Woolly's Great Adventure Continues

I thought I'd pick up my tale myself as I don't often get a chance to Blog. As Fred's Mum correctly stated in her recent comment, us Lakeland sheep are a hardy breed, and I didn't really know what all the fuss and concern was all about. It's nice to know I've got friends who care but, I'd only really been for a swim, albeit with a rather unorthodox way of entering the water.

And so, it took me no time at all to recover from my adventure. I spied out the path ahead and led the way forward: keeping moving was the best way to get dry anyway.


Patrick, George & Yorkie kept an eye on me to check I wasn't suffering from any delayed concussion or similar, but I wasn't. However, when they proposed a mid morning cheese scone stop, I thought it was a great idea as, having suffered a bit of a shock, I needed to keep my blood sugar levels up.


I was about to take my first bite, when a big black dog came bounding up. Naturally I assumed he was after my scone so tried to move to protect it. Boy did I get a shock (my second of the day don't forget) when all of the cheese scones were ignored and the dog's target turned out to be myself. The dog took me in his jaws and lifted me off the rock. I was too stunned to do anything more than offer a distressed bleat. Fortunately George, Yorkie and Patrick responded with lightening reactions. Patrick reached for the dog's collar and George took a flying leap and landed astride the dog's neck, from where he could reach over and prise me from his jaws.

Fortunately the dog was acting on retriever instincts and was simply retrieving me, rather than helping himself to an easy meal. He was therefore carrying me with a soft mouth and I wasn't hurt at all.

And so I had my second miraculous escape of the day. Once again though, I wasn't prepared to recreate the experience for the benefit of the camera. Can you blame me? It was a pity we didn't have Black Doggy with us, so he could speak dog, and tell that over enthusiastic animal that he should leave sheep well alone or risk getting shot!

Lots of love Woolly, George, Yorkie and Patrick xxx

Woolly's Great Adventure: Part 1

Those who remember our Cumbria Way postings from last year, will recall that Woolly is no ordinary sheep. He was the first sheep to walk the Cumbria Way and while, like an average sheep, he does enjoy a good munch of grass, he does far, far more than spend his days grazing.

Even so, I don't think he quite envisaged what was in store for him when he set out with us one fine, sunny morning, to climb the Old Man of Coniston. This is a true story by the way, and it was a genuine accident.

Part way up the Copper Mines valley we stopped for a breather and for our minders to put on some sun tan lotion. Woolly, with his fine woollen coat, had no need of sun cream, so wandered over to a big rock to peer down at the beck tumbling down from the hills on its way to Lake Coniston.


We shouted at him to pause there, while we took his photo, as beck and Lakeland sheep made quite a scenic picture. The next thing we knew was that there was a gust of wind and suddenly Woolly was flying off he rocky perch and bouncing down the steep banks towards the foaming white water.

We rushed forward but it was a very steep drop and Woolly was tumbling too fast for us to reach him. There was a splash as he hit the water (quite an impressive dive it was!).

The water was racing down the hillside so fast that we thought he'd be travelling downstream faster than we could run. Chelmer, being the fastest, set off to see if he could attempt an interception.


As it happened this wasn't necessary as Woolly had landed in the whirlpool, shown in our 'after the event' photo, (not surprisingly Woolly wasn't too keen to reconstruct his fall for the benefit of the camera). As we peered down we saw him going round and round in circles, getting increasingly wetter. We climbed down to water level as fast as we could as we wanted to reach him before his coat got too waterlogged and he sank. As we stood at the edge of the whirlpool, Woolly kept passing just out of our reach. We had to think quickly what to do to save him. Fortunately, Yorkie remembered the trekking poles and shouted for one to be sent down. We were able to use the pole to flick Woolly into our waiting paws, not a moment too soon though, as he was getting very chilled.


We gave his coat a good squeeze then put him on a sunny rock (away from the river) where he could drip dry in the sun. Can you see the water he's shedding running down the rock?

Trauma number one was thankfully over, but it wasn't the end of the day's adventures, as you'll soon find out.

Lots of love from Woolly & the rescue party xxx

Anyone for Hockey?

The work of setting up camp hadn't ended with the raising of the Bear flag: this just signified that our tent was up, and therefore, like the Queen with the Royal Standard, we were in residence.

Woolly always gets very excited when he returns to his birthplace and can't keep his hooves still for one minute. He therefore proves to be very useful round camp and anticipates all the jobs which need doing.


Here he is with Patrick filling up the water containers. As you know, we like to do our bit to promote our favourite brewery, Woodforde's (not that they've rewarded us for all the free publicity with a complimentary barrel yet!) but we can assure you it was only water coming out the tap, not beer.

As this is a wonderful, away from it all, campsite we have to provide our own toilet facilities.


Putting up the toilet tent is therefore a very important job, and once it's up and our portable toilet installed we can relax and uncross our legs.

We save our favourite job til last. This is to clear our camp area from from sheep droppings so we don't sit in them or take them into the tent. We get a couple of games going which make this task a really fun one.


In case our ingenuity is greater than your imagination, we'll tell you that we played sheep pooh hockey and sheep pooh snooker using our trekking poles as sticks and cues. As the sheep stay in our camp field, providing good company for Woolly, it is usually necessary to have a return match later in the week.

Hopefully you can tell by now that we just love camping - when it's not raining anyway!

Lots of love from the Bears Unlimited Camp Crew xxx

It's Show Time!

One day last month we diverted all calls to the Suffolk branch and closed the Norfolk branch office so we could have a company outing to the Royal Norfolk show.

This is a simply great day out with loads to see and do and some delicious free samples of food to try in the food hall.


Our first interesting encounter was with one of our wild cousins. Noel was the bravest and got up close to say hello. He didn't get much of a response though and we quickly realised that this bear wasn't alive. His size though did make quite an impression on us and made us feel really small.

We also enjoyed making the acquaintance of one of Randolph's friends. This was a simply gorgeous reindeer with some lovely velvety antlers. We simply couldn't stop stroking them and he agreed to send them to us once they had fallen off. This reindeer is for hire for Christmas events so we think we might just have to find a way to include him in some of this year's Christmas festivities.


At lunchtime we had a special treat. We sampled our favourite brewery's latest offering: Woodforde's Sundew. This was simply delicious and we immediately ordered the biggest barrel they sell for next day delivery to the branch office.


Now, we always make a point of going along to see the Sheep Show. Not surprisingly it is Woolly's favourite part of the show. Although we've heard all the jokes before and know the script off by heart, we simply wouldn't miss it.

This year was rather special though as Woolly was recognised for the fine sheep he is and invited to take part. He couldn't believe his luck as he was invited on stage to meet his heroes.


Woolly reported that Nobby was especially friendly and looked after him well. He was pleased, however, that he wasn't the sheep that got shorn as the summer hasn't been hot enough yet for him to lose his coat.

It was a simply great day out and we have the date for next year in the diary already.

Lots of love from the Norfolk branch xxx