Welcome to the Polar Bear Winter Festival! I’ve written two posts a week for years and now, to celebrate winter because I am, after all, a polar bear, I’m doing an extra post every week until Christmas on the joys of the cold, the snow, the ice, some freezing northerly places I’ve been – and yes,… More 20 things to do in Dorset this Christmas
On Friday I went out for my long-awaited night navigation by sea kayak, which is the mysterious thing I had to practice sea kayaking for in September. The October weather smiled down on us. The run of wind and rain and grey skies vanished literally just for the evening and we set out onto a glassy… More Serenity, sunset and shooting stars: night navigation by sea kayak
I’ve been kayaking before. I’ve been kayaking on the sea before – in fact, I’ve only ever been kayaking on the sea. But this post is about learning to kayak on a closed cockpit sea kayak with a spraydeck. The reason is there’s a thing I wanted to do but it’s only available to groups… More Learning to paddle a sea kayak
Last week I went back to Brownsea Island for another two nights camping in a tree tent. I learned some lessons from the first time round and I want to tell you about five things I did differently the second time. 1) I didn’t take a sleeping bag You have to carry everything a mile… More Tree camping: 5 things I did differently | Tree Camping July 2021
If you haven’t read Monday’s post on how I fared with my Discover Award, go and read that now. Then come back here and see how the Explore Award went. I said last time that Antz wanted me to do a bow rescue, to hang upside down under a closed cockpit kayak and that I… More … and then I got my Explore Award!
I’ve done a little bit of kayaking before and while I’m not overburdened with talent at it, I’d decided kayaking suits me far better than sailing did. So much so that I decided back in 2017 to get my One Star Award. I got as far as booking it and then the group that actually… More I went kayaking and got my Discover Award!
I’m quite a recent convert to glamping. I’m a low-maintenance sort of bear, who’s usually going to default to her own two-man tent in a field with minimal facilities. But I have a major weakness: hot tubs. You may remember the first time I gave in to the allure of my own hot tub, when… More The Pleasant Pheasant: shepherd’s hut review | Glamping in North Dorset
I found Farmstead Glamping entirely by chance. I was out on a walk, the muddiest walk I’ve ever done, and the lane that led home (well, to the car) passed by the entrance of a small campsite and from the hedge, I spied a shepherd’s hut. I got home and did my research and discovered… More A mini-holiday in North Dorset at Farmstead Glamping | Glamping in North Dorset
No matter how far the twenty-first century marches on, no matter what it throws at us, camping on an uninhabited island will always feel like something out of a 1920s children’s adventure story. My weekend camping on Brownsea Island was full-on Swallows and Amazons, minus the cooking fire (Brownsea is too much of a fire… More A peaceful weekend on Brownsea Island | Tree Camping June 2021
We have actual travel content today! I went on my first holiday of 2021! It was a two night camping trip, except it was slightly better than camping because I was in a tree tent! Brownsea adventure camping has finally, after 100+ years, opened to the general public. I’ve camped with my Guides before and… More Brownsea adventure camping review | Tree Camping June 2021