain, and, anyway, he is great company, as you will discover in the posts to come.

Join us again soon.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Pedro and Gio xxx

A Great Ambassdor for a Posh Store

It's time for us - George & Yorkie - to leap in with all 8 paws, before any other bears beat us to the next post.

We're sure you're all eager to hear about our travels of last month. It was our big trip of the year, and saw us heading overseas.

It all started very early on a Sunday morning: 5.00 a.m. at Gatwick to be precise. Normally we find the wait between check-in and take off a bit tedious, especially when we've a touch of 'bear with a sore head', having been forced to get up early.

However, on this occasion, the airport experience was a lot more fun than normal. We had a new bear friend to thank for this. Here he is ...

He was Rodney, the Harrods bear, and what a smart bear he was. We tried not to get his crisp white shirt dirty from our dusty paws, and we loved the feel of his plush green jacket. He had lots of interesting stories to tell  as he sees a lot of life from his vantage point outside the store. He told us that although he is for sale, his price tag of £1,652.15 puts a lot of people off buying him, so he has been standing outside the store for quite a long time. We think for a bear as fine and smart, not least to say, as large as him, he is worth every penny. He certainly made our large friend Blue Bear look small, which is usually quite hard to do.

We'd have loved to take Rodney with us, but we would definitely have needed an extra seat and sadly the plane was full. We did remember to send him a postcard though.

Find out, where our postcard was from, next time.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Eddie (a clue!) xxx

Wondrous Windows

After 2 days of cycling I wasn't that surprised when the other chaps said they fancied a change, but I was slightly taken aback when George said we should go to church. After all, it's not our usual midweek holiday activity, and I didn't think I needed to atone, or seek confession, after drinking just 2 pints of Guinness in 2 days! 

When we arrived at the church that George had picked out for us, I soon appreciated that his plan made a lot of sense. Apparently, while we were enjoying our Kilmakilloge Guinness on the previous day, he had overheard 2 fellow tourists saying how wonderful the stained glass windows were at the church at Eyeries and, being a curious kind of bear, decided that we should check it out, especially as the Friendly Planet Guide needs to include a bit of culture as well as outdoor activities.

We're not exactly what you'd call art lovers, but we were completely blown away by these stunningly beautiful windows. They were very modern and very colourful and the striking images told the story of the area throughout the ages. If you look carefully you can see George & Yorkie sitting at the bottom of the window, lost in thoughtful contemplation. This was just one of a whole churchful of equally amazing windows. If you ever find yourself on the Beara Pensinsula then you must go and see them.  

Our meditative viewing of the windows came to an abrupt end when George found the biggest container of holy water that any of us had ever seen. We hoped it wasn't disrespectful for him to sit on the top, but it did rather tickle his fancy.

We can certainly say that they don't do things by halves in the south west of Ireland.

Lots of love Patrick, George, Yorkie & Rosa xxx

We're On Our Way

Hi readers, and top of the evening to you, from myself Patrick. I hope I haven't kept you waiting for too long, but us Irish, like to take our time over things, and I always feel that a post is best composed over a leisurely pint of Guinness.

I think I organised a good holiday for the chaps and Rosa, and they certainly seem to have enjoyed themselves. I'm confident that when the new chapter for the Friendly Planet Guide is published, it will say nice things about my homeland.

I think I'll start from the time of us setting paw in Ireland.


This was us watching our ferry docking at Rosslare at 6.30 a.m. - we were intrigued by the man reversing it into our birth from the outdoor control panel you can just see at the side of the boat. As it was mid June, you can see it was sunny with blue skies, even at that ungodly hour.

As we'd had a cabin, we'd managed to get a good 3 hours sleep on this short crossing from Fishguard, so we were all raring to go, even if it did take us an hour to get off, after the main doors failed to open. We had quite a long journey over to the Cork/Kerry border ahead of us, but I'd planned an interesting route with lots of stops, including the first important one, for breakfast.

Later I took the chaps to Gougane Barra which is a simply heavenly spot and one of my favourite places in Ireland. Normally it's a very peaceful spot, but on this occasion ... no sooner had we arrived, than a Porsche drivers' rally turned up.


They quickly parked by the lake in a long line and turned off their engines. We all enjoyed inspecting these fine cars until Rosa called us to lunch.


We sat right at the water's edge and, after eating, cooled our paws in the water and did a spot of sunbathing. It was the perfect antidote to long hours in the bearmobile.

Felling refreshed, we did a bit of exploring. We walked in the forest park, then went to look at the delightful church which was built at the end of the 1800s on an island near the site of a former monastery.


Round the back, we found these interesting structures which we thought must be hermit cells dating back to the time of the former monastery. There was a very peaceful atmosphere and there can be few more scenic spots to meditate.

But we didn't linger, as I knew we were only about 90 minutes drive from our final destination, and we were all very keen to see it.

Lots of love Patrick and my travelling posse xxx

Balearic Bears

Yorkie and I enjoyed our winter survival skills course, especially in retrospect. It was cold though, so the prospect of spending a few days in the sun, in the interests of doing some more research for the Friendly Planet Guide, was very appealing.

We therefore persuaded our minders to book a week in Menorca, the week after Easter, when it would be nice and quiet and prices were still cheap. Almost before we knew it, we were leaping into a rucksack and heading for Luton airport at 5.00 a.m. on a foggy April morning.

Ours was an early flight, so by mid morning we were bowling along the empty Menorcan roads in our very cute and bear friendly Renault Twingo hire car, en route to our apartment.


We found the apartment easily, and no sooner were our bags inside, than we were studying the information pack in our living room, while we waited for lunch to be prepared and the beers to chill.

Our apartment was very fine and on the ground floor, with a private patio and garden. As we slid open the patio doors we could tell we were going to enjoy sitting out in the sun with a cold drink and a good book.

The swimming pool was in view and we only had to go out our garden gate and up a few steps to be there and what a lovely pool it was ...


You can see from our edge of the seat pose that we could hardly wait to dive in.

Our first impressions were very good and we felt it in our fur that we were going to have a good week.

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

Church Attendance Not of Our Usual Kind!

The rest of the week whizzed by in a bit of a blur and as always when you're enjoying yourself, we found the days passed all too quickly.

Some might say that the reason for the 'blur' was that we'd been spending too much time in a newly re-discovered pub. We hadn't been to the Torver Church House Inn for a few years, even though it was only 10 minutes walk away. It's changed hands since we were last in, and is now a real gem of a pub with a very friendly welcome, fantastic food and a well-kept pint of beer. Definitely worthy of an entry in both the Good Beer Guide for Bears and the Friendly Planet Guide.


We've two particular recommendations: the Hawkshead Bitter, which we're relishing in our picture, and the minted pea soup which was simply out of this world (the creme brulee was pretty amazing too).

While we did stroll down to this pub most evenings we think it would be unfair to say we spent too much time there. We value our outdoor activities far too much to risk waking up with a sore head, and we know the importance of a good night's sleep in preparation for an adventurous day.

So, moderation in all things is our motto!

Lots of love, the Bears Unlimited campers xxx

Stepping Back into History

One thing that quickly became apparent about Patrick was that he is a great talker - he did admit that he has kissed the Blarney stone, and it has clearly worked its magic on him.

He had us enthralled and thoroughly entertained, but Yorkie and I (George) realised that we had to tear ourselves away, otherwise we would never get our research for the Friendly Planet Guide done.


We made a visit to the historic ruins of Layd church which have a fabulous cliff top location just outside the village of Cushendall. Most of the ruins date back to around 1638 and there is a very peaceful atmosphere among them, possibly because the site was abandoned in 1790 when the last service was was held.


Can you find where we're hiding in the ruins in true 'Where's Bear' fashion?

We found two interesting crosses in the graveyard. The first we examined is a decorated Celtic cross dedicated to a local doctor who founded the medical school at, what later became, Queens's University, Belfast. We particularly liked the carved panels at the bottom of the cross and our favourite was the depiction of the Good Samaritan as we thought the donkey was great. We hope you can see him in our picture.


The next cross we looked at was very much older. We're not sure if it dates back to the early days of the church in 1288, but that doesn't matter. It is a wonderfully simple holed cross and the hole was just the right size for us to crawl through.


It was a good spot and we will certainly recommend a visit in the Friendly Planet Guide.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

It's Bag Packing Time!

You've got to agree, it's been quite a while since we last went travelling. We've got rather itchy feet, so are about to do something about it.

We're about to head off for our next adventure and to research a new area of our planet for the Friendly Planet Guide. We're taking Eddie with us this time, which might provide a bit of a clue, or it might send you down completely the wrong track.


If you look closely at our picture, the map and brochure we're eagerly studying, might reveal our destination. If it doesn't, we're afraid you're going to have to wait a while to find out more. We plan to take lots of photos though as there should be some stunning sights, so hopefully the wait will be worthwhile.

See you soon, lots of love, George, Yorkie & Eddie xxx

The Morning of the Wedding

As the wedding wasn't until after lunch, and we hadn't been allocated any wedding morning duties (yes it was a very well organised wedding), we thought we'd have a bit of a lie in, but in the end, the temptation of seeing what was on offer at the Holiday Inn Express buffet breakfast proved too much, and down we all went.

We were pleased to find cellophane wrapped muffins, which made them perfect for sneaking away for a mid morning snack (don't tell anyone though!).


Our picture of Yorkie and myself (George), with our muffins, should explain why we needed a mid morning snack. We were a short drive from Epping Forest and we had a free morning, so what better way to spend the time than doing some research for The Friendly Planet Guide.

We enjoyed our stroll through Epping Forest, and because the paths are so well marked, it is a good place to go if you are just passing through the area and, like us, haven't got a map. From all the activity we saw, it is also a good place for running, cycling and horse riding, as we shall report in the Friendly Planet Guide.

When we got back to the hotel we were just in time to help our Uncle Tim decorate his car, Saabrina (being a Saab), which is his pride and joy. As it was the groom's car not the bride's car, there were no bonnet ribbons, but some very tasteful bows on the doors.


We were particularly proud of the bow on the rear windscreen wiper which we thought of. It takes a spark of bear genius to think up a decoration like that. Saabrina really was looking very best, and we could see that her car bears had put a lot of time and effort into cleaning and polishing.

More to come, so keep reading.

Lots of love from the wedding party xxx

Research Can Be Such Fun!

A few of us recently paid a visit to Dunstable and took the opportunity to do some research for the Friendly Planet Guide.

As we are very conscious that one of the key bit of information our readers will require, is a guide to good places to eat, we checked out one of the local restaurants, the Dragon City Chinese restaurant. In our picture you will see us posing with their huge dragon sculpture.


We were there at lunch time and they served a truly excellent buffet which was very good value as you could have a clean plate and refill it with food as often as you wanted. This was a bit of a challenge for us smaller bears as we don't polish off quite as much food as the larger bears. Chelmer, however, led the way and here you can see the size of the plates of food he was demolishing with very proficient use of chopsticks.


When he came back to Norfolk, Chelmer told us he had managed nine and a half platefuls of food which we believe is a Bears Unlimited record.

Can anyone beat this?

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited

What's in Your Lunch Box?

As we had lots of days out on our Derbyshire trip we got through a lot of packed lunches. Now we don't know about you, but as regular sandwich eaters, we find it can be quite difficult to keep thinking up new and interesting fillings. At Bears Unlimited we are on a mission to dream up some new and inspirational fillings. If we get enough ideas we will publish a book to accompany the Friendly Planet Guide.

We got off to a flying start in Derbyshire with our dolmade sandwiches which we happily munched beside the High Peaks railway line. For the uninitiated dolmades are Greek vine leaves stuffed with rice and other nice things. They mght not look particularly appetising (we do realise what they look like in our photo) but they taste delicious.


There are just 2 drawbacks. Firstly, you either need to have a tinned supply brought back from a Greek holiday (as we do) or an ethnically diverse local supermarket. Secondly you need to have a Swiss Army knife, or similar, handy to flatten them, as being round there is a danger of them rolling out of your sandwich and getting lost. We should also say you need to be careful that oil from the tin doesn't get on your fur. Although it's probably good for it, it can be a bit messy.

Do write in if you've any ideas to share with us and we'll continue to share our own favourite suggestions. Better still send us a photo of you enjoying your sandwich and we'll publish it on the blog.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Sun, Sea, Sand and Theo

I couldn’t wait to get to the beach and urged my transporters to walk faster to get me there soonest. I gave a low growl of surprise when I came across some humans sunbathing in the sand dunes with no clothes on but it was explained to me that it was o.k. as part of Holkham beach is a naturist area. I still thought it best to avert my eyes though. The sandy beach goes on for miles and it is always a dilemma deciding where to set up camp as there is so much empty space to choose from. As there was a bit of a breeze I decided to set up my portable bear cave to provide a bit of shelter. It also provided somewhere to leave my gear while I went for a swim. I splashed around and jumped the surf to my heart’s content – sheer bliss. At one point I felt something nibble my toes – I think it might have been a crab and I wasn’t sure if he was being sociable or feeling hungry. After my swim I returned to my bear cave to dry off and enjoy a well earned drink and Twix finger. As I’m so proud of my portable bear cave I thought I would pose in it for a photo. If you log on tomorrow you’ll find out what I came across on my way home. Love Theo xxx

Theo Visits Holkham

Hello, I'm Theodore, Theo to my friends, and I volunteered to research the entry for Holkham Hall and beach for the Bears Unlimited "Friendly Planet Guide", introduced a few days ago. Holkham is my favourite place in North Norfolk and I am very lucky to live just a short distance away.

Yesterday afternoon was lovely and sunny so perfect for a trip Holkham. Being a thrifty bear and thinking of Bears Unlimited's profits, I shared a lift over with my minders and parked in the free village car park just outside the gates to Holkham Hall and Estate. If you park nearer the beach you have to pay and miss out on a nice walk and the delights of the Victoria pub. I thought I should save my energy for a swim and a stroll along the lovely sandy beach, so when we set out from the car I hitched a lift on the outside of a rucksack. Its much better for getting fresh air and views than travelling inside.


Here you see me checking out the sign outside the estate grounds that lets you know that the Hall has been in the hands of the Earls of Leicester (the Coke family) for a very long time. I’ll let you know about my time on the beach tomorrow.

Love from Theo xxx

5 Star Facilities

We returned to dry land after our punting trip with rather soggy fur, as a result of our dunking in the River Cam. We went back into the Garden Hotel to get ourselves a hot drink and decided to inspect the bathroom facilities. These were so bear friendly that we thought they deserved a special mention. We mean where else could we go and find special bear-sized towels provided? How thoughtful! Here we are about to help ourselves from the pile.

Love George, Yorkie & Chelmer
xxx

Bears unlimited launch a new product!

We have been having a busy week; Fakenham on Wednesday and Cambridge yesterday. However, the trouble with going somewhere new, is that you don’t always know the best places to buy some Nutella or how to find the finest pint of Wherry, or how best to get around (given that bears have short legs) and what bear- friendly attractions and activities are available.

So we are pleased to announce news of the latest product being developed by Bears Unlimited the “Friendly Planet Guide” a special travel guide for bears and all bear friends.

We called it the “Friendly Planet Guide” because a world with bears is always a friendly place and, so far, we haven’t been anywhere where there haven’t been friendly bears!

It will be some time before the book is published as we have a lot of research to carry out, but we gathered some good material on our trip to Cambridge. We started by investigating the Cambridge Park and Ride (good value but hard for little bears to see out of the window), we then took a tour of the city in a cycle rickshaw (which was great fun, feeling the wind in our fur – very cooling on a hot day).

Before an afternoon on the river punting we tested out lunch at the Garden Moat House hotel. This got the paws up of approval. There were far bigger chocolate éclairs than yesterday and a lovely piece of salmon. If only there had been some Wherry it would have been perfect.

As the hotel had river frontage the only real option after lunch was a punting trip on the River Cam. We clambered aboard the first punt available then realised that there were so many punts between us and open water that we would either have to move or face a long wait. We decided to move and were soon underway. Our progress wasn’t very fast as the punt pole was a bit big for the average bear but we had fun and managed to get enough forward momentum by using the canoe paddles provided. It was a very hot day so having a snooze in the punt was as appealing as doing the actual punting. As it was so hot we didn’t try not to fall in! We’ve included some of our photos of our day out.

Love George, Yorkie and Chelmer
xxx