Bivvy a Month 2016.

[RIP]

Well you can do whisk(e)y+coffee = Irish coffee, so why not whiskey+ovaltine eh? Just need a snappy marketing name for it.. er, erm.. ovalkey? whistine? Going to take a bit of thought this one is - I'm just the blue-skies-thinking-helicopter-view man, I can't be expected to market the stuff as well..

[Ray Young]

Well you can do whisk(e)y+coffee = Irish coffee, so why not whiskey+ovaltine eh? Just need a snappy marketing name for it.. er, erm.. ovalkey? whistine? Going to take a bit of thought this one is - I'm just the blue-skies-thinking-helicopter-view man, I can't be expected to market the stuff as well..

Dear Reg, in my opinion both product names are entirely apt for the purpose of commerce in your shop. Indeed I suggest selling exactly the same product in exactly the same style of packaging only with the two names suggested making them distinguishable one from the other whilst charging an exorbitant fee for one and a pittance for the other (or even give it away for free).

Yours, feet on the ground, nose to the grindstone, marketing type persona.

[RIP]

What a team

[jBay]

Bristol to Devizes sleeping near the White Horse
Treated to a Firework Display by the local youths

[Scattamah]

9 from 10...out in the regular haunt on Long Mynd. Mike showed up and we had a good catch up, comparing riding stories from far away shores. Starting to get cooler up high. V. misty this morning on the return leg.

Greetz

S.

[RIP]

Had to accompany my lad back home to Aberystwyth after an op and seemed a waste not to squeeze in a cheeky outing at the same time, so managed to get a pass from Mrs Perrin. Weather forecast on Thursday said “sunny” (hah hah) but changed its mind on Friday to “showers” which is Wales for you, so bunged in some extra bits of wet gear. 17.30 Aber – Mach train, then a ride up the back lane to Ceinws Tafarn Dwynant pub scoping likely “hiding spots” on the way, not easy in these horizontally-challenged parts. My only bugbear with BP is lying on slopes however minor. Maybe I need a mat that can be inflated to different heights along its length to compensate. Backup spot was on the Dyfi’s banks but didn’t find much else on the way, the best possibilities being in the village.

Had a great time in the pub until 11.30 nattering to a builder, a forester, a careers advice lady and a “horizontal drilling specialist” – probably a joke there somewhere: “a builder etc etc walked into a pub and...”. After a suitable interval mentioned the bivi spot which everyone said I was welcome to use. Bedded down at midnight, shortly after which a very nice lady appeared (hang on, hang on, no conclusion-jumping please...) and offered a quilt and pillow! She even left her car unlocked so I could return them in the morning, along with a grateful note. A quilt AND a -9c bag was a bit overkill although temperatures hit -3c and the tarp froze over.



Up at 7.30, quick tea and porridge and off through Aberllefenni and over the pass to Doogaloo, with the only bit of sunshine all weekend, and snowy patches up top. Am a great fan of slate, and there were some attractive slate fences dotted around which are sadly becoming a rarity now. It seems the WHOLE of Aberllefenni is up for sale – a cool £1.5mil to you if you fancy your own Welsh village.

Stairway to heaven? :



A couple of nicely-designed bits of old iron juxtaposed, both of which have stood the test of time:









A nice “ford interlude” at Gwerngraig on Route 8:



Took an unplanned detour below Cader then down into town, which was deserted and few people about so continued onto the Mawddach Trail, again seeing no bikers at all until Barmouth bridge. I’m afraid I’ve little interest in capers abroad these days with world-class local scenery like this to gawp at, especially beautiful with all the leaves in their hues of brown, yellow, gold etc.



Davy Jones’ Locker in Barmouth provided their usual excellent full veg breakfast, then it was up the coast to turn inland for the dubious pleasures of Pont Scethin, honing my chapel-spotting skills ready for January on the way:

[RIP]

... I was surprised how carved up the Scethin tracks were – loads of deep ruts in the boggy terrain and the original template for the Slough Of Despond:





A cheeky path led down to Llanbedr where I’d planned some food at the Ty Mawr Hotel, unfortunately not until 6pm. I should have carried on to Harlech but instead wandered to the beach and chatted to a guy who owned a field near the station who said it was fine to bivi there. Back to the hotel for a few beers, partaken in the posh lounge since the main bar had both the telly and music on at the same time – what’s all that about? On arrival at the field another guy claimed never to have heard of the first bloke and told me there’d been loads of robberies (grass thieves presumably) so “clear off”. Contemplated the station shelter then headed back into the hills for a cracking woodland spot, serenaded to sleep by the generous owl population.



Monday morning was a superb ride round the far end of Nantcol and Llyn Cwm Bychan then down to Harlech, finally ticking one of the grid refs from WRT with a nice view of Snow-literally-don. Cwm Bychan was eerily totally silent, sadly a rare thing for me to experience, so I spent a happy 15 minutes just standing there and “not” listening to it. Yes I know my bar-storage looks a bit eccentric but it works OK for me, full winter sleep-setup at 1960g so it’s mainly sleeping-bag bulk to preserve the loft rather than weight.





A pleasant coffee and scone at LLew Glas, pick up some lunch from the old faithful Spar and down to the station for the 12.28 back to Leighton Buzzard - £30 of money well-spent for the fantastic scenery down the coast to Aberdyfi.







9/9, Fingers well-numbed, “Reg”

[MuddyPete]

Looks like a great trip all round Reg: scenery, hospitality and no rain .
Love the colours in that 5th photo.
You can never have too many pictures in a post

[RIP]

Cheers MP, yes it's surprisingly easy to get to BP-land from our neck of the woods, considering it's 200 miles away. Trains every 2 hours, cross-platform change at Brummie International. 4-coach trains so can take 4 bikes, although the split at Mach means 2 bikes to Aber and 2 to Pwllheli direction. Never had prob getting bike on, although I do book a fair way ahead, of course this might change with me enthusing about it ;-). Same for N Wales route - in fact even easier cos there are some direct trains from MK to Llandudno/Bangor/etc. Eg, leave MK at 08.43 and you could be having your lunch at Snowdon halfway caff via Bangor. In fact I've just booked Friday night at Star Inn Dylife for Jan Winter Event, arrive Caersws 13.16, ride over the hill, snacks and new biro(*) at Staylittle Stores, hopefully nice evening at Star Inn, brekkie then down the hill to LlanB. Have actually booked ticket back from Aber for flexibility since not sure where will be on Sunday night - bivi near Mach maybe. Probably ought to be other way round - Friday bivi and Sunday Star Inn to clean up after the jape, but I don't want to mess up their carpets ;-).

Will be nice to meet you on Dec "SE Bivi" anyroad and compare notes

(*) different story, see WRT2016 ;-).

[MuddyPete]

RIP - Dec bivi - Yes looking forward to it, as "stuff" is getting in the way of a November bivi.
P

[frogatthefarriers]

11/11 Bersham.

A one hour ride out from home to a spot I've walked past many times. It's beside a popular footpath, with signs at both ends saying "No Cycling". I joined the path in the middle, where there were no such signs, so I could make a plausible deniability claim if challenged.




The photos were taken on the morning after. I was a little afraid that the dog walkers would be out before there was enough daylight, but in the event, 7:30 was too early for them. I was hoping to catch the sunlight falling onto my bivvy, but after a promising start,

clouds rolled in. Shucks.

This stepped waterfall was created to supply water to the "Iron Mad" Wilkinson Iron foundry, one of, if not the, earliest factory-scale smelting works.


Out, bivvied and back home in 12 hours.

[JohnClimber]

Started in May
7/7 bagged last night

[whitestone]

Decided to head out for a bivy last night. Glad we did as the night sky was stunning in the Northern Dales.

[whitestone]

Decided to head out for a bivy last night. Glad we did as the night sky was stunning in the Northern Dales.

Sunrise this morning.


A bit of cheeky gully (actually a hush), this starts about 10 metres from a road but is almost invisible unless you are looking for it.


After breakfast in Dales Bike Centre we headed along the valley floor towards Gunnerside


Heading back to the car we got into the snow. If this had been ten metres lower then we wouldn't have ridden on snow at all. It was quite tricky as some was frozen, some wasn't and there was ice under some of it.

[JohnClimber]

2nd bivi this month, we didn't make the bothy but the pub was warm and the beer was cold

[Taylor]

Exmoor last night for a rather windy night. Thought the roof of the shelter I was in was about to peel off.

11/11.

[Scattamah]

10/11...walked into a neighbouring field...lobbed down the mat and bivvy bag...and proceeded to get little chunks of sleep as the temps plummeted and I finally learnt a std. sized Hunka is not for me...I need a larger/lighter bivvy bag to make a proper go of super minimalism outdoors. And probably a silk liner so I stop taking my sleeping bag with me when I roll in the night/gain some extra degrees of comfort...the zipper side of my bag kept ending up on my back and where my jacket rode up, the cold would attack. Packed up @ half 4 this morning and crunched through the frost back home.

Greetz

S.

[Blair512]

A night in the woods near my house on Monday bagged me my 12th bivvy in a row and 11/11 for this year, looking forward to the winter bivvy next weekend to complete the year

[Bearbonesnorm]

I was surprised how carved up the Scethin tracks were

They've seen some motorbike use over the last couple of years. Would appear to be the landowners offspring.

and there were some attractive slate fences dotted around which are sadly becoming a rarity now.

Yes, big fan too Reg. They kind of make me feel at home even though we don't actually have any here and never did - no slate until you cross the Dyfi.

[JohnClimber]

Started in May
8/8 with a pre Global Fat Bike Day bivi over on Anglesey last night



This morning's view from my bed

[RIP]

Loving that morning view.

Bit of business in the Freak District for a couple of days, Amber Valley, and kipping in old railway carriage. I have my Brompton with overnight bag so I'm going to count it for BaM (SE Bivi as Dec backup anyway), possibly against the rules but I'll leave that to the rulesmeisters since I have better things to worry about such as the temperature, which is well below zero because the carriage is not attached to a nice warm train. Have seen more luxurious spots in the cardboard city behind Sainsburys but i am where i am.

Frozen Reg

[Blair512]

Last weekends winter bivvy scored me 12/12, it's been a cracking year and I'm glad I came across this challange, it's given me an excuse to get out and about without the misses moaning too much! same again next year?



Oh and where's my badge Stu?

[Chew]

Another 12/12 for me.

Thats enough from me though. Won't be continuing next year.

[Zippy]

Does that mean Taylor wins?

[Taylor]

WHAT????

Don't you dare give up now Chew.