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I Am A Polar Bear

Travel, adventure & wellness with plenty of snow

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Category: Land

A shorter walk up tors and across downs | iamapolarbear.com

A shorter walk up tors and across downs

October 6, 2022

Welcome to part two of my Dartmoor weekend! Today we’re off on a different route, in the hope of getting another logbook walk. But today we’re setting off in two groups rather than splitting up. In theory, that’s because there are now eight of us and that’s a tiny bit big for a walking group. … More A shorter walk up tors and across downs

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A tor-bagging walk around Haytor | iamapolarbear.com

A tor-bagging walk around Haytor

October 3, 2022

Last weekend I went to Dartmoor and this is the first of two posts on the walks I did. It was a joint Girlguiding Region walking weekend, the aim of which is to run a level 2 walking training but there’s room at the centre for a few extra so it’s open to leisure walkers … More A tor-bagging walk around Haytor

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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 didn't qualify at Try Inspire Qualify! | iamapolarbear.com

I didn’t qualify at Try Inspire Qualify!

September 19, 2022

That’s a total clickbait title – for the first time, I deliberately didn’t book a qualification at Try Inspire Qualify because there were none I wanted to do that I haven’t already done. Try Inspire Qualify has a lot in common with Camp Wildfire, actually: a lot of adults taking the weekend off being responsible … More I didn’t qualify at Try Inspire Qualify!

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What it's like working at a festival | iamapolarbear.com

What it’s like working at a festival

September 15, 2022

You might have seen my post from Monday about going to Camp Wildfire and what it’s like, my first weekend festival experience. And if you’ve been to Camp Wildfire yourself, you might have noticed that actually, I didn’t do that much, not when you really understand how much is on offer. And there’s a reason … More What it’s like working at a festival

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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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Horse riding in the rain | iamapolarbear.com

Horse riding in the rain | Iceland 2022

May 9, 2022

The horse’s name was Vorboðar, which means Bringer of Spring and he was not doing his job. Naively, I’d expected spring in Iceland to look quite a lot like summer – sunshine, leaves, people in lighter clothes – and what I’d seen of it so far had been winter but without the fun stuff like … More Horse riding in the rain | Iceland 2022

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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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Sunday in Scarborough was spent climbing a hill to visit a castle - well, the remains of one. This bit of cliff has been a stronghold since the Bronze Age and although it’s interesting to walk the walls and climb the keep, it’s also a very nice spot for sea views and sitting in the grass enjoying a picnic. The reason I was in Scarborough was for the Trefoil Guild annual meeting. The Trefoil Guild is Guiding for adults and in some ways it’s better than Girlguiding: no responsibility for children, because it’s adults only, and open to everyone, regardless of gender or Guiding experience. In practice, it’s almost entirely female, heavily leans towards retired leaders and is having a membership crisis because the average age is somewhere in the 60s or 70s and new members aren’t joining at quite the pace that older members are leaving. Having been a member for ten years now, I don’t stand out among them quite as much as I did when I was a mere child of 30. I really liked Scarborough! It’s got a spectacular beach with cliffs at all ends, it’s got the oldest cliff lift in the country, I had an ice cream, I walked in the shallows until I had my feet scratched to bits by sand and salt under my sandal straps and the water was an incredible colour. Not pictured: a cheese toastie from a beach kiosk, four sticks of traditional Scarborough rock and 27km walked mostly back & forth across the beach in under 48 hours. I’ve done a few train adventures in my time but this was one I was… dubious about. Southampton to Scarborough by CrossCountry (well, Southampton to York, then a quick hop by TransPennine Express to Scarborough), so basically the entire length of England. So much potential for it to all go wrong, to the point that I’d taken to saying I was “hopefully” going to Scarborough this weekend. The UK rail network doesn’t have much of a reputation for reliability and CrossCountry tends to send shorter trains than the route requires, so half the passengers end up standing, packed in shoulder to shoulder. After a slightly intimidating UK train adventure this weekend, I’m off to Iceland for some geothermal and volcanic adventures next week, so I thought I’d go back to this volcano where I inadvertently became part of a Channel 4 documentary three years ago (see link in bio and skip to 32:27!) I often casually mention the boathouse and boat club, so let’s talk about it! I have a niece. She's three months old and I have very little interest in or enthusiasm for the baby stage - there was no, "Oh, I've suddenly realised I need one of these!" moments when I first met her, just a "yeah, I was right, I'm not a baby person". I just don't get the appeal of babies. Maybe there's a gene I'm lacking. This week has been #volunteersweek Week and as a long-term Girlguiding volunteer (adult leader for nearly 19 years but I started as Brownie helper when I was 13), I’m seeing a lot of “Thank you for volunteering!” and “we love our volunteers!” posts from every level and I have mixed feelings about it. I’m supposed to be promoting my book, A Polar Night’s Tale, this week but that moment of bravery has passed - I can see that I’ve sold one copy but I’m pretty sure Lulu is hiding another two or three from me. Thank you everyone who’s been positive about it!

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 (one on a winter adventure across the Arctic Circle and one on exploring volcanoes during a warm summer road trip around Iceland) plus a little book of Icelandic pools and I have a fourth book in progress right now.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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