Bivvy a month 2022

[Johnallan]

11/12

Timewise, Thursday was perfect.

Ride to work with some light camping gear in a rucksack, clock out at 3pm, pedal a bit, pub tea, a night under the stars, and a days holiday the following day. Perfect

With weather warnings in place for prolonged heavy rain and localised flooding, it would have been easy/sensible to not bother. However, I built a single speed for winter and just received a highly acclaimed Outdry, so any excuses would be a bit lame..

A slightly abbreviated (and more tarmacked) route saw me in front of the pub fire by 6:30pm. The new Outdry failed to keep anything remotely dry but the ride was a good un, despite the absolutely correct weather forecast.



Dried, warmed, fed and watered, it was downhill into the woods to find a spot.

A fairly settled night but woken often with small branches and leaves hitting the tarp amongst the rain, to be expected I guess. The morning was drier and the rest of the day a fairly Cheery Friday

Next stop - December. Hopefully a bit of snow to round off a full, 4season BaM

[Verena]

November BAM last night, as planned, after the Real Ale Wobble, in Llangammarch Wells. 11/12. Proud of this one. Feel like I have taken it up one more level, at long last doing one of those that I have read so much about here, you know, where you spend a lot of time in a pub, drink a lot of beer, then step out into a rainy winter night and head for somewhere to sleep...

But let's start at the beginning. Met up at the start with Tom (yes, the electrician ), who was sporting an impressive movember moustache and his traditional wellies, and who in real life is not quite as tiny as he somehow manages to look in this picture; and Frankie (the plumber - not sure exactly why I'm mentioning people's occupations all of a sudden), who was taking out his newish gravel bike for its near maiden voyage (and who proved himself to be annoyingly good at it by the way on the more technical sections). It was to keep him company that I had also chosen to be on my gravel bike on a route otherwise probably more suited to MTBs, I'm pretty sure we were nearly the only gravewankers there....

IMG_20221120_140003 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

It was a fine sunny morning, on the drive over the roads had been icy in places with temperatures down as low as minus 2, but in the sun and with some climbing it warmed up nicely. We rode some bikes, great, friendly, relaxed and non competitive event, with several route options. We did some but not all of the technical bits, but definitely enjoyed some good single track and some watery bits.

IMG_20221120_135940 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG-20221120-WA0013 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221120_135654 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG-20221120-WA0017 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

The first feed station, and with this the first beer of the day, came round ever so quickly...

IMG_20221120_135722 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221120_135754 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

As I was tucking into some jelly babies I suddenly found myself looking straight into the face of a guy who I recognised from Morrisons' till - difficult to explain, but he is the most unbelievably funny, campest, hilarious guy I've ever met - he once randomly talked me into buying a packet of clothes pegs at the checkout - the conversation immediately turned to his new job at Aldi's in Llandod, and whether I might be interested in their current special offers of glow in the dark pogo sticks or gliterring balls.... guess you had to be there, but my abs got a thorough workout then, I laughed so much it really hurt. I do hope he's got some comedy act somewhere, or else he really ought to have a career in sales...

Anyway, on we went, more biking on forestry tracks and through muddy puddles, to the second feed stop, which had a BBQ and everything, but which was difficult to get to as there was just this pile of discarded muddy bikes to clamber over.

IMG_20221120_135625 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

It was getting quite cold by then, we missed out the last longer loop and headed back to the hall for a cuppa and a bike wash.

IMG_20221120_135638 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I had up until this point kept my BAM plans to myself and had been trying to be very casual about the whole thing - you know, very much unlike me, pretending to be like "o what are your plans/ where are you staying then?" "Oh I don't know yet, I'll just see how it goes" But now that I was kind of a group of three, it was time to make some sort of decisions about the rest of the day and evening. I was cold at this point, and it was getting close to my normal dithering hour, plus I was wondering whether it might just not be more sociable to just stay with the others at the campsite. But Frankie, bless him, managed to wonderfully sort me right out - he asked me what options I was considering, and when I mentioned I was thinking of going off later to wild camp, he just gave a smile and an approving nod, and that was that. Phew. Bit of general faffing, and then Tom had us over for spag bol in his camper van, which was nice and toasty, we even made garlic bread from scratch-ish with part baked baguette, real garlic and butter from the corner shop. Good plan that, because trying to get food in any of the pubs would have been tricky....

By five we were in the pub - for those of you who don't know the place, it is a village really, with three pubs, all of which were absolutely heaving, standing room only, there was a real ale festival on, and two of them had live music. Well we went to all three, then started to rotate round again, consumed copious amounts of beer, talked a load of rubbish, and there was dancing to "Dangerous Dave" at the Neuadd, with the floor boards bouncing up and down quite alarmingly...

I couldn't believe how many beers they had, impressive. Weirdly, a lady who lives in my street popped up serving behind the bar!

IMG-20221120-WA0015 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221120_135550 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Also for those of you who may not know this, Llanwrtyd is also the place where some other seriously weird events are held

IMG_20221120_135446 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I'd kind of waited for my moment to depart, and around half past midnight, after a great performance of Sympathy for the Devil, I decided it was time... a few people I'd spoken to knew by now that I was going "camping", and they were variously incredulous that I was going to be sleeping in a tent! in this weather!, and that I still hadn't set up yet.... if only they knew how much worse reality was... that there was neither a tent or a campsite involved... On reflection, I'm so so pleased that neither Tom or Frankie or any of the others had tried to in any way persuade me, no doubt with best intentions, to not go out and bivvy, and had simply respected that that was what I was doing. If you know what I mean.

Anyway, off I went. It took me only three goes to find where my car was parked (where my bike was waiting for me in the boot) , possibly a little alarming in a village of only about 3 streets.... But soon I happily set off into the gentle rain, pleased as punch. I rode on to a place called the Wash Pool, where I found a lovely levelish place by the river. I didn't bother with a tarp, partly because I couldn't be bothered, and partly because I was losing things as soon as I was taking them out of my bags, like my pillow, my head torch etc.... so I daren't....

Had quite a good night, even though a tad moist, coffee in the morning, quick ride up to Abergwesyn village, just because it was a beautiful sunny morning, then back to the car and home.

IMG_20221120_135339 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[frogatthefarriers]

V, that's a great write up of a great event. Made me smile, so it did. Thanks for sharing

[Bearlegged]

Met up at the start with Tom (yes, the electrician ), ...and Frankie (the plumber - not sure exactly why I'm mentioning people's occupations all of a sudden)...

Traditional Welsh nomenclature, innit?
Jones The Steam, Dai Station etc.

[Verena]

Met up at the start with Tom (yes, the electrician ), ...and Frankie (the plumber - not sure exactly why I'm mentioning people's occupations all of a sudden)...

Traditional Welsh nomenclature, innit?
Jones The Steam, Dai Station etc.

Aye, Tom the spark, Gron the milk, that sort of thing ... Apparently about half of Ystradgynlais was there

Big word though for a Sunday night that, nomenclature

[RIP]

Proud of this one

You certainly threw a six on this round of the game, nice move!

you know, where you spend a lot of time in a pub, drink a lot of beer, then step out into a rainy winter night and head for somewhere to sleep...

textbook!

traditional wellies

Have heard it all now, biking in wellies. What a top man.

gravewankers

And that's certainly taking things to a whole different bizarre level

whether I might be interested in their current special offers of glow in the dark pogo sticks or glittering balls

Did you take him up on the offer? Glittering balls. Now there's a thought. I'll have a set please. They would certainly impress people when I got up for a wee in the night.

dithering hour

a very common affliction in This Place

garlic bread from scratch-ish with part baked baguette, real garlic and butter from the corner shop

bonus point there

by five we were in the pub - for those of you who don't know the place, it is a village really, with three pubs, all of which were absolutely heaving, standing room only, there was a real ale festival on, and two of them had live music. Well we went to all three, then started to rotate round again, consumed copious amounts of beer, talked a load of rubbish, and there was dancing to "Dangerous Dave" at the Neuadd, with the floor boards bouncing up and down quite alarmingly...

Sounds ace, what dedication to duty. This gets better and better.

It took me only three goes to find where my car was parked (where my bike was waiting for me in the boot) , possibly a little alarming in a village of only about 3 streets.... partly because I was losing things as soon as I was taking them out of my bags, like my pillow, my head torch etc.... so I daren't....

Quite how many beers did you say you quaffed?

What a cracking write-up, lots of funny little cameos and weirdly random happenings, exactly what I love to bits about Bearboning.

Lord Sutch will be Screaming in delight and approval from his grave

[Verena]

Morning and thanks.
Can't do any of that fancy quoting in small bits...

Oh man, can't go back and correct my spelling now can I...just to reassure you, no graves were desecrated during the making of this weekend...

You know, I am tempted to make a special trip to Aldi in Llandrindod now...

In case any of you are feeling a little envious of my fun weekend and are looking for some sort of restorative karma: I was really good when getting home and immediately hung up all my stuff outside to dry.
It hasn't stopped raining since.

[psling]

Brilliant V, an event everyone should experience at some point
ps - Llanwrtyd Wells is a town, the smallest town in Wales, they're very proud of that you see
What a great write up. I should have mentioned in the earlier thread that you need to book food well in advance although you appear to have managed admirably

[frogatthefarriers]

….. I was really good when getting home and immediately hung up all my stuff outside to dry.
It hasn't stopped raining since.

Neat - you got it washed for free. Think of the CO2 saving…

[Verena]

Brilliant V, an event everyone should experience at some point
ps - Llanwrtyd Wells is a town, the smallest town in Wales, they're very proud of that you see
What a great write up. I should have mentioned in the earlier thread that you need to book food well in advance although you appear to have managed admirably

Ooops, small town, yes of course - sorry Llanwrtyd Wells!!!!

[Verena]

….. I was really good when getting home and immediately hung up all my stuff outside to dry.
It hasn't stopped raining since.

Neat - you got it washed for free. Think of the CO2 saving…

Good point - I might empty the rest of my laundry basket out and put it outsise the next time it rains then

[GoneCaving]

November's been a bit crap with work and family issues getting in the way of cycling, and I was rapidly running out of options for a bivvy. Determined to keep the run going, I headed out for a late night, almost backyard, bivvy last night. It wasn't even worth logging the route or distance, as I returned directly to a spot I'd used at the start of the year, on the edge of a local forest. I was a little hesitant given a fairly grim weather forecast for the night, but needs must! I'm definitely getting a little better at this lark, as I think I managed my best pitch of the tent so far, and was snug and cosy (unlike the fairly miserable experience back in January). I even managed some sleep, at least until the rain started tipping down at about 4:30am. I stuck it out for another hour until I heard some odd noises. I don't know about you lot, but I'm still a little uneasy about wild camping on my own. Turns out that the forest is being felled in places (which I knew, and was well away from), and the workers start really early!! Anyway, given I have to be vaguely functional today (working from home helps!!) I decided that was my cue to pack up, and thankfully the rain had eased at that point.

11/12 for the year, and I'm determined to finish with a decent overnighter.

[RIP]

Nice one GC for keeping your chips on the table and spinning the wheel each month, it does take a bit of dedication especially for those of us who don't live in an obviously scenic location.

Have you considered raising the stakes a little next year, to keep testing your skills, maybe add a tarp into the mix?

[sean_iow]

I stuck it out for another hour until I heard some odd noises.

It's amazing how much more you hear when outside, especially when in a bivi bag, even a beetle walking over dry leaves sounds like a monster approaching

When we were doing backyard bivis under the emergency lock-down rules I was suprised how many cars I heard go by my house in the night. When I'm in my bed I don't hear any from inside, even with the window open. Perhaps being laid on the ground asleep outside reawakens some primary survival instinct and makes us more aware of what's going on in case it really is a predator approaching.

[RIP]

Repeating the BBB mantra "you are the scariest thing in the woods" helps.

Although I must say I sometimes find myself saying it slightly too loudly to be fully convincing .

[frogatthefarriers]

BaM 11/11 for 2022. Mad Allens Hole.

Again, it was to be a longer trip, but, you know, events....

A quickie, then, just 15 miles from home, in another cave on the sandstone trail. Like last month, I hadn't been there for a few years and although I knew where it was, it turned out that I didn't, actually - cue scrambling up and down treacherous slippery steep slopes in the dark until eventually...

Found it
Not the best of places to doss - there was just the one place big enough to lay down in, and I had to do a bit of earth-moving with a stick to make it level enough. Dinner was my standard hearty bivvy fare of Polish sausage, onion, pasta and stir-in sauce (carbonara in this case) followed by tea & cake and a nightcap of whisky.



Slept like a log, I did, but a pee in the night presented a bit of a problem, ie I had a difficult scramble to climb up and out.


See the logs propped up against the wall? The only way out was to scramble up them to the small triangle of light at the top. Not easy.

Anyway, morning pictures:-


This last is Raw Head, where last months bivvy was.

Here's where I had to climb up and down to the cave...


Looks easy? - not a bit of it - the cave's a hundred or so meters along from there. It's much steeper than it looks, with a carpet of wet leaves over semi-solid sand. To get up the bit shown in the picture I had to climb up above the bike, wedge my feet against the tree stump and pull it up by the front wheel.

At last, I was at the top..


Then it was a mostly downhill bimble for FEB (Full English Breakfast) at a cafe not four miles from home. Why? 'Cause it's a bivvy. Why not?

[sean_iow]

That cave is pretty cool. I'd like to bivi in a cave but the ones near me i know of are in chalk and the tide comes into them twice a day so not ideal

[RIP]

^ sleep in a packraft?

I like that shot looking down the hole onto your gear, Frog, an unusual angle.

When you wake up in your cave in the morning do you have to rush out shouting Yabba-dabba-dooooo? Ah, that's Fred isn't it, not Frog .

[frogatthefarriers]

When you wake up in your cave in the morning do you have to rush out shouting Yabba-dabba-dooooo? Ah, that's Fred isn't it, not Frog .

[Johnallan]

The cave bivvy looks great! Top job

[frogatthefarriers]

The cave bivvy looks great! Top job

Thanks. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I’ll not be going there again. My back's still aching from humping the bike up and down the slopes, aaaand it’s not that good of a bivvy spot anyway.

Being honest, I only went there for the bragging rights. How shallow am I?

[Verena]

Brag away!! I'm well impressed

I like the idea of sleeping in a cave, but I think I'd be way too scared, if on my own that is....

Funnily enough, the summer sleeping bag I still use was actually bought in the nineties, especially for a long caving trip involving an overnight camp, which unfortunately never happened...

[GoneCaving]

BaM 10/10 for 2022. Mad Allens Hole.

Caving bivvy? Excellent idea, that's definitely something I need to try!

Nice one GC for keeping your chips on the table and spinning the wheel each month

Thanks, RIP! I've looked at the idea of trying a tarp. I like the idea, but not entirely convinced given the unpredictability of Irish weather and sideways rain.

[sean_iow]

Those keeping a close eye on the forum may have noticed that I had a wanted ad for some rigid forks for a winter commuter I was building from the parts bin. What's this got to do with BAM I hear you say... well, I realised that (more by accident than design) the first ride on the last two bikes I've built have been a bivi, and I mean the first ride, both had done no more than 50 metres to check they peddled ok before being loaded up and heading out.

Having remembered this it seemed a shame to break with tradition so the introduction of the new bike has been delayed until a weather window aligned with my availability and it could be taken on an overnight trip. It had also only done about 40 to 50 metres so it would be the first real ride. Add into the mix that it's a franken-gravel built from a mtb frame with droip bars and the potential for the position to be crippling and it was with some trepidation I headed out last night. Light rain on and off on the way to my chosen area and some 18 miles later I arrived so the bike works. It's also singlespeed and the 38/17 ratio was selected for the flat-ish commute, so some of the hills required a bit of effort

I had hoped to tick off another square from my bivi-explorer grid but the section of woods north of the grid line was impenetrable, and although I could see the tops of firs in the inner section the outside was thick undergrowth on all sides. After half an hour of trying I gave up and went to a section of the woods I'd bivied in at the start of the year. The forcast was dry overnight so I left the tarp in the luggage and just chanced the bivi bag, but it is waterproof so no major issue if it did rain other than if it was still raining in the morning and I'd have to get changed in the wet.

Slept well, as always, especially where as it's a great spot, flat enough, under a tree and off the path so no real chance of being disturbed. Heard the odd creature scurrying about but survived unscathed.



When I stayed here in February it got down to 3 degrees but last night the low was only 10



I had to get up not long after six (or should that be too soon after 6) and pack away for the ride to work. No sign I'd been there, unlike this



A plethora of signs I was going to do my 'Danny MasAskill' and wheelie over one of the pipes but some killjoy has put a stop to that in case I fell 2 foot to my death in a 3 inch deep stream

More undulating roads on a loaded bike with too high a ratio and I was at work



Actually, the gearing isn't too bad and should be ideal for the commutes. Just need to wrap the bars now I know the levers are in the right place. Having the 'new' bike on the road now means I can strip and prep the best bike ahead of the SWWB. It was also a first test for the new seatpack. I'd made this some time ago but wasn't happy with the shape, it's a bit too narrow at the front so the tapered dry bag doesn't go all the way the the front. I stuffed a spare tube in that bit which seemed to use up the gap. The extra volume will be handy over the winter.

That's 11/11 this year and 31 in a row.

[ledburner]

. It was also a first test for the new seatpack. I'd made this some time ago but wasn't happy with the shape, it's a bit too narrow at the front so the tapered dry bag doesn't go all the way the the front. I stuffed a spare tube in that bit which seemed to use up the gap. The extra volume will be handy over the winter.

That's 11/11 this year and 31 in a row.

Another good write up.
Seat pack looks good.