Bivvy a Month 2017.

[RIP]

Thanks B. Nice pic too! BTW, I'm sure you're already on the case, but I'm a photobucket refugee as well and am now on imageupload.co.uk. Seems Ok so far.

[TheBrownDog]

Gard-dammit Im about to fail BAM again .... was doing well too - had 8/8 with a few extras thrown in but September turned up and my ex has been overseas keeping my weekends full of kids stuff. On the upside, the weekend before last was spent moving into our new house (finally ... yaaaaah). All my kit is crammed into boxes and Ive nowhere to put anything. Ah well. Looking at the diary 14 October seems a likely opportunity to scare the squirrels.

[Borderer]

There is still tonight ^
Go on.....

[RIP]

Yep we're rooting (possibly the wrong word at this point) for you TBD! Hold firm man. Must be SOMETHING you can pull out of the hat? Bike round to the neighbour's and kip on their lawn? Believe that's in the rules? Anything to place-hold 'til October.....

"3/ No paid for accommodation inc' campsites or hostels.

4/ A bike must be involved - it's bikepacking, the clue's in the name.

5/ Your own garden doesn't count, although next doors does ... if you must" - there you go, you're covered!

[TheBrownDog]

You know what ... Im getting out tonight after all. Kids will be in bed in an hour or so (about 9-ish) and Im going to ride up to the park at the end of my street which has a chunky stand of trees. Got my Hunka and a CCF mat. Probs only be out for 5-6 hours, but it'll count. Cheers guys.

[BigdummySteve]

Good on you ! I had to abandon Mrs dummy tonight who had just returned from a week away with her girlfriends, I softened her up with a surprise breakfast in bed, full English including baby Toms fried in butter with basil and some rather delicious black pudding from Scotland with caramelised apple, needless to say but I was out the door without comment thus saving the day with a last minute goal 9/9

A major triumph of the night was taking a can of Cullen skink and a hunk of bread, beats a pot noodle any day.
Down side was having a James out the tent only to realise that brown boots don’t show up well under red lighting.

[ChrisF]

Bad news from August - I failed miserably on my last opportunity due to work hassles. 7 out of 7 up til then on my first BAM attempt.
Anyhow, September rolls round, I get away from work on Friday afternoon nice and early and have a steady ride out into the Peak. I end up climbing up and over Whinstone Lee Tor in the dark and dropping down to the stone shelter/barn near the bridleway. The shelter has a nice bench, big enough to set the stove up for your gourmet couscous and chorizo, and good views over the moonlit reservoir down in the valley. The floor is stone and covered in sheep droppings. It's a good job i didn't drop my Maltesers, I wouldn't have known which ones to pick up and eat :)

Saturday morning I had to be back home earlyish. It was a battle of wills between setting off early for the ride home or take it easy, bacon sandwich at the Pool Caff in Hathersage and jump on the train home. I'll let you guess which one won. 8 out of 9.

[TheBrownDog]

Iiiiiiiiiii'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

I got the kids to bed, made sure they had their phones with them and rode the 250m to the park. 'twas wet but I found a snug enough spot, on the edge of the trees behind a dilapidated picnic shelter. Just to the left of the beacon fire pole in the pic.



On a summer night this is the spot the local teens use to smoke fags and drink cheap lager. No one about last night. I did that weird jiggle you do to get into a sleeping bag inside a bivvy bag in the rain, got the mat underneath me, pulled the drawstring tight and seem to have gone to sleep quite quickly - I woke at 330am, packed it all up and came home.

Interestingly, I was buzzed by a few little bats while finding a spot to doss down. A little pre-dawn online research says they are likely to be common noctule bats which are more active this time of year as it's their mating season. So I bivvied in a public park in the middle of my village surrounded by randy bats. Surreal.

So. 9/9

[Taylor]

It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that “I’M OUT”.
That’s 8/9 or 68/69.
Everything is packed by the back door still but a bout of hissyness from the wife diverted my attention and as the reverend John Spinola told me when I got married "Remember Taylor, a happy wife is a happy life".

[Borderer]

Well done Brown Dog. A dogging site for bats?!

Sorry to hear it Taylor.

[RIP]

Blimey it's been a right rollercoaster of a night there. Brilliant brinkmanship TBD, you had us worried for a minute there; huge commiserations (and massive respect) to Taylor, 68, astounding; and sheep poo v Maltesers = .

Scene now set for the character-building two months before it gets colder and easy again in December...

[BigdummySteve]

character-building ? I was hoping for an easy last quarter of the season assuming jan and feb to be the hardest. Last October I pitched on dunkery beacon ( the highest point in exmoor) and had a great evening.
There is something depressing about the dank sloppiness that is autumn, although I’m hoping to get in early with a cross border raid into Northamptonshire next Friday after work , locals feel free to point me towards any good sites near Bugbrooke.

[benp1]

Good effort Taylor, 68 is a superlative effort

I started in March so technically I'm 7/7, but the hardest months are coming up which should make things interesting

[Bearbonesnorm]

Well done Taylor ... long service medal due.

For some reason (probably obvious) I think Feb is always the hardest month.

[benp1]

Jan and Feb are my worst months for work too, so getting time out then is really difficult. Spend most of the working week at work barely seeing the family. Though it's the sort of thing that 'tops up the system' and I find generally good for mental wellbeing!

[ScotRoutes]

I snuck out for another September bivvy on Friday/Saturday. Plans were a bit fluid due to a much-delayed start but we managed a wee ride of 30km or so to a spot in Glen Feshie I thought would work well. I ;ebt a set of bags to cycli-al who is now a convert and has since bought them off me. A cold-ish night and although everywhere was quite wet we made it back before the worst of any rain.


My third attempt at using the bike wheels to support the tarp was the best yet. A couple of small guylines pulling sideways stopped any overnight sagging. It's still a low pitch but provides full-length coverage and plenty of space alongside my mat/bag to keep everything else under cover. It's also fairly wind-shedding which was important given the stiff, cold southerly we were experiencing.


P1040634 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr
(apologies for the blurriness - I was shivering!)
P1040636 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1040637 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

[whitestone]

Rich Munro often uses that pitch. I've tried it once with a tyvek sheet, not a great success but that was probably me. Like you say: there's not a lot of headroom

[RayKickButts]

The wee trip of much wetness and sore balls bivi 9 of 12.

I find a lot of outdoor people in South Wales become obsessed with the Pen Y Fan region of the Brecon Beacons and never venture further that the Storey Arms or the traditional Gap route which while a cracking ride gets a bit boring after the 150th time.

So this trip I was determined to take my mate across to the more scenic upper reaches of the Swansea Valley and the Magnificent Fans.

We ditched our 4 wheeled monster in Banwen and headed out along quiet B roads to get to the start of the old Roman Road of Sarn Helen, we had both ridden this before and were ready for the odd puddle, but as we had a few days of heavy rain the old road had become waterlogged and the puddles were over BB deep… but dam good fun to plough across as long as you don’t hit a big hidden rock.


As you get down the road aways towards the location of the old fire tower, you get some more deep puddles/ponds with streams running into them and a stunning section of bed rock pocking out of the ground to play on, we were riding up it buts its also fun to drop down them and get soaked with the torrent of water.

After a play around for glory pictures we headed to the point where we would normally turn left on our normal Sarn Helen loop, but instead we headed NW and out towards the moors with the aim of getting across and down towards the caving centre at Penwyllt

I’d told Wayne that I loved this first bit as I’d bivi’d here loads by the old ruins and limestone that the weather had turned into pillars over the years.



I turned off the track and headed out to one of my fav spots, a small patch of limestone with a solitary tree growing out of it. We stopped for a bit to enjoy the quiet and more pics.


From here we then headed up and across the moor, it was here Mr Morgan Freeman came back into my head and stated “ It was about now Tim realised he had made the correct bike choice”

The wet weather had turned the moor into a sticky bog of doom for the unwary in anything less than a 4” tyre… Id changed my bike choice half a hour before my mate turned up, I had planned to go on the Rammin + bike but id been playing with the Fatty and put her winter boots, on a set of Surly Bud and Lou’s probably the best tyres ive ridden on.

With the pressure down running around 10psi and the bike fully loaded for Bear she floated over the crap black goop where I’m confident my plus bike would have bogged down and got stuck.


The moor up here is bleak, there are a few ruins around from old farm settlements but you need to know where to look and there are also for the unwary off piste traveller lots of shake holes.

For me I find these moors beutifull the lack of nothing but the odd sheep actually enhances the experience for me.

We came to a particularly bad spot of rocks and goop just below the last climb and I bogged down couldn’t unclip fast enough jumped off and managed to pull a muscle in my unmentionables! After a few minutes of Wayne laughing at me I had to MTFU and soldier on.

We chatted as we rode and it was clear my mate was becoming a convert to the Western reaches of the Beacons, we stopped at the highpoint of the moor and had a bite to eat and drink before the promised descent to the caving centre.


The route down was wet and at the last minute I decided to go off piste and hit the old tram road further up as we would be passing the caving centre again tomorrow.

The good thing about riding on tramways or disused railways is they are graded so it is pretty easy going.

Getting back around to the woods beneath Fan Fraith was a nice steady plod and when we got to the top of Carn Yr Onnen we could look across at Fan Gyhirych, Fan Fraith and Fan Nedd in the distance.

WE headed down into the woods where the temp dropped and a light mist made the moss covered pines pretty spooky, we stopped at the ford in woods at Nant Y Moch to fill up and I noticed some tracks heading up onto a open grassed area.

After some exploration we decided as the wind had picked up and the temp had dropped that this would be our home for the night.

We were about to set up camp when I decided to jump across the stream and explore the other side where a massive lone pine tree sat just outside of the edge of the woods.

As I approached the tree I could see that there was a hollow area underneath it and on inspection I could see that the branches had been cut and had obviously been used by someone before us.

I set up my snug pack bivi bag directly under the tree branch’s and Wayne set his tarp and bivi up just at the mouth of the hollow.


We set up pretty quickly as it was a tad chilly and then set about the important act of getting scran inside us.


We chatted, and I recall saying to Wayne that I bet Deer come down to these small open grassed areas to graze and drink.

I then taught Wayne the ancient and venerable art of making baby bell candles, and I have to say he was impressed with the result and at around 2330 I had to get out of my bag and blow the dam things out as they were acting like a beacon and calling every hilly billy in miles to come and do a deliverance special on us .


It was probably one of the best nights kip ive had outside in years, the sound of the wind in the pines, Not from Wayne I must add, the noise from the stream was dam relaxing and I was woken by Wayne asking if I was alive, it was 7am, I’d slept right through not even getting up for a p! Normally I’m a 0530am person and ready for the off by 0630!!

We packed up at a steady pace and just as we were ready for the off we became aware of some noise lower down behind the pine tree, some of you may recall I mentioned Deer, well a few seconds later around 6 deer came charging past us, and then after they dissapperared into the brush a big Stag stopped and starred at us through the tree no more than 6ft away, its little things like this that make a trip special.

So simple plan this morning was to ride up and down to the caving center at Penwyllt and head back out on the old disused railway line to Banwen and T and medals at the van.

I’d checked on google earth and the route looked rideable all the way to the footpath at the mobile tower which sat on the B road back to Banwen.

So with a song in our hearts we headed out and hit the tramway and this is a great descent very bumpy as the old wooden beams are still in place bit a great laugh and amazing views across to the Fan Hir ridgeline and the vaguely exciting under rated Black Mountain range.


First problem came just as we rounded the corner from the caving centre near the old ruins of the train buildings, a FLAT!! First one on my fat bike in years.

Puncture sorted we carried on and found a route to get us on the railway path.

There was no sign of any of the old rails, a few of the old signs were peaking out of the undergrowth and the path was pretty wet with the water taking the course of least resistance and making us ride pedal deep … which I have to ad it I enjoyed.

After a mile or so we came to our first locked gate and a picture of a rambler with a no entry sign across…. Well they cant mean us I say to Wayne we are on fat bikes and we ploughed on

We then came to the next obstacle around ¼ mile of impenetrable bad bush and steep banks either side of us! Balls, it was a long ride back the way we came and a good climb, and it was only around 2-4 miles from where we were to the van… so in true spirit of adventure we hauled the bikes up the bank over the barbed wire fence and did a ninja stealth ride until we came to obstacle number 3!!

The field and fence now headed the wrong way and we were looking at old bridge on the map, I climbed the fence and had a recce and to my delight with one last bit of grunt power we would be back on good riding terrain and only 1 mile from the footpath.

Much grunting pushing and pulling ensued as we got the heavy weight bikes over what we hoped would be the last fence.

The area we came out onto was dam pretty and just before the cuttings, we had to get to number three to meet the footpath.

SO more mud and more water we trundled on and as we rounded cutting number two we saw obstacle number 4 … people with GUNS!!

My Military training immedialty kicked in I jumped off of the bike pulled out by stove and began to brew up immediately in true Tommy fashion.

We’d come out close to a clay pigeon range!

I rode up and gave a hearty hello and started my public relations exercise praying he wouldn’t turn us back or fill us full of buckshot… he turned out to be a real nice bloke and his wife. He told us that the land was private, I apologised profusely for my poor map reading skills and told him where we were headed and he pointed us to the footpath.

After a good chin wag with him and grabbing his business card, (£12.50 for 50 clays I’ll be back as a Christmas treat cus that is cheap as chips) he gave me a bag of used good condition shotgun shells ( I make stuff from them)

Him and his mrs waved us off and that pretty much ( bar a dirty bacon butty stop) was my September bivi done and dusted, a fast downhill spin to Banwen a chat with some gawking locals and it was all over… until October and a cunning plan is formulating

[crewlie]

The first three months since moving up to Arran have been a bit of a whirlwind of move and exploring related activity. There's a healthy biking community, mountain and road, here, but not too much bikepacking interest that I've been able to find but maybe it's all a bit Fight Club like.

Anyway at the moment it looks like I'll be hosting my own Winter Bivy!

I’ve still managed to get my monthly nights out in, but they have just been short trips up into the forestry behind our house and usually at the very end of the month.

i was determined in September to get a least a little further afield, but life kept getting in the way and again the last day of the month loomed. My original plan was a trip across the water to do some of the Kintyre way as a taster for a longer trip next year, but the weather forecast didn’t look good with ferry disruption likely due to high winds.

The island isn’t huge and a lot of it isn’t easily accessible with a loaded bike so I decided on run up the East coast to try to find somewhere by the sea with a view to the North just in case the aurora showed up.

A lovely clear evening for a ride found me along the coastal path North of Corrie. There’s a field there that’s heavily used by wild campers in the season. The number of campfire rings dotted around spoil it a little, but it was deserted, flat and reasonably dry, so an easy decision.

No aurora but a nice clear sky made for a pleasant evening.

A good night, it started out cold under the clear sky but the clouds came over after midnight and the temperature lifted a little. I woke at 6 to the start of the forecast rain and wind, so skipped breakfast, packed up quickly and rode home along the wet, empty Sunday morning roads. 9/9

The Fairy Glen by Mark Berry, on Flickr

View from the Viewpoint by Mark Berry, on Flickr

DSC04682 by Mark Berry, on Flickr

DSC04690 by Mark Berry, on Flickr

Early evening across the Firth of Clyde by Mark Berry, on Flickr

[Blair512]

The last few months have been a real struggle finding time to get out and certainly not had time to do any write ups but I have made it through to September, let me festoon you with pictures of what I've been up to.

July was a wee road based trip inspired by TCR, it was exactly the same except I only done about 40 miles across Fife over 2 days, by myself, slowly!

IMG_20170729_203203 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170729_203700 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170729_204518 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170730_061120 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170730_115759_582 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170730_075451_490 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

August seen me taking the whole family on our first bikepacking trip together, dolls were strapped to handlebars and off we set for the arduous 1 mile cycle into Over Pawhope bothy, third visit of the year for me and a big thumbs up from the girls.

IMG_20170813_150601 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170813_150810 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170813_150804 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170813_150657 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170813_170532 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170814_100858 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

Last weekend I bagged September in the nick of time with a variation of Markus Stitz's Central Belter route from Grangemouth to Killin, I left work on Friday night and made it as far as Dunblane before the rain got the better of me and I struck camp for the night, up bright and early so I could make it to Killin in time for lunch with Gill and the kids. A particular highlight was Glen Ample, apart from the initial push up it was all rideable and beats following NCN7 up the side of Lubnaig any day.

IMG_20170929_191957 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170930_064306 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170930_074440 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170930_102019 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20170930_103502 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

IMG_20171002_082718_420 by Blair Caldwell, on Flickr

Hopefully I can get my flat sold soon and get back to doing things I enjoy rather than squeezing them in but never mind, I'm still 9 for 9 this year

[Borderer]

Love that last photo Blair. Cracker.

Good to see the kids getting a trip out too. Dollies are important. Glad Joe has outgrown his need for a teddy now though - one less thing to carry.

Is that ale in your water bottles?!

[Blair512]

Love that last photo Blair. Cracker.

Good to see the kids getting a trip out too. Dollies are important. Glad Joe has outgrown his need for a teddy now though - one less thing to carry.

Is that ale in your water bottles?!

Yeah it's a great photo, I've no idea how to take a good photo, I just take 100s and occasionally get a good one!

Kids loved the bothy, they were apprehensive about other people being there but a lovely German couple turned up and the kids got on great with them so hopefully I can lure them out again sometime

Orange juice unfortunately, I managed a few pints once I made it to Killin though

[RobMac]

Blair the Pipedreams looking good

[deft punk]

Anyway at the moment it looks like I'll be hosting my own Winter Bivy!

That'll be two of us then. I'm just on the other side of the water :)

[Blair512]

Blair the Pipedreams looking good

Thanks Rob, I'm really enjoying it. Slightly slacker than my Rockhopper and much comfier on a long ride