Bivvy a month 2019

[frogatthefarriers]

This is Lu's post. I've copied it over from the WE post.

BAM 2019. 1/12.

Lying in my hammock somewhere in the Model Famau Country Park. No photos because Flickr is being difficult! It's no loss - you've all seem enough pictures of my hammock already.

Started in Mold (Flintshire) and pedalled 32 miles @ 150ft/mile. 19 miles to do tomorrow to get back to the car.

Note to self - don't drink all the whiskey before getting into bed. I was stumbling around on the uneven ground and only avoided falling by a quick grab at the hammock.

Looking forward to February, the coldest month. Historically, the 16th is the coldest day of the year. It said so on the telly so it must be true.

Ah! My foot warmer pads are just kicking in. Mmmm.

Doh! See, I said I shouldn't have drunk all that whisky

[fatbikephil]

I don't normally frequent this thread, BaM being nothing more than a loose aim for me, but I've just been on the 2018 thread and htrider mentions a possible meetup Kielder sometime, to be posted on this thread. I'd be interested in that, so would appreciate a poke if it comes to pass.

Looks like Kershopehead's been well used of late, including by myself. Good to see (apart from the rubbish and burnt cans).

I don't tend to count, but noticed the rules in the first post, and I think possibly the Winter Event would have counted for me after all - dossed on the floor in the house of a couple we met in the Star: no paid accommodation. 1/12? I'll take that.

Looking like March BAM for me, will post date on this thread

[ScotRoutes]

Second one of the month underway




and it's a cold one!

[metalheart]

Second one of the month underway

Show off...

[Asposium]

Figured I'd change my first post to be a year of BaM

January
"Won’t be much much mud as it hasn’t rained recently, and Thursday Night’s off-road run was fairly dry" .....how wrong I was. Semi-slicks were certainly very interesting.
The problem with camping near a golf course (not on the golf course I might add, not even I’m that cheeky) is the ground’s people are out and about very early.
Glad for the winter sleeping bag; toasty warm, though did present a dilemma how to carry; not massively bulky for its temperature rating but bigger than the usual sleeping bag
When leaving there were people already playing at 7:40, sunrise was 8:08
And so much for Continental claiming “puncture resistant” on these tyres; got two punctures (front and rear) from the same branch and metres from the road.
Home, breakfast, and out for bikepolo





Feb
Local ride from home




March
Loop from home riding some local tracks, camped in a field half way round


That was absolutely daft; the bridleway stops and splits into two footpaths




First ride on the new bike

April

Dales Divide 2019
Slept in a field, and a barn
Front light battery died with 20miles to go, thankfully the last section is mainly road
Was a learning experience, I'll be back next year


Was a chilly start, but a lovely morning


Barn was quite handy as it saved time having to faff with the tent


For DD2020 will be on a mountain bike

May

Welsh Ride Thing
There are many different reasons people ride the welsh ride thing; might be a good excuse to get away from family for a long weekend, a race around wales, a social ride with a couple of mates, or a group ride with a big group of fellow boners. In recent years I come to appreciate it is the social aspect of the WRT that makes it special for me; no need to beast oneself, have a ride, have a laugh, talk lots of rubbish.



A "boner campsite". Within the rules as we didn't pay




Morning brew, though going in the pub was likely the easier option


The drying room

JOGLE
At ~150km from John O'Groats when following sustrans #1 for JOGLE there is the Crask Inn, it is a fantastic oasis in the middle of nowhere and a welcome place to stop when the weather is utterly miserable.
All the food is home made, and the fire was a welcome place to sit and dry.
Last year (riding LeJOG) I camped at the Crask; however, this year was on a reduced schedule, so off back out into the wind and rain for another 30km (which is at least mostly downhill)


An amazing place to visit


Two portions of crumble and custard, and a pot of tea for three.


Drying clothes over the fire, shame I had to go back out into the rain

Jogle, end of day 1
Got a right royal soaking, handy place to camp, up early and gone



June
Sleeping in a graveyard; does seem a boner right of passage.


Finished JOGLE
8.5 days; could have finished in sub-8 if had pushed on rather than stopping in the graveyard.
Was 8.5 days of head wind, rain, and hills .....at least the hills were expected


July

August

Sept

Oct

Nov

December

[Bearlegged]

Ha ha, snap!

[Bearlegged]

By way of a bit more detail...

With no other bivvyers to coordinate with, and not too far to ride to my intended spot, I hung about for the bairns' bedtime (my choice of lullaby for them was https://youtu.be/P8-9mY-JACM).
Then, I rolled down the road, and headed out into what seemed to be a milder night than I'd anticipated. However, as soon as I reached the edge of town, there was snow on the ground, and soon I was enveloped in mist (and then drizzle).

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs2s1UJF2n2/

I'd decided to take a tent, the extra weight offset by what I hoped would be a warmer night's sleep. Thankfully, I managed to pitch it with a lot less faff than my previous outing, when Andy Chicken Legs looked on with growing bemusement as I failed to pitch my tarp on the Peak Winter Bivvy...

Something else I'm getting the hang of is my 8g stove, and I was soon tucked up in my bag while supping a mug of ovaltine. After a decent night's series of slightly interrupted snoozes, I managed to repeat the trick, and had a breakfast of Lidl's instant porridge (apple and blueberry, NOT RECOMMENDED!) and hot chocolate.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs2uRPjljsm/

All packed up, and home in time for the morning repeat of Match Of The Day.

2019 BAM 1/1
2019 total bivvies 1
Current streak (months) 2

[fatbikephil]

Well here we go again.....
January
After a leisurely Saturday I held off leaving until about half seven in the evening. Temps were around 1 degree and the remains of the dusting of snow that fell on Friday lay in sheltered locations. As usual it seemed a bit strange departing into a cold night whilst everyone else was curled up in front of a warm TV screen. Followed a mix of back roads and trails to near Dollar and then began the climb up into the hills in earnest. As soon as I passed the 200m mark the ground became frozen with a whopping 1/2" of snow lying. I was following a regularly used path which runs from above Dollar to Glen Devon that is typically a bit of a bog fest but largely frozen solid this evening. I stopped just over the summit at a good spot I've passed many times and always meant to bivvy there. Got the tarp up sharpish and snuggled into my winter bag with a book, a pie and whisky. Slept like a log for 9 hrs straight and woke up to a cold and misty morning

There was hints of blue sky overhead so after a leisurely brekky I decided to do a loop up to 650m to see what was what.

Full on cloud inversion over the Forth Valley, the Lomond hills poking up through the cloud to the east. Snow depth had risen to 1" but looking north there didn't seem to be much more on the hills above Crieff... hopefully more to come this week

[restlessshawn]

Lovely

[Alan63]

1/1. Rode with my son from Eskdalemuir to Greensykes bothy following Ray Young's Borders 220 route. Bothy was rammed. Rode back to Eskdalemuir today under blue skies. Caught up with Blair512 and family at bothy. Great start to our BaM campaign.

[jaminb]

1/1

With renewed determination I have launched the 2019 BAM campaign. The previous two years have come up short so here is hoping third time lucky.

I had a lift to Dorking so only a 7 mile cycle up to Leith Hill with a quick pint at the Plough enroute.

Bivvy up in the shadow of the tower, rum coffee made and it into bed before 23.00. I was asleep before I even managed a sip. Cold night and woke a few times. Up at 07.30, reheated last nights coffee to warm the cockles and hands whilst striking camp and having the whole thing filmed by two drone pilots - I hope my call of nature does not become an internet sensation! Given the unwarranted footage I passed on the porridge and pushed off down Summer Lighting to Wootton, over to Gomshall up onto the North Downs Way and then over to Horsely, Ockham for a bacon sandwich before home through Wisley, Byfleet and Weybridge. About 35 miles in total I think as the auto turn off didn't work and the Garmin went flat at 05.00 before recording -2 degrees.

As well as the drones I discovered a new antisocial activity in the Surrey Hills last night - night time 4 x 4 Green Laner's. The multiple lights compete with any lighthouse!

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147112040@N05/J1Jpvm

https://www.flickr.com/gp/147112040@N05/aNXHyg

[Borderer]

1/1. Rode with my son from Eskdalemuir to Greensykes bothy following Ray Young's Borders 220 route. Bothy was rammed. Rode back to Eskdalemuir today under blue skies. Caught up with Blair512 and family at bothy. Great start to our BaM campaign.

Someone has posted on FB that they left their camera at greensykes on Saturday night - I don't suppose you or Blair picked it up? She said she left it in the woodshed, so it is probably still sitting there.

[Alan63]

1/1. Rode with my son from Eskdalemuir to Greensykes bothy following Ray Young's Borders 220 route. Bothy was rammed. Rode back to Eskdalemuir today under blue skies. Caught up with Blair512 and family at bothy. Great start to our BaM campaign.

Someone has posted on FB that they left their camera at greensykes on Saturday night - I don't suppose you or Blair picked it up? She said she left it in the woodshed, so it is probably still sitting there.

Hi there. A friend sent me the post. Unfortunately, I didn't see the camera. I'm not on that fb page so my pal will post a reply on my behalf. Thanks for flagging up.

Had a look at your blog. Think we followed your route to Eskdalemuir on the Sunday. Enjoyed the read. Great to see other weirdos with kids out.

[Borderer]

Thanks that's nice to hear. How old is your boy?
Mine has been to ten bothies now but greensykes is still his (and my) favourite.

[Alan63]

Thanks that's nice to hear. How old is your boy?
Mine has been to ten bothies now but greensykes is still his (and my) favourite.

He is 11. Greensykes was his 3rd bothy. Ruigh Aichean is his favourite. He's keen to try more bothies and wild camping this year. I'm glad he still wants to hang out with his old grumpy dad! How old is your son?

[Donnienic45]

Thanks to Jeff for the heads up regarding this thread.
i've just completed my 25 month in a row doing BAM, but on reading through the rules at the start of thread i feel i may getting kicked off the page after this post - i don't use a bike anymore!

I did however at the start, back in January 2017 when i started some boring medical stuff (which is still going on) meant that long distance cycling was near impossible. So to keep the skills ticking over i decided to embark on Bam as a way to still getting out and about. After 6 months i stepped into the dark side and bought a rucksack! Since then the mountains, glens, lochs, islands, of North West Scotland and Skye have all been visited for a BAM and a dram drank from the hip flask. For me Bam is a chance to get away for the usual work/busy life carry on we all deal with, a chance to head to the hills or somewhere remote and hit the reset button.

Some twitter chat with Jeff last night it was mentioned he thought that a couple of people had got to 72 months in a row, i would love to know more about that?
https://flic.kr/p/2dhfUiC
https://flic.kr/p/2eonkEk
https://flic.kr/p/SfeVnu

[Borderer]

Thanks that's nice to hear. How old is your boy?
Mine has been to ten bothies now but greensykes is still his (and my) favourite.

He is 11. Greensykes was his 3rd bothy. Ruigh Aichean is his favourite. He's keen to try more bothies and wild camping this year. I'm glad he still wants to hang out with his old grumpy dad! How old is your son?

14 now, so he is the grumpy one

[frogatthefarriers]

This is Lu's post. I've copied it over from the WE post.

BAM 2019. 1/12.

Lying in my hammock somewhere in the Model Famau Country Park. No photos because Flickr is being difficult! It's no loss - you've all seem enough pictures of my hammock already.

Started in Mold (Flintshire) and pedalled 32 miles @ 150ft/mile. 19 miles to do tomorrow to get back to the car.

Note to self - don't drink all the whiskey before getting into bed. I was stumbling around on the uneven ground and only avoided falling by a quick grab at the hammock.

Looking forward to February, the coldest month. Historically, the 16th is the coldest day of the year. It said so on the telly so it must be true.

Ah! My foot warmer pads are just kicking in. Mmmm.

Doh! See, I said I shouldn't have drunk all that whisky

This is a top-up to my post above. Now that I've got to grips with Flickr, (by deleting over 1000 pictures) I can add some photos.
On the way there:-

A stop for lunch in Moel Famau country park bogs.



A track by Moel Famau.


The name translates from the Welsh to "Woman Hill" Easy to see why


Talk about trying it on? This was on a signposted bridleway. Ignored, of course


Last time I cycled here it was bucketing down.


The hammock picture...


Onward in the morning, over still frozen ground. The lanes were treacherous with frozen slush. It started to snow and the wind picked up, throwing stinging ice particles into my face.

Soon after this, my Etrex warned of low batteries, but the freshly charged replacements packed up after only half an hour. Not the end of the world, I'd got my route on my phone, but to have to keep stopping, fishing it out, finding where I was, then trying to remember the next turning was a real bugbear. And I missed a turning so ended up missing part of the route - ended up in Cilcain too soon. Happily, there's a community shop and when I went looking for batteries, I also got a pot of tea and a great big family sized chocolate swiss roll which I ate, much to the amusement of the staff.

Interesting to note, the four-pack of Duracells cost only £2.15 from the shop, but when I was in Tesco the next day, the same batteries cost £4. Supermarkets will always try it on...

Then lanes back to the car in Mold.

[sean_iow]

Talk about trying it on? This was on a signposted bridleway. Ignored, of course

We've got loads of signs like that locally, but bicycles aren't vehicles so it's not meant to discourage us from using the bridleway but to stop car drivers and 4x4s from using it. I even get a cheery hello from the farmer on one I use when I pass him. The signs are perfectly legal.

[petemaz]

I'm gonna try a BAM for the year - hopefully motivate me to get my ass out on the bike!
#1 Jan19, Galloway Forest

Galloway Jan 2019 by pete_maz

[gallowayboy]

Hi - first post on here, decided to add some impetus to my outdoor activities and challenge myself to bivvy a month........
Never combined mountain biking with bivvying or camping - so cobbled together some gear, some purpose bought for bikepacking, some out of the back of the camping cupboard. Loaded up the "commuter", decided on a very local cave and headed off into the .....rain. Weather got a bit damp to say the least, and the cave has a skylight so opted for a handy woodshed I happen to have the key for (its at my work) instead.

Plenty room for a fire too...

All in all snug, warm and very restful

[RIP]

cobbled together.... rain... bit damp... handy woodshed...

Welcome, you've passed the BBB Initiation Test first post there .

[MikeW]

I started my BAM on Friday night. I got the train to wigan to meet Sam, rode about 7 Miles to the pub for some tea and a beer. Carried on to the local woodland and got set up. The weather was good to us, we had a few more cans of beer and got in the sleeping bag at about midnight. Bacon barm and a brew for breakfast and all packed away for just after half 9.

[Ray Young]

After failing at the last hurdle in Dec last year due to flu I'm starting all over again so I've got the first one in.
I got lumbered with the dog so just an eight mile ride in to Green Bothy in Kielder forest using forest roads rather than the bridleways shown nearby which on passing in daylight this morning seemed to be pretty overgrown (seems to be a trend in Kielder).
As usual I left late so rode in the dark. I was a bit worried about the dog straying but she stayed within the beam of my light most of the time. When she did get distracted by some scent or other she didn't linger and soon caught up.
My light picked out a barn owl in the gloom as it flew across the track we were on. Later a mouse ran across the track in front of us and Lucy spotted it and dived after it straight in front of me. I hit the brakes and just managed to avoid her. She looked a bit put out by this but hopefully she's learnt a lesson.
I got to the bothy at seven and had it to myself. A nice if plain bothy with three rooms. The biggest boasting a wood burning stove and the middle size one an open fire. I chose the latter as I thought it would heat up quicker and hell, I like a fire I can see.
Lucy had a great time playing with the branches I'd put near the fire to dry out dragging them off to chew and flail about. I quickly gave up putting them back by the fire as she'd just drop the current plaything to attack the ones I'd just put back. There was going to be a lot of sweeping up in the morning but she was having too much of a good time to stop her.
I ate and played the uke a bit then put some tunes on. Must say I'm very impressed by my new JBL flip 4 speaker. Bigger and heavier than I intended buying but man, the sound that comes out of it is just ace.
After finishing the half bottle of Port I'd brought I retired at 11.30. I'd brought a small bed for the dog and I had a fleece liner to put over her if she needed it but she was fine. Someone had left a sleeping bag with a broken zip so I folded that up for her to sleep on as well.
Lucy woke me at eight demanding breakfast so I had no choice but to get up.
Outside there was a very cold wind blowing and some very light snow so after a coffee I packed up and set off back to the car. Half a mile from the car I spotted a small roofed building just off the track so stopped to investigate. Round the back I found a large opening in the wall and inside an owl box, possibly the home of the barn owl I'd see the night before. I didn't linger as I didn't want Lucy being tempted by any owl pellets lying on the floor, you know what dogs are like.
A great trip to a nice bothy that I would definitely visit again.
I'm loving the new bike and Lucy has taken to bikepacking and bothying very well.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/169272415@N07/04a2cX
Told you I liked to see a fire, . Actually I'd just added an accelerant at this point in order to stop it dying.
https://flic.kr/p/2enpbF1

[Cheddar Man]

Well, after confidently saying how easy this would be because i live in the Sunny south west, I managed to choose the only Saturday that it has rained this year.
Anyway, I said I would do it, so me, the Galaxy and the lad made our way up to Stockhill as we were orienteering there this morning anyway.



The essential midnight snack......



And the run bit......




So, January done, orienteering done, now roast pork almost done. A successful weekend.

Hopefully I will be on a shiny new mountain bike for the rest of the year, I just have to wait for Evans to get themselves together!