WWB - another snowy year.
Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 2:28 pm
Hardcore, resilient or possibly just stupid ... whatever, six folk sharing that common attrubite found themselves in a fairly non-descript carpark somewhere in steepest Wales for the 2017 Welsh Winter Bivvy.
The chosen route was mainly off-road, just shy of 50k and with 1000m of ascent. Generally, it would have being straightforward ... this weekend, not so much.
Snow and ice was the order of the day and made for some interesting riding right from the off.
The snow was still deep along many of the tracks which reduced average speed to just above f*ck all. However, it was dry and everyone seemed content with the way they'd chosen to spend the weekend.
Some time mid-afternoon we encountered the first of many sub standard-fests. Here's Mike and Steve demonstrating two different ways to deal with such terrain ... badly.
Riding on top of the bankings where possible did help but it was usually short lived.
We'd thought that if we rode slowly and took lots of 'gate breaks' then we should make the Hundred House Inn for 5ish. Surprisingly, we were only an hour out and plonked ourselves in the snug around 6.00. To maintain standards, we draped bits of clothing around the room and set about ordering some food ... proper food. A couple of hours later, we ventured back outside to discover a nice coating of ice on all and any available surface. A steep, long road climb came straight after which due to the ice took a little longer than you might have expected. Eventually, tarmac gave way to track which turned into deep snow very quickly.
The snow filled the track completely but it was impossible to walk along side the track due to the heather and general vegetation. An interesting two hours followed, where you kind of walked 18" above the the surface of the track on the frozen snow ... or you did until you fell through it. We'd spotted a small plantation on the map at around 580m and thought although high up, it might provide some additional shelter for the night. Sadly, upon arrival we discovered it was a recently re-planted forest, so we post-holed our way across the mountains and into the night.
Good fortune and good lights eventually lead us to a lovely stand of Scots Pine. The ground was flat, as dry as you could hope for and it offered some protection from the elements ... of which there were many. No time was wasted upon our arrival, everyone busied themselves erecting their chosen shelter in the hope of crawling inside before the heat generated by the last three hours snowy march was lost forever.
The night was largely uneventful except for the midnight visit from a local farmer driving the worlds biggest tractor. He'd seen our lights crossing the hills earlier and come to investigate the strange happenings. He rambled on a bit about the land belonging to landed gentry and how if we wanted to ride a bridleway at night, we might consider informing them beforehand. From the snug confines of my bivvy bag, I did wonder whether we might need to move on but once he realised he was talking to 'Mike from Bromsgrove' he seemed happier and departed on the worlds biggest tractor back acroos the hills from whence he'd come.
Morning dawned evetually with low cloud and a biting wind. Luckily, our nocturnal search for accommodation meant we'd covered more ground than we'd planned so our return leg was a fairly short one. It's a good job because nearly every track was a churned up sub standard-fest ... as you can see.
The rain held off until we were ten minutes from the forementioned carpark but really by that point, any additional water from above went largely unnoticed.
We probably pushed 20km, got fairly wet, certainly got covered in crap but had a great time ... thanks fellas
The chosen route was mainly off-road, just shy of 50k and with 1000m of ascent. Generally, it would have being straightforward ... this weekend, not so much.
Snow and ice was the order of the day and made for some interesting riding right from the off.
The snow was still deep along many of the tracks which reduced average speed to just above f*ck all. However, it was dry and everyone seemed content with the way they'd chosen to spend the weekend.
Some time mid-afternoon we encountered the first of many sub standard-fests. Here's Mike and Steve demonstrating two different ways to deal with such terrain ... badly.
Riding on top of the bankings where possible did help but it was usually short lived.
We'd thought that if we rode slowly and took lots of 'gate breaks' then we should make the Hundred House Inn for 5ish. Surprisingly, we were only an hour out and plonked ourselves in the snug around 6.00. To maintain standards, we draped bits of clothing around the room and set about ordering some food ... proper food. A couple of hours later, we ventured back outside to discover a nice coating of ice on all and any available surface. A steep, long road climb came straight after which due to the ice took a little longer than you might have expected. Eventually, tarmac gave way to track which turned into deep snow very quickly.
The snow filled the track completely but it was impossible to walk along side the track due to the heather and general vegetation. An interesting two hours followed, where you kind of walked 18" above the the surface of the track on the frozen snow ... or you did until you fell through it. We'd spotted a small plantation on the map at around 580m and thought although high up, it might provide some additional shelter for the night. Sadly, upon arrival we discovered it was a recently re-planted forest, so we post-holed our way across the mountains and into the night.
Good fortune and good lights eventually lead us to a lovely stand of Scots Pine. The ground was flat, as dry as you could hope for and it offered some protection from the elements ... of which there were many. No time was wasted upon our arrival, everyone busied themselves erecting their chosen shelter in the hope of crawling inside before the heat generated by the last three hours snowy march was lost forever.
The night was largely uneventful except for the midnight visit from a local farmer driving the worlds biggest tractor. He'd seen our lights crossing the hills earlier and come to investigate the strange happenings. He rambled on a bit about the land belonging to landed gentry and how if we wanted to ride a bridleway at night, we might consider informing them beforehand. From the snug confines of my bivvy bag, I did wonder whether we might need to move on but once he realised he was talking to 'Mike from Bromsgrove' he seemed happier and departed on the worlds biggest tractor back acroos the hills from whence he'd come.
Morning dawned evetually with low cloud and a biting wind. Luckily, our nocturnal search for accommodation meant we'd covered more ground than we'd planned so our return leg was a fairly short one. It's a good job because nearly every track was a churned up sub standard-fest ... as you can see.
The rain held off until we were ten minutes from the forementioned carpark but really by that point, any additional water from above went largely unnoticed.
We probably pushed 20km, got fairly wet, certainly got covered in crap but had a great time ... thanks fellas
