Hobo bivi

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jameso
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Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

The other night I realised I'd messed up a last min airbnb booking and had nowhere to stay during a few days working at one of Evans' sites. £100+ hotel was the only option ... ah well. Best go get it booked. Then, walking through the warehouse, some bike transport blankets and foam bike covers look useful. Like basic bivi kit. You know how thought processes go -
I could bodge a bivi from that ..
I have a folding bike with a rackpack on it ..
It's a lovely evening ..

Righto.

Roll up blanket and mat from warehouse. Fit to dahon folder's rack. Ride longish way to a pub - I saved ££ so I'm having the duck and a couple of pints. Ride off following the river to a quiet field. Kip under a tree. Crap sleep for all but a couple of hours as padding is minimal and blanket is thin. Wake up to sunrise over a misty river, birdsong and looking up at a big tree, lie in for 15 mins listening to planes take off from Gatwick. Make cold instant coffee and eat a banana wrapped in a pancake. 5.30am and I'm up.
Realise bikepacking has made this sort of thing seem normal, a bonus..
At work I tell colleagues the airbnb "was fine .."

Photos when I get a mo to upload.

Anyone else done similar, a forced or opportunist rough-sleep?
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Zippy
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by Zippy »

Bravo, look forward to the photos!

Closest I've had is:
I was going to sleep in my car after a wedding, except one of the guests has wandered of with my jacket that had my car keys in it. So I buried a few cushions and a rug from the wedding venue and kipped in the back of my mates van - want that warm or comfy-but I was it off options!
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

Out of options and probably with a warm beer-coat on eh zippy?

I should have added that we have showers on site and the blanket also made a useful towel so no disheveled look or odourous giveaways in today's meetings :-bd

And maybe this belongs in trips and adventures, but it's more about how normal it felt.
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voodoo_simon
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by voodoo_simon »

Have been paid by work to wild camp in a tent but not quite the same!

That's about as close as I come :roll:
ianfitz
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by ianfitz »

When I used to make climbing walls I was always working away. Would regularly head out after work to what ever crag was nearby, climb, eat, bivy at the crag, wake up early, climb, go to work. If it was raining I'd sleep in the car but mostly outdoors.

I was also homeless in Sheffield for a while in the mid '90s. Mostly I could find a friends sofa to kip on and eventually found an old office suite that I lived in in exchange for some work but a few nights I slept out. It's a very different experience when you have very nearly no money and no other options.

TBH it makes bikepacking with quality kit an absolute luxury!
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jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

Ian, you've seen a different side to it than most then. How different it could be is something that comes to mind often when I sleep out, more so this time.
Not a topic I've seen come up but how much does bikepacking mean we're more likely to empathise and help out, or support those who help directly?
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Not a topic I've seen come up but how much does bikepacking mean we're more likely to empathise and help out, or support those who help directly?
Uhmm possibly. I had a brief chat with a lad sleeping in a doorway near Crewe station last week. He said he was okay and didn't 'want' anything but I still felt drawn to go over and talk to him ... Having seen a lad sleeping under a bridge in Shrewsbury with a sign that said " I am not a homeless tramp, I am a person" then perhaps that one of the best things you can do.
May the bridges you burn light your way
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Zippy
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by Zippy »

ianfitz wrote: TBH it makes bikepacking with quality kit an absolute luxury!
Yes, i think this is the big difference. Looking back at my post, there's a lot of misspelling and autcorrect from a mobile device going on. Should have mentioned, I had planned to sleep in my car with my big thermarest and half decent bag, the sleeping in a van was with cobbled together stuff, hence not particularly comfortable, but like Jameso guessed, alcohol coat sortof helped!
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RIP
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by RIP »

Lovely little tale that James - I think "hobo bivis" are a bit more interesting - to do and to hear about - than our usual tarp-woods-tent-field-bothy-whatevers. And that's not to minimise the sadly enforced situations mentioned by Ian and Stu. Possibly more is learned about oneself and there's more scope for eccentric experiences. Best I can manage is an over-refreshed collapse under a tree after the pub last summer, with no bedding at all.

I like your point about spending the "saved" cash on some nice nosh and drink. Most people (well OK, nobody at all) I know don't understand my view that paying for being asleep has less (ie, no) payback than enjoying pleasure while awake! Although I have to say that cold instant coffee and pancake-enclosed-banana does not feature that high up the pleasure ladder somehow. What am I saying, of course it does, the more eccentric the merrier!

I need to make more effort to bivvy with my Brompton and bag.

R

PS> Any interest in that July mini-caper I emailed u about?
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

{random thoughts}

I think it's quite easy to see homelessness as a problem that only really effects the mentally ill or those with addiction problems but just like Ian, I've been in the situation in the past. It was simply caused by circumstance ... it really is a case of, there but for the grace of God*.

I checked out the link to the 'Swag bag' shelter that was for sale on the classifieds. In turns out it's a charity that sell them in order to raise funds, so the shelters can be given out to the homeless, allowing them more privacy, comfort and perhaps more importantly - dignity. Seemed like a very good idea to me.

*other imaginary beings are available.
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FLV
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by FLV »

I used to bivi regularly when working away from home, always planned and with kit though. Often a tent too.
I worked crazy long hours so just used to have a little ride round stop for a late night pint then off to wherever.

It was always by choice though t save the money spent on accommodation. I'm thinking about doing it again but its not as easy to find nice spots where I am just now.


Never tried it with bits of used warehouse kit though!
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

then perhaps that one of the best things you can do.
I expect it is. I've been told that giving money can be an issue as it gets spent on drugs and drink (true or not) or doesn't really help long-term, but asking if they want anything if you're going into a shop nearby is a good thing. When I asked him, a guy who's often pitched up outside Milton Keynes train station asked for some wet wipes and/or hand wash recently, nothing else. That said a lot I think. Good point though, I expect a simple chat and recognising them and the situation means a lot more than anything you can get in a shop.

I saw that swag bag link, great business idea (charity rather than business). Tempted to buy it but now think I've found a better use for the less used bivi kit I have, just pop it into a grab-bag inc a wash kit and hand towel.

Reg - yes, had got a bit buried with emails recently but need to check that date, provisional yes though. Good call and thanks for the invite. Sleeping under trees and under influence not a cert but not completely off limits.
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

And that's not to minimise the sadly enforced situations mentioned by Ian and Stu.


No, not at all. In hindsight I did think that maybe the thread title does minimise it .. not intend.

The cold coffee with milk and sugar was pretty good actually, a good stove-free alternative to a brew in the summer? :grin:
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RIP
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by RIP »

Yep wasn't dissing u there obv James, I was making sure *I* wasn't dissing the examples :). I didn't quote my best bivi cos it doesn't involve a velocipedal conveyance. Way back in the 80s when I had a 'responsible job' I had to take a magnetic tape reel (now who remembers them eh!!) to Valence in southern France to install some software somewhere. Yes a 'live' visit was the only way. Declined the nasty aeroplane journey for train alternative, bending the return trip via Strasbourg and Amsterdam. Hadn't booked accom in Strasbourg, YH full cos footie was on so had to kip under a bush next to the river. Was woken in morning to find a French tramp occupying same luxurious spot. Returned to work and mentioned my antics to boss, making clear I had the £100,000's of tape contents securely in my, er, rucsac. He was a/ very impressed and interested in my adventures, and b/ curiously didn't send me abroad to do installations again. I couldn't understand it. I mean what would a French tramp do with some project management software?
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

No probs Reg, wasn't taken that way : )

Pics .. Riding out -

Image

Waking view -

Image

Breakfast view -

Image

Bivi spot -

Image

Best get to work then ..

Image
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RIP
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by RIP »

Smashin' pics. Very vivid colours for some reason.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

Vivid colours due to phone camera setting being off, it added saturation and I cba to adjust them. Scrappy photography just like my bivi kit : )
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Did you get chance for any spoon whittling?
May the bridges you burn light your way
RobMac
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by RobMac »

Loved the Breakfast view & Bivi spot :-bd
jameso
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Re: Hobo bivi

Post by jameso »

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Did you get chance for any spoon whittling?
Had to get to work before I could start .. :grin:
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