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I Am A Polar Bear

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Category: Camping

The camping kit I use in Iceland | iamapolarbear.com

The camping kit I use in Iceland

November 9, 2023

Is November the optimum time to be publishing a post on camping kit? Nope! But I had other things I wanted to talk about first and this will be in place and waiting for you to take an interest again next summer. I wanted to show you and talk a little bit about the kit … More The camping kit I use in Iceland

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Iceland campsites review (summer 2023 edition) | iamapolarbear.com

Iceland campsites review (summer 2023 edition)

October 2, 2023

I think this is a thing I’m going to try to make a regular feature – depending on how much time I spend camping in Iceland in future. Anyway, last year I talked about the campsites I stayed on and I want to do it again. Did I go round and take photos specially for … More Iceland campsites review (summer 2023 edition)

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What I did at Camp Wildfire | iamapolarbear.com

What I did at Camp Wildfire

September 21, 2023

I’ve had my eye on Camp Wildfire for a while and last year, I got an unexpected last-minute opportunity to go as crew. I enjoyed it so much that eventually I talked myself into going as a paying customer this year. If you’ve not come across it, Camp Wildfire is a festival inspired by Scout … More What I did at Camp Wildfire

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Organising a Ranger camp | iamapolarbear.com

Organising a Ranger camp

August 7, 2023

This post has already been through several drafts, with titles like “I got my Going Away With licence!” and “I nearly got my Going Away With licence!” but the reality is… I nowhere near got my Going Away With licence. I did organise a Ranger camp single-handedly though, and I’m going to tell you all about … More Organising a Ranger camp

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Can camping heal the soul? | iamapolarbear.com

Can camping heal the soul?

June 29, 2023

It’s Sunday night and I’m fresh from the bath, with face, hair and feel all scrubbed and made soft after feeling like a disgusting camp goblin for the last few days and I’m so much more chilled and calm than the creature who loaded up a small car and set off on Friday. I have … More Can camping heal the soul?

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What were the campsites in Iceland like? | iamapolarbear.com

What were the campsites in Iceland like?

September 26, 2022

I stayed on four campsites in Iceland this summer and I thought I’d do you a little review of each of them. I spent two nights at Hveragerði because I wanted to see the volcano but also have options beyond Reykjanes when the weather was bad, moved up to Laugarvatn, stayed in the hobbit house … More What were the campsites in Iceland like?

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I went to Camp Wildfire! | iamapolarbear.com

I went to Camp Wildfire!

September 12, 2022

I know, any travel or lifestyle blogger worth their salt has at least a little archive of festival content but this was my first time. Technically it’s not my first ever festival – I went to the Larmer Tree Festival for the evening in 2015 and for the whole day in 2019 but I’ve never … More I went to Camp Wildfire!

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I may never go camping again | iamapolarbear.com

I may not ever go camping again

August 18, 2022

*sighs* Look. I like camping. But the last two trips have been so offputting that right now, I feel like binning my tents and never setting foot on a campsite again. I freely admit that I use Twitter as a steam valve but I do try to keep this blog reasonably positive. If I don’t … More I may not ever go camping again

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The Big Wild Sleepout | iamapolarbear.com

Camping at RSPB Arne: the Big Wild Sleepout

July 25, 2022

RSPB Arne is a nature reserve, a peninsula covered mostly in rare lowland heath sticking out into the west side of Poole Harbour. You may remember it from my Christmas Adventure with Tom & Catherine this year. It welcomes day visitors but you don’t normally get to camp there so when the opportunity came up … More Camping at RSPB Arne: the Big Wild Sleepout

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Wet & wild at Wimbleball: doing my Rebel Camper badge | iamapolarbear.com

Wet & wild at Wimbleball: doing my Rebel Camper badge

June 13, 2022

Part of the reason I went to Wimbleball was the SWE event Wet & Wild which I talked about in the last blog post but part of the reason was Rebel Badges. I’ve talked about this so many times that I’m not even going to link the previous posts except to say have a look … More Wet & wild at Wimbleball: doing my Rebel Camper badge

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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Come for the Rock Choir Live, stay for the German-style Christmas market! While it sprawled all the way up New Street and Victoria Square with a second market on Cathedral Square, it wasn’t quite as extensive as I expected and food definitely dominated - good for me; I had pretzels and enormous cheese-filled crepes and a very tolerable (read: pretty good!) hot chocolate in a mug that had taken two days to decide were Birmingham-specific rather than so Frankfurt-inspired that they were literally just bought in from Frankfurt. No, these are definitely local mugs. I didn’t have the library on my to-do list for Birmingham but it turns out it has a great terrace for views over the square below, the research/academic library is pretty spectacular and while the normal-person fiction library downstairs is nothing very interesting to look at, it has comfortable seats in the dry and the warm and has wifi. #birmingham #libraries While my purpose in Birmingham was Rock Choir Live and my second purpose was the famous Frankfurt Christmas Market, I also had plenty of time to get to know Birmingham a bit. A particular highlight was the work of local boy Edward Burnes-Jones and William Morris in the spectacular windows of the cathedral, the Birmingham Bifröst which helped me find my way home in the evenings and a glimpse of one of the “more than Venice” canals that you don’t see in the area between New Street Station and the cathedral. #birmingham In yet another “you should be doing more with your weekend”, I spent the weekend in Birmingham two weeks ago. The main purpose was to see Rock Choir Live’s big Christmas party (featuring special guests Emili Sandé, Sam Ryder & Russell Watson, plus the legend Pat Sharp’s DJ set to get things started). The journey home from Spa was slowed down by engineering work, requiring a rail replacement bus to Pepinster where I had to wait for half an hour, a local train to Liège, long distance train ultimately to Ostende but to Brussels Midi for me, Eurostar to London and finally a South Western Railways train overdue some important maintenance back to Southampton. When in Belgium, eat waffles! Just in case there was any doubt about mineral waters in Spa… Thermes de Spa is lovely inside - although it’s much smaller, I think I prefer it to Therme Bucureşti - but the outside leaves a bit to be desired. The back is lovely, what with that huge glass wall overlooking the town. It’s just a shame about the barbed wire that keeps walkers out of the water. I know I’ve been to other pools with views and they haven’t had to resort to barbed wire. On the other hand, the front has something of a red brick 60s comprehensive about it rather than the welcoming facade of somewhere that’s about to transport you to a world of relaxation. Honestly, the difference between the outside and inside is astounding. Do go (when the funicular is running) but maybe don’t linger for selfies outside. #thermesdespa #belgium The spa at Spa is perched on top of a hill, accessed by foot via a funicular railway from the town centre, a 2-minute ride up 84m of ascent. Except when I was there, the funicular was broken and I started my lovely relaxing spa day with a very non-relaxing 1.3km hike up those 84m through the woods, which were unlit and very uneven under foot, although I only really realised that on the way back down.

About Julie

I’m a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather.

Time (by day, I’m a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I’m starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures.

This isn’t my only creative outlet – I’ve written two travelogues with a third and fourth being (not to much) written simultaneously right now.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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