Bivvy a month 2018.

[whitestone]

See this link on how to use the clips https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=67kC5mAUlHU

[ericrobo]

Thanks Bob...

Though I found this one a bit clearer:


https://youtu.be/xhQB7kD3Kng

[whitestone]

You can also wrap a pebble/small stone in the tarp and cinch a loop of line around it. Ends up looking a bit like a mushroom in the material. It also puts creases in the tarp which might prevent you getting taut panels but useful to know if one of your tie-out points has been damaged.

[TheBrownDog]

1/1 and January done. With Tonto flying the porcelain bus and Rich3rd not stupid enough to be doing the BAM, I was solo for what was, if I am being honest, a pretty miserable 15 mile loop in the local mud. It's worse now than in December - nothing is frozen of course. At one point I ground to a halt on a path, put my foot down and sank almost to the knee. Thankfully the pub I was aiming for is used to me arriving covered in mud, and were very welcoming. I had a nice meal, two pints of ale and a bit of cheese, then lobbed up to a spot Ive used a few times at the edge of a FC wood near a sheep field.

I had a cold but uneventful night, but was woken about 630am by the headlights of a few 4x4's making their way up to a shooting cabin at the top of the hill overlooking the field. They all saw me but didnt seem bothered, so I went back to sleep, but woke pretty quickly at 8am when the shooting started. It's just clays, and I was nowhere near the firing line, but with a few of the missed targets rolling through my camp, I pulled stumps sharpish and was home by 9am for a decent coffee.

[ScotRoutes]

With a slight rise in temperatures and a temporary lull in the wind (January is never the most stable month) Ross and I headed out for BAM #1. This is his first year of attempting BAM and he is still collecting/trying out kit. It was a balmy 3C when we set off from Aviemore, cycling up to Glenmore Lodge for pizza and beer. The track past Ryvoan (occupied) had some icy bit and then we started hitting lots of small snow banks. These were quite soft and had some very deep footprints through them so most necessitated a bit of walking.

Planned spot #1 looked fine, if a little exposed. It's the very edge of Abernethy Forest and has a great view of the mountains and has been in my thoughts for an overnighter for a while. We decided to carry on to Rynettin. This is a bit higher up and more exposed but I knew there are three buildings that might offer some shelter. We tucked ourselves in the best spot and relaxed with a hipflask.

P1040874 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

It got a lot windier overnight which broked my sleep a little. I also heard a helicopter passing over and I now know it was on its way to Lochnagar to help in the search for a missing walker (still not found as I write this). The wind changed direction a bit by the morning and I had to attach a couple of extra guys to my tarp to reduce the flapping.

In no hurry to set off, we had a brief breakfast, packed up and headed home via the Druie for filled rolls and Americanos.

Not a bad wee bivvy. A decent spot, with good views. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone passing through the area.

P1040876 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

[Ray Young]

I've not attempted BAM before but thought I'd give it a go this year as the motivation to get out has not been what it really should have been over the last two years.
I had planned on doing two 28 mile days and an 8 mile day starting at Moffat and taking in Burleywhag then Brattleburn bothies but this didn't quite work out. Not great mileages but my fitness is pretty crap at the moment and I also wanted to spend some serious time playing my "plastic fantastic" ukulele.
I left Edinburgh two hours late then got stuck behind a road gritter for ages on the A702 so it was four o'clock before I got out on the bike. Add to this the fact that it was now pissing down and I very quickly discovered that my waterproof was in dire need of some fresh waterproofing so I decided just to head directly to Brattleburn only 8 miles away. I could have done a 20 mile route to Burleywhag instead of the 28 mile one planned but I had been unable to secure any fire logs and the chance of any fuel being there was slim. I'm also not a great fan of night riding due to a lack of scenery to look at and only do I it if I must.
It turned out to be a good decision as I was pretty wet when I arrived just as it was getting dark. There were two guys in residence, Jim, who is my age and Stuart his 35 year old son. They were in the small room and had a fire going so I unloaded my kit in the bigger room and put some dry clothes on. When I went through to join them they said the place had been in a bit of a mess when they arrived. Not trashed but a party obviously. They'd cleaned up and shifted loads of empty cans and bottles out to the work shed. There were still loads of unopened beers left so we quafffed a few and spent a very pleasant night chatting away. The fire in this room was a bit of a let down as it either drew all the heat to the back of the stove then straight up the chimney or puffed smoke out into the room. It was impossible to get the damper control into a middle position. In the end we left the stove door open and kept the fire towards the front of the stove so managed to get some heat out of it. Maybe it just needs a good clean out. I retired about ten to sleep in the other room and didn't wake till half eight next morning.
It was a lovely clear and crisp winters day so I sat outside soaking up the rays whilst I prepared and ate breakfast. Jim and Stuart bid me a fond farewell and said they where going back the way I had come up, they had had enough of squelching through the bog that passes for the Southern Upland Way around here. As I had loads of time I decided to give the bothy a thorough clean out which it certainly needed. I couldn't believe how much I managed to sweep out and also found opened packets of perishable food left lying around including a half eaten cake and a packet of hotdogs. Beats me how the rodents hadn't found this stuff. I also found loads of plastic and more empty beer cans and bottles. The plastic and food I burned whilst I took the bottles and tinnies to the tool shed to leave with the stuff Jim and Stuart had cleared out. Must have been some party, about six carrier bags brimming full of bottles crushed cans and other rubbish. It was at this point I decided I had to take some of this stuff away with me. Whilst I'd cleaned I found enough tinned food and pot snot to feed me for the day plus there was plenty of fire wood and still loads of tinnies left. I would do an unloaded ride in the vicinity then return later to stay another night. After cleaning up I sawed and chopped wood till lunch time then went for a 20 mile ride.

The bothy and some of my chopped wood, didn't do my ailing back much good.

IMG_20180126_121643 by youngray50, on Flickr

I picked the uke up around 4 pm and before I knew it it was 8 pm and no one else had turned up, or maybe they had and on hearing my musical efforts thought better of it. More food and beer and more music but this time with downloaded tunes on my phone.12 midnight, bloody hell, where does the time go. I went out for a pee and it was chucking it down. No chance to use the very nice 4 inch reflecting telescope i'd discovered stored in the tool shed. Next time maybe, time for bed now though.

The "plastic fanastic" ukulele. Holds a tune, doesn't matter if it gets wet (all plastic apart from the tuners), doesn't matter if I crash and trash it (£30 delivered), small and light enough to carry on your back. What's not to like?

IMG_20180126_121744 by youngray50, on Flickr

It must have rained a lot through the night as the burn was up by 6 inches in the morning and it was still raining. I had breakfast and packed the bike. Right, what and how much rubbish could I reasonably expect to take out. I found a Tesco's shopping bag, the big ones that cost 50p or something, bag for life I think they brag. I decided on the cans. I raked through every bag of rubbish in the tool shed and crushed every can I found before tossing them into the Tesco's bag. It was 3/4 full before i'd finished and I'd stopped counting how many went in but it was a lot. I had also discovered four slightly crushed hard boiled eggs in amongst this lot, FFS, these guys really are dicks. I walked 50 metres and chucked them into the under growth as far away from the bothy as possible.
The cycle back to Moffat with the Tesco's bag swinging in the breeze on one end of my bars was uneventful but I did get some odd looks from a bunch of roadies coming the other way.
I'll make a bothy report to the MBA to let them know loads of bottles need carrying out.

[RobMac]

Good write up Ray

[restlessshawn]

Only Fools and Bothys...(1/12)

Finished work Friday and headed down in the van to near Eskdalemuir intending to cycle in to Greensykes bothy for the night then a longer gravel route on the Saturday. Hit a massive pothole on the way resulting in a puncture so by the time I had changed the wheel and got to where I wanted to park I was running late.

It was an easy cycle in to the bothy of about 1h20m and a good chance to try my new joystick out properly

I arrived at the bothy to find 2 youngish lads already there and cutting wood. Disappointing but they were friendly enough and it was late so I was staying anyway. These are the second lot of people I have met while staying there who had a copy of the Scottish Bothy Bible and were bothy bagging. In common with the others they had parked as close as they could and walked in for the night. I wryly remarked that book had a lot to answer for but they said they were just visiting bothys to enjoy them and repect them...
They were in the lounge so I took the kitchen (if you know Greensykes).

Unlike previous visits the room was pretty dirty and messy, even some fag butts on the floor. There was quite a lot of beer left there, 7 cans, 12 bottles and a bottle of 20:20. I'm on dry January so had a bite to eat an a cup of tea, cut some wood, had a small fire. One of the lads came in and took the bottle of 20:20. For 2 guys the other end of a bothy they were pretty loud...

I read for a bit and turned in hoping to get an early start. They were still loud. Time passed, now after midnight, still loud, endless coming in and out the bothy slamming the door, then obviously it was time for them to start chopping logs, inside the bothy. This pattern went on till about 3am then it must have got a litle quiet and I think I might accidently have briefly nodded off...unfortunately they obviously ran out of wood again by 4am so more in and out the bothy slamming doors and chopping wood and making noise. This pretty much went on till 8:30am when they left.

I got up then, had breakfast, emptied the stove which was chock full and swept through the room I was in. Then I went to check their room. As soon as you opened the door there was a smell of 'herbal' cigarettes and they had left a fire burning in the fireplace without even putting the guard over. Twigs and bits of wood all over the floor and a carrier bag of rubbish with 4 glass bottles in. I don't know if all the rubbish was theirs but the empty 20:20 was in there. After I cleaned up that room I set about packing my bike, luckily I had packed light so had room for all the rubbish.

Saturday morning was windy and wet and I was pretty fed up and tired so just ended up cycling back to my van and home again.

Still they had a nice time as they even signed the bothy book...

unnamed1 by Shawn McFarlane, on Flickr

unnamed2 by Shawn McFarlane, on Flickr

unnamed by Shawn McFarlane, on Flickr

[Ray Young]

Seems to be a theme developing here. Those two had signed Brattleburn bothy book too. Maybe worth a comment on their facebook page.

[restlessshawn]

Seems to be a theme developing here. Those two had signed Brattleburn bothy book too. Maybe worth a comment on their facebook page.

I'm going to report them to the MBA...though I have done that before and it seemed pointless. I don't want to post on their facebook page as they will know who I am

Bothies as we know them are doomed

[whitestone]

Seems to be a theme developing here. Those two had signed Brattleburn bothy book too. Maybe worth a comment on their facebook page.

I'm going to report them to the MBA...though I have done that before and it seemed pointless. I don't want to post on their facebook page as they will know who I am

Bothies as we know them are doomed

I'm wondering if this is a blip in usage? In the early 1980s there was concern about mis/over use of bothies, Camasunary and Sourlies in particular, but things settled down. This was of course before the internet and knowing the location and status of some of the remoter bothies was either by being a member of the MBA or by word of mouth/going there with someone who knew.

[Dave Barter]

2/1 An epic explore of the disused railway lines and canals of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire on the semi-fat

[Bearbonesnorm]

Bothies as we know them are doomed

Careful, when I said exactly the same thing a few years ago ... people thought I was being elitest and tw@tish. However, I still agree 100% with your statement Shawn.

[fatbikephil]

1/12.
I had all sorts of plans for this one but a combination of crap weather and a lack of motivation to drive anywhere lead to an easy-ish option from the house. It felt a bit odd departing in the dark after tea on a Saturday night. Despite the horrible weather that had persisted all day I had a mostly dry run east with only one brief downpour. The moon shone down and I had a monster tailwind. My destination was the spot I'd bivvied at with Blair back in November - an events / crafts / meditation space run by the Falkland Estate trust which sports a couple of big teepees and a large timber gazebo complete with wood burning stove. I got there at 9, got the fire going (plenty of dry dead wood lying about) and then spent a couple of hours reading 'The Cairngorms, a Secret History' and drinking whisky. Temps were around 5 degrees so I was plenty warm when I turned in.


The wind was howling so sleep took a while but all was calm when I woke up at 8. After breakfast and a tidy up of the place (it was in similar good nick to when we were there in November but the wind had blown all sorts of debris into the hut) I saddled up and rode home, glad that the forecasted gale didn't seem to have materialised.



Posh digs. If you fancy a visit join the Scottish Spring Thing in April. Also first bikepacking trip on the Straggler which is proving to be a good bike

Re the bothies, whats happening now seems roughly similar to the pre MBA days when a fair few folk were heading for the hills from the cities and building howffs all over the place as well as using any empty hut or cottage available. sounds like it was pretty anarchic with people breaking into places and stealing wood from estates to make fires. Its odd that the 2 guys noted above were following the Bothy bible to find the bothies but ignoring the advice its gives about behaviour. Hopefully the message will get through eventually, or people will get bored and move onto something else.....

Well Done for the tidying up though guys!

[restlessshawn]

Bothies as we know them are doomed

Careful, when I said exactly the same thing a few years ago ... people thought I was being elitest and tw@tish. However, I still agree 100% with your statement Shawn.

Luckily I already know I am an elitist tw@t

[restlessshawn]

Love the look of that gazebo bivvy, good spot!

[Blair512]

It's a cracker isn't it Phil, that's where I was heading last weekend before I ended up stoating drunk!

[ChrisF]

1/12 for 2018 in the bag.
I had plans for a long ride out from home for this one but grown-up responsibilities got in the way... I had to settle for a brief trip out up onto Chinley Churn (about 5 miles of easy riding with a steep climb/push at the end). I didn't really have a bivvy spot in mind but needed somewhere sheltered and not too high up as I had taken the TLS mantra to heart. I packed my Cumulus 250 quilt and a down gilet for extra insulation and hoped that the weather forecast of relatively mild temps was right. I found a good spot in a hollow, a bit rocky and sheepshitty, but good enough. I got to try out my new Speedster meths stove and windshield (£2.50 for a 'stove', actually a little dish you put meths in and set on fire). It all worked pretty well, boiled water for food and drink and didn't set my tarp or my hair alight. Temps didn't drop below 1 or 2 degrees, and I managed to keep warmish with a little help from some Highland Park and chocolate biscuits.
In the morning and daylight I found a perfect bivvy spot about 10 metres away, sods law eh. One for another day.
Short spin home and a second breakfast.

[JohnClimber]

1/12 at The Winter Event

My 21st month in a row, I was going to cut back and not go for BAM 2018 but I tried my new and first hammock today in the woods and I can't wait to take it out hopefully next weekend, which luckily gets me Feb's BAM

Even with just 5 minutes in it I wondered why the hell haven't I tried this before?

[Roobell7]

1/12 after a somewhat eventful January

2017 had been a pretty good year of riding but it all but stopped after the BB200. Working overseas and a series of bouts of manflu attacks kept me away from the bike and festive Xmas riding. I was entered for the Cafe Racer but needed to be in Austria for the Monday after. Sadly after preparing my route, I needed to bail and instead headed 750 miles the opposite way with bike and kit

Karl, the ass-saver didn't survive flapping in the breeze at 160kph across Germany

A rather unfortunate miscalculation entering a underground carpark resulted in a snapped seatpost (it had been a long day). So a short delay for a shiny new one to arrive



Having done some local rides, I decided that this weekend needed to be an overnighter. Plus I had some new winter kit that needed a trial. The hills near here are only around 900m but further south they go to 1,700m. I spotted an MTB trail on OSM Cycle that fitted my needs and even added a little extra hight. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26776119 Of course I didn't have means to check the actual conditions except scrolling over the map on my MacBook showed it to be around -1c. I didn't expect too much snow and so went with the 29+ wheels rather than the full Fat ones

30min train ride saw me at the start point at around 3pm and away. The aim was to get to the top and find somewhere to pitch the tent for the night. Simples

The first 5km out of town was a quite brutal 8% average on road. It soon became obvious that there was plenty of snow around and once out of the fog, the tops were white



The loading of the bike meant that out-of-the-saddle climbs needed care to avoid spinning the back wheel and it came as some relief when the route turned off the road onto an even steeper forest track covered in ice. As I started to push up the track a helpful walker tried to explain to me that it would be unwise to carry on. At least that's what I took him to mean and I smiled and pointed to my 3" wide tyres and said I'd be fine

The next 4 hours was a mixture of mainly pushing and occasionally riding to the top of the ridge line at 1,595m. Though it was by now -2c and quite windy, I was still warm and feeling good. The new Sealskin socks with the silicon grips had kept all the snow out and my feet dry. The Alpkit bear paw pogies keeping my hands warm without the need for gloves. Looking around at the top I only found some split trunk benches and what I thought would be a cairn turned out to be a small marker set in the ground. So I put the bike next to the seats and pitched my Nemo Hornet tent in the slight shelter it offered. The ground was frozen so using the pegs normally wouldn't work, so I set them horizontal and buried them in the snow. Surprisingly they held all night but the fly sheet made quite a racket in the stiff breeze. Cooking was out of the question so it was the can of beer, bar of chocolate and swig from the hip flask to see me through the night. Ear plugs and eye covers would have been good but I sleep pretty well through to my alarm at 5:15am. The SeaToSummit Trek TK II had done its job along with the Exped SynMat HL Winter (Garmin showed -5.9c out on the bike). My only issue was with the laces on my boots having frozen but the velcro fastening worked fine until they thawed

I was treated to a wonderful dawn as I broke camp

Breaking camp before dawn by Andy Wright, on Flickr Direction the wind came from by Andy Wright, on Flickr Leaving at dawn by Andy Wright, on Flickr

I decided not to do the extra climb added to the MTB route and head back down the remaining 30km to the station. I was fortunate that the route included some prepared ski trails and I made good use before anybody else was up and about

It's fun really by Andy Wright, on Flickr Dawn breaks over the sleeping hutt by Andy Wright, on Flickr Breakfast time by Andy Wright, on Flickr

Once off them it was interesting and I regretted having only the plus wheels on rather than the fat set left behind. I found that by carefully staying on the firmer snow the bike would not break through into the powder below. Around 1/2 way I crossed a ski run that was already busy and from there on it was icy roads most of the way. I stopped at a sunny meadow with benches and a shrine to brew up a coffee and porridge, plus my remaining banana bread. A 2nd ski run that followed the road down brought me into the small town of Mönichkirchen and what seemed to have most of the cars in lower Austria parked there

With a little more climbing I dropped back down into Aspang-Markt and awaited the train back to Wiener-Neustadt

Waiting for a train by Andy Wright, on Flickr

Finish the course on Friday and will start the journey home. Maybe get February's BAM in on the way back to the UK

More pictures (if you need any ) can be seen here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsma4Lzih

[BigdummySteve]

Look almost as much fun as the cafe racer

[Roobell7]

Look almost as much fun as the cafe racer

Except no tea, no cake and no banter

[NotQuickNick]

Eyup everyone,

I'm new on here today!

I thought that as I bagged my January Bivvy lastnight (just in time) on my 29+ Stooge, I may as well get on board.

Was introduced to the concept of the Bivvy a month 2018 by summittopler, many thanks.

New-ish to bikepacking, as in I did loads of "cycle touring" on me mountain bike (as we called it back in the '90s), just longer in the tooth now and realized what a daft idea packing all the gear in panniers behind the rear axle is!

I'm in Yorkshire, York to be exact, so if anyone in the area would like some company on their "#bamfatbike2018" outings give us a shout... I'm quite normal. honest lol!

Cheers

Nick

[RIP]

Welcome Nick! "I'm quite normal. honest lol!" - I'm not sure that's seen as a plus point in this Place to be honest Unless you mean "normal for a bikepacker" that is, which is diametrically-opposed to most non-BP people's definition

[ton]

hello Nick, i am pretty near you. rothwell, leeds

been on here ages but this year i have decided to do my 1st Bam.
give me a shout if you fancy anything.
plan to have a night on black hambleton in the next couple of weeks.