The End is Nigh

So, here is our last post from Ireland. I hope you aren't relieved by this news, and have enjoyed reading. 

Before we left, we managed to complete the 1000 piece jigsaw we were doing in the evenings. It was an orchard scene with cider making in progress. The shapes weren't conventional jigsaw ones, and there were all sorts of curves and nearly, but not quite straight lines, so that just building the edge was quite challenging - and that's usually the easy bit.  

We'd spent many a happy hour constructing it, and then of course it takes only a minute or two to dismantle. That's why we always like to take a picture of the finished item, for our B.U. records.

We had an early morning sailing from Rosslare back to Fishguard so we had to say our fond farewells to Sli Na Mara a day early.

There were more fond farewells, particularly from me, to my beloved Ireland, as our ship pulled out of harbour the next day.

My B.U. travelling companions told me that I'd given them a marvellous insight into my country and that cheered me up a bit, as did the fact that I was already a day closer to my next visit - whenever that may be (soon I hope).

It's timely that I should finish now, as there is a new Bears Unlimited adventure coming very soon. The next lot of travellers are back from their travels with tales and pictures aplenty.

Lots of love, Patrick, George, Yorkie, Ungi, Rosa and Gilbert 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