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I Am A Polar Bear

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Category: Water

My Outdoors: A night on the water | iamapolarbear.com

My Outdoors: a night on the water

July 20, 2023

Last summer, I set off to Purbeck intent on a weekend of “adventure”, which I spent at Norden Farm Campsite, exploring Corfe village in the pouring rain, doing my first sea swim and getting to jump into the cab of a heritage steam locomotive. This year I found myself back there for the “My Outdoors” … More My Outdoors: a night on the water

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I now hold the Sea Kayak Award! (well, nearly...) | iamapolarbear.com

I now hold the Sea Kayak Award! (Well, nearly…)

June 1, 2023

This is so exciting that I’m writing the first paragraph half an hour after booking, more than two months before I actually did the thing I’m about to tell you about – by the time this is published, I will hold the British Canoeing Sea Kayak Award. (Well, that’s what I thought when I started … More I now hold the Sea Kayak Award! (Well, nearly…)

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Peak UK Centre Long John wetsuit review | iamapolarbear.com

Peak UK Centre Long John wetsuit review

May 29, 2023

Entering the world of wetsuits is a wild and scary one. There’s a wetsuit for every activity and they come with quite the price tag. So, in case you’re just entering this world and have no idea where to start, I thought I’d tell you about mine, which is the Peak UK Centre Long John. It’s … More Peak UK Centre Long John wetsuit review

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What To Do In Frankfurt: Titus Thermen | iamapolarbear.com

What to do in Frankfurt: Titus Thermen

December 23, 2022

This is the fourth post of the Frankfurt series and I think this is the first time I’m taking you into actual city centre Frankfurt! It’s winter, it’s cold, I’ve done the market a couple of times and I’m tired. So where do I? I go for a swim! I like swimming. I like wallowing in … More What to do in Frankfurt: Titus Thermen

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The tides get very high at Weston Marine Lake | iamapolarbear.com

The tides get very high at Weston Marine Lake

August 22, 2022

Since it was so hot and since I’m getting into sea swimming, while I was away camping I went to Weston-super-Mare every evening and went for a swim in their Marine Lake. It’s a nice wild compromise – it’s still a wild swim but it’s one where there are other people around and very strict … More The tides get very high at Weston Marine Lake

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Swimming in Bude Sea Pool | iamapolarbear.com

Swimming in Bude Sea Pool

August 1, 2022

I spent the weekend (my birthday weekend!) camping in Devon. On Friday, having finally arrived at my campsite two and a half hours later than planned thanks to everything going wrong with the traffic, I decided to drive over to Bude for the evening. I fancied getting a wild swim in while I was in … More Swimming in Bude Sea Pool

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Ten people you'll meet in the pool | iamapolarbear.com

Ten people you’ll meet in the pool

July 28, 2022

If you saw my first wild swimming experience the other day or you follow me on Instagram, you might see me swimming in the sea quite a lot at the moment. But the fact is that I’m pushing my comfort zone – I’m still not a huge fan of the sea and also the actual … More Ten people you’ll meet in the pool

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Caroma stand up paddleboard review | iamapolarbear.com

Caroma stand up paddleboard review

July 21, 2022

I’ve had half an eye on getting myself a stand up paddleboard for a while – well, let’s go for plain paddleboard here; I can’t stand up on the things. They’re not my first love – that would be the kayak. I like the double-bladed paddle that lets me just charge through the water, fight the … More Caroma stand up paddleboard review

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I faced my kayaking demons! | iamapolarbear.com

I faced my kayaking demons!

July 18, 2022

Today was another big step on my journey to kayaking instructor, a journey I never thought I’d even be on a year ago. I faced my biggest demon and somehow I don’t yet feel as proud of it as I should. Let’s run through the backstory. I took  up kayaking semi-regularly back in 2018 or … More I faced my kayaking demons!

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24 hours in London | iamapolarbear.com

24 hours in London

June 20, 2022

This weekend I went to London for the first time in nearly two and a half years. It’s a bit busy for my tastes – I’ve become a lot more claustrophobic than I used to be and I really hate crowds nowadays. But I’d been hanging onto a ticket to see Queen + Adam Lambert … More 24 hours in London

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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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Most popular posts

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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! MY BOOK IS OUT!!!

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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