aloysius_bear

The humans love planning a good geocaching expedition - but it doesn't always turn out how they expect... Today's trip was meant to be a gentle saunter through Brookman's Park, picking up alternate caches on the way west and collecting the rest on the way back. The humans wore their boots, as it's been wet recently - but there was mud, wow, was there mud...

And that shoe was after being washed in puddles on the way back! Anyway, the humans do love an easy-to-spot cache, but this may have been taking it a bit too far:

The next one we found was a bit more hidden, but not much (not that we were complaining):

They kept getting smaller, as we went along...

One of the humans was rather keener than the other (and me) when there were brambles involved:

We had the last laugh, when it turned out there was a way through at the end of the path, just a bit further along... After all the mud and scrambling and a much longer walk than anticipated (this always happens with caching), I might have been:

Only kidding! We saw some lovely examples of spring having sprung:

We ended up not picking up the missed caches, because we didn't want to traipse back through all the mud, so we returned to the car via the road. But it was still a fun outing and the humans certainly got plenty of exercise!

My primary human and I have been away again! This time, we drove (unusual for us!) to the North Norfolk Coast, where we stayed a few days in a tiny but cosy Airbnb:

Since there was plenty of room in the car, Stanley came with us to keep my human company on the drive and provide squishy hugs from the corner:

This chap was keeping an eye on things while we were there:

We had travelled to the area early, so my human could give her first ever paid author talk! Unfortunately, it had to be done via Zoom due to Covid concerns - but it was still fun. She had notecards and lots of books to talk about:

We managed to get out and about in the village - Norfolk is very flat...

We were very lucky with the weather in the first part of the trip (it got very wet in the second half of the week):

On Tuesday, we bade our little haven goodbye and went to join the reading retreat round the corner. Our room had portholes!

We also met some friendly residents of the house:

And here are the books my human read while we were there:

Overall, it was a lovely week away.

The humans and I are having way too much fun at the moment! I know I still have two instalments of the October group holiday to post - but my primary human and I took a trip to Paris with some of her writer friends last weekend, so I need to document that too!

We saw the Eiffel Tower, lit up in all its glory! It sparkles for a few minutes on the hour, too!

Our host was the primary human of Gerard le Croissant, who welcomed us into their home:

They used to host a regular comedy show together, and we got to see Gerard's human in action while we were there.

Lots of fun all round!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to take a trip to the theatre - to see My Neighbor Totoro - with several Totoros! Blue Totoro was very pleased with the colour of the screen:

He and his friends all lined up to see the show:

It looked for a while as if they might actually all get their own seats!

But then more humans arrived, so one of the Totoros tried a different tactic to ensure a good view:

Several members of the audience asked the Totoros to pose for photos during the interval:

Big Totoro didn't want to miss out on the opportunity:

Eventually, even the soot sprites got in on the action:

One of the humans in the party didn't even know who Totoro was, going in - but he was definitely a convert by the end of the show!

Everyone had a fabulous time - and the show itself exceeded all expectations!

Lots of different humans and other creatures shared our holiday last week. Some of them were literally attached to the house...

This fellow's identity was uncertain - yak, sheep, pig? Nobody was sure, but we were happy to include him the group!

Kevin the Carrot and the Sleepy Donkey were also current inhabitants of the house:

Friends accompanying their humans included Stanley, Porcupanda, and new addition, Clarence, the dragon cat!

Clarence was quickly declared to be in charge:

There was active conversing:

And relaxed snuggles:

And even some windy expeditions into the outside world!

The whole week was very convivial and a great time was had by all! Still more to follow...

After a decadent week of reading retreats, my primary human and I joined 12 other humans and many other plushie friends at Yeoldon House, in Devon:

There were ten en suite bedrooms, a huge open kitchen, a perfect gaming table, a pool room and bar - and a podule with a magnificent view!

We went on many lovely walks in the surrounding countryside:

We visited Appledore:

And Bideford:

Which is famous for its connection to Tarka the Otter:

Many games were played - some after dark in the podule!

We all had so much fun, I'm going to have to split my report into four parts...

My primary human and I have very much missed going on reading retreats over the last two-and-a-half years. So were were delighted when they started up again at the end of September. It was lovely to be back in the Taunton house, with a view of the river from our room.

My human's theme for the first stage of the reading retreat was books with 'girl', 'woman', 'sister' or 'mother' in the title:

Then, our planned writing retreat was cancelled at short notice and we got the opportunity to stay on at the reading retreat for another few days, which was glorious!

My human read eight books in seven days, and also enjoyed lots of tea and yummy snacks:

A wonderful week away!

As soon as the humans were allowed out again after self-isolation, we went on an evening caching trip to Broxbourne. We started at a lovely weir:

Then we walked down the canal to find another cache:

Things went a little awry after that, as the first two pubs we tried for dinner were not serving food! At the third, we were told the kitchen was closing in fifteen minutes, so we quickly made our orders.

There was a lovely church nearby that provided another cache:

Our final caching attempt was unsuccessful, but we did find some interestingly amended graffiti!

So, a bit hit and miss overall - but the humans were glad just to be out of the flat!

The humans and I took a lovely trip to a cottage in the Cairngorms National Park last week:

It was a bit of a bumpy track to get there, but the cottage was beautiful (if a little creaky):

There was a 130-year-old bedspread made by the owner's great-grandmother:

A day trip to Aberdeen demonstrated that the council there are very proud of their city:

We also discovered the old fishing village of Footdee (pronounced Fittie), where we met these friendly fellows:

On another day, we walked all the way around Loch an Eilein, which was beautiful:

We also visited Drum Castle and had a very good tour:

One of the coats of arms on display had bears!

The castle also had a gorgeous walled garden:

Unfortunately, both the humans came home with Covid - but the holiday was fun while it lasted!

Last weekend, one of the humans' long-time friends was visiting from California with her small humans in tow:

We met up with them at the Tower of London, where they took a ride on a giant slide that had been installed there:

The real reason we were there, though, was to enjoy strolling through the Superbloom, a vast collection of wild flowers all around the moat.

It really did live up to its name!

Towards the end of the walk through, there were some lovely displays of dragonflies alongside the flowers:

Afterwards, we crossed Tower Bridge and took a long stroll down the South Bank, where we encountered chimpanzees outside the town hall...

We enjoyed lots of bubbles outside the Tate Modern...

We made it all the way to the London Eye...

And we eventually ended up at Big Ben, which looked very shiny after its lengthy stint under scaffolding:

It was a really lovely day and I'm glad the humans got the opportunity to catch up with their friend. It was also fun to remember how nice parts of London are, since we don't go into the centre much any more.

To take advantage of the extra-long Jubilee weekend, the humans and I took a day trip to St Alban's yesterday, and discovered a gem of a town, pretty much on our doorstep. We spent most of the morning at the Verulamium Museum of Roman Britain, which was lovely from the outside.

Inside, there were a variety of displays and exhibition rooms, detailing various aspects of life in the area, around the time of the Romans. The humans were very impressed to be able to look at items that were nearly 2000 years old.

There was a skeleton from AD200, in its original coffin, with a reconstruction of what the man might have looked like.

There were also areas where models represented what the people would have worn and activities they might have done.

The mosaics were incredibly impressive, though we had to look this one up to establish that the central creature is a lion with a stag's head in its mouth.

This was our favourite - so much expression achieved with tiny blocks of stone!

I particularly like this display of tiles with animal prints embedded in them. The one on the right has a dog print and a pebble, suggesting that someone might have thrown the pebble at the dog, to try and stop it walking over the tiles while they were drying!

We were also impressed by the level of pattern detail and range of colour in some of the fragments.

Some things never change - apparently, humans have been playing noughts and crosses in essentially the same way for thousands of years!

After the museum, we strolled into the town for lunch and to do some caching. Along the way, we came across this fine fellow, wearing his Jubilee best.

We found a couple more caches in the vast and gorgeous park.

It was a lovely day out, in a place we'll definitely return to. The humans even thought they might like to retire there!

A little while ago, the humans and I went on a caching trip to Upshire (which sounds like it ought to be in Middle Earth). It was very pleasantly green:

We tried to get to Boudicaa's Obelisk, but it seemed to be entirely surrounded by fences and locked gates. It's difficult to see, but it's in the distance in this shot (where the fence was down and we could have just wandered across, but the humans aren't very good at breaking rules):

We did find this rather magnificent pile, which had public access land all around it:

It also had this wonderful folly:

The search for caches led us to a stream that proved harder to cross than anticipated - my secondary human lost a shoe!

We managed to get across, recovering the very squelchy shoe along the way, and found another cache underneath this very impressive tree:

On the way to the pub for dinner, we passed this house, which had a very lifelike cat on the roof, though it was made of silver...

Despite (or perhaps partially because of) the unfortunate shoe/mud incident, we all had a great time, and ended the evening with a delicious pub meal.

For the first time in over two years, my primary human and I went back to Stickwick Manor in Devon, for a glorious week of writing/walking/caching/eating. It was great to be back!

We did a lot more walking than usual while we were there - it's always a bit of an adventure, since it's mostly single-track roads with high hedges and the hills are BRUTAL. Photos don't really do the landscape justice.

But the weather was gorgeous, we were keen to get some exercise, and we discovered a (hilly and muddy) bridle path that offered a good off-road option:

We also did some solo caching for the first time (all other caching expeditions have involved the secondary human), which was fun.

Hunting for caches definitely sent us further afield than we would otherwise have gone, and gave purpose and direction to several of our walks.

We were always glad to get back to our lovely room (we always have the same room when we stay here) and enjoy the sunshine and the view from the window seat, while working.

The only slight intrusion on our peace and productivity was this fellow, who gobbled about outside our window all day (starting very early). He was a bit over-friendly for our tastes...

It was wonderful to be away, to be back in a familiar and much-loved location, to be looked after so well, and to get so much creative work done.

My secondary human gave my primary human a soapstone carving kit for Christmas, but she'd been putting off trying it out, because it seemed like it required a lot of time and effort. Yesterday, though, we set about sorting out what to do...

The 'carving' turned out to be rather more filing - and both much easier and much more fun than we expected, though it did make rather a mess:

And, after sanding (twice), heating up the stone and then waxing it all over, we ended up with an amazing new bear friend!

It only took about 90 minutes and it was a really enjoyable activity - plus, I think the end result is pretty snazzy!

Happy New Year from Cheltenham!

Visiting friends is always fun at this time of year:

Here's to a great 2022!

Last weekend, the humans and I took a trip to Edinburgh to see some friends. An excellent time was had by all - plus, we climbed a volcano!! It looked pretty steep from the bottom:

And it felt pretty steep on the way up:

But we made it to the top:

The view was pretty spectacular:

On both sides:

And then we had to climb all the way back down again:

It was pretty knackering:

But I think we were all glad we did it in the end! Plus, we got a couple of cool geocaches along the way!

Last week, the humans and I went on another trip to the Isle of Wight, this time for a whole week and with a much bigger group. This required bigger accommodations with extensive grounds:

Though there was definitely something lurking in the pool...

My primary humans snagged the master bedroom, with its ridiculous en suite bathroom:

There was plenty of space for everyone, in the dining kitchen, two lounges, and large games room:

I gave the snooker a try, but was told my technique wasn't quite legal:

Perhaps ornate chess would be more my speed:

There were tons of new friends to make around the place:

Balancing on ducks became a regular game:

Though I think I did it best:

This fellow staunchly guarded the front door throughout our stay:

And it was good to see some fellow bears around:

Some of the residents were fancier than others:

One even had a crown:

Others were more chilled:

Nice to meet new furry friends:

But our best new friend was Horatio the Toilet Frog, who unsettled the humans to begin with, but became very much part of the group once we got to know him better:

The humans did lots of geocaching, and released another tiny bear into the wild to have an adventure:

Stanley took up Twitch streaming:

And a new Hat of Whinge had to be found, as the proper one had been left at home:

Mousse mostly looked after the games, and felt a bit left out, as he's rather delicate:

But one of the humans devised a fiendish and extensive treasure hunt with lots of puzzles, and Stanley, Mousse and I all got to help out:

It was a lot of fun and the humans all had a good time working out all the clues. But...

It was a great week all round, and everyone had a wonderful time!

This past weekend, the humans and I met up with the other humans in our family for a few days on the Isle of Wight. We met these colourful fellows at a cafe in Shanklin:

These parrots marked the trail at Shanklin Chine:

One of the humans fell foul of some punishment as we made our way up to the waterfall:

There was a viewpoint with a lovely view out over the sea:

A friendly red squirrel pointed the way to the top:

We reached the waterfall:

Looking back gave us a beautiful view of all the greenery:

On the last day of our trip, we went to Quarr Abbey:

It wasn't very ornate inside (which didn't stop it being very impressive) but there was a great wood carving on the wall:

It was lovely to spend time with the rest of the family and have a few days out of London. And we'll be back on the Isle of Wight in a few weeks with a different group of people, for a whole week of gaming and fun!

At the weekend, the humans and I took a trip to visit friends in Cheltenham. Our accommodation brought new levels to the concept of bijou:

But it had everything we needed and the bed was very comfy. It was just a good job neither of the humans is particularly tall!

It was lovely to be out and about in an unfamiliar place with people we hadn't seen in person for a long time - and Cheltenham has some beautiful green areas:

We discovered some impressively vibrant graffiti:

But here, you have to look carefully to see the camouflaged shark and chameleon:

As was inevitable, we did a spot of geocaching while we were out, helped in one instance by a useful sign:

When we found a cache big enough, I assigned one of our tiny bears to take ownership of a trackable tag, so now we can watch and see when other people find him and take him to other caches:

Cheltenham also has an impressive fountain, which the humans recognised as being inspired by the Trevi fountain in Rome:

One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to go to an actual pub and sit down for a well-deserved pint:

And the food was spectacular, not least because we didn't have to prepare it ourselves:

A great weekend all round - excellent company, fun activities and the opportunity to get out of London for a change.

For the past few days, the humans and I have been visiting my primary human's parents in Rustington. We hadn't seen them in over a year, so it was a lovely trip. We stayed in an Airbnb that had an amazing throne in the garden:

There was also a nice shed that provided a sheltered spot to sit and enjoy the foliage:

And some beautiful pansies in pots along the patio:

Inside, the place was pretty small, but had an impressive oven:

True to the nature of our current obsession, we introduced my primary human's parents to geocaching, and some of the caches in Rustington proved quite ingenious: