Julie | iamapolarbear
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Julie | iamapolarbear
@polarbearjulie.bsky.social
Travel, adventure & wellness blogger, fan of hot water, kayaking, archery & fencing instructor
iamapolarbear.com
The new leader Adventure badges are finally out! A few weeks ago, I took the Ranger ones (top row) and messed around with the colours to create my vision of what the incoming leader ones might look like (middle row). Take a look - I got pretty close! (the real thing is the bottom row)
May 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Aw, the Scouts have fooled us with a Chocolate badge… which is something the Guides had 20 years ago as both interest badge and patrol GFI challenge, now both discontinued under the new programme. We once did them both in the same term. Girls love it. Parents are a bit more dubious.
April 1, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The M*il is reporting that an eruption has started in Iceland. There's a massive earthquake swarm & deformation shows a lot of magma moving around but it's all underground at the moment. It might well pop up and start erupting today but then volcanoes are unpredictable and it might go back to sleep.
April 1, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I've got a picture of me aged 20 lying on that patch of grass, looking up at the towers, channelling Scrubs' My Old Lady's advice ("What about your list? How many of those things have you done? For that matter, how many times have you sat in the grass and done nothing, hm?")
March 25, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Ok, I'm turning that off because a flood of posts just because I added a UK tag is incredibly annoying. I went to Legoland with my Rangers yesterday, have that instead. It was a really long day but it reminded me why I like Rangers.
March 24, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Well, I'm not entirely surprised it skews southern - bit surprised it dodges London when my dad's side of the family were Londoners. In the second is my mum's name. We've done some family research and there's no Welsh in there...
March 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I don't love the implied suggestion that we shouldn't be enjoying it while it lasts just because people think it might not last. We don't get much sun, I'm going out in it
March 13, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I was hoping for something that tells the selectors I'd be a great person to help lead a trip, not that I'd be a person who's going to be difficult about food on any potential trip. Item 1 is going to be my book - travel, writing & adventure in one! Item 2 is harder but I've still got a month.
March 13, 2025 at 10:39 AM
I've been to Schaffhausen but it was back in 2006 and I didn't do much except the waterfalls - I think I had a minor problem with the train and arrived later than planned. It's quite pretty and they're especially proud of their oriole windows, IIRC.
February 10, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Next month is Thinking Day and I'm going to Pax Lodge for it. Which neckerchief?
1) Pax Lodge
2) Local division
3) Region
4) Trefoil Guild
January 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Plans for today: bath, walk to pool, swim, pack,food shopping, go play Rebel Taskmaster!
January 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
And these are probably the worst 4. It was a 36 exposure film and I've got 22 pictures, which means that actually, I didn't even receive the 14 worst. ISO 400 maybe not the best choice for Iceland in December?
January 21, 2025 at 10:03 AM
I have been so patiently waiting for my black & white film photos from Iceland to come back. It's taken four weeks and... they're grey. I think these 4 are the best of a bad bunch.
January 21, 2025 at 10:03 AM
And the ink - Catherine had the pan of alder ink half-finished and forgotten about and a jar of oak gall ink in the fridge, so we boiled up the alder to a satisfying colour and then did a little drawing with it.
January 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
On paper, using a base of iron nails in vinegar, diluted and painted onto strips of paper to give it all a purplish colour. Then you lay down your leaves and bits of onion skin (not cut into stars), wrap around tins tightly and boil.
January 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
We dyed some leftover brushed cotton with onion skins - cut them into stars to make them pretty, place on the fabric, fold over, wrap very tightly around sticks and then boil for up to an hour. Result: yellowy-orange stars!
January 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Yesterday I went to see my friend Catherine who is an artist and something of a hedge witch to learn about natural dyes and inks in her incredible witch's workshop of a kitchen - it's full of handmade mugs and spoons and baskets of mysterious things plus it's also a family kitchen. Amazing place.
January 20, 2025 at 11:38 AM
4) Old Harry Rocks, ditto about the textbooks - coastal erosion in action, creating caves, arches, stacks and stumps.
January 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
3) Durdle Door, not the name of a wizard - a textbook example (literally, check any GSCE geography book and it’ll be there) of a coastal erosion creating an arch. Popular for swimming through & jumping off.
January 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
2) Stair Hole on the back of Lulworth’s western side, a lovely example of folded limestone strata but generally overlooked by the grockles, probably for its lack of sunbathable beach.
January 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
As well as the Cove, the Lulworth Estate owns probably most of the village where Mel apparently lives, and Lulworth Castle, which is probably best known for Camp Bestival. I once abseiled off it.
January 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Quick thread on some of the most famous features on Dorset’s Jurassic coastline for @mredbyrne.bsky.social

1) Lulworth Cove, an almost perfect circular bay packed with grockles (Dorset for tourists; very uncomplimentary) from April to September, with extortionate & enormous car park.
January 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Last night I went to a Candelight Concert in the Netley Hospital Chapel where a string quartet played a tribute to Taylor Swift by candlelight. You know which song adapts best to strings? Shake It Off. Not Folklore, not even the early guitar-driven stuff. Shake It Off.
January 18, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Here it is 2 years ago on a sunny day which turned very suddenly to snow. I fell in love with Hvammsvík that day, feared I wouldn't love it so much on a return visit - and I did! This is my favourite hot spring in Iceland by a long way!
January 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM
And because this is Iceland, it has a swim-up bar. But because Hvammsvík has 8 pools, you have to run to the correct pool for it first - the one on your right as you come out of the changing rooms, the one hidden round the side of the building. Paddle up to window, request drink, pay with wristband.
January 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM