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Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:07 pm
by JohnClimber
Taylor wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2019 2:14 pm

7/7 for 2019
32nd consecutive month.

Out of interest, what's the BB record for consecutive BAMs? IIRC it's held by Taylor or Chew at 54 or so?


I beat chew by a further 10 months as he gave up at Christmas and I carried on until the following October.
70 month's or 5 years 10 month's :-bd
Are you gunning for it?
Although Taylor's and Chew's were recorded on here Sam Walsh has been doing it longer and a lot more often for many a year and almost every weekend.
There's no point every trying to top that one.
But if it's not logged on here does that count?

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:36 pm
by RIP
Sam must be the king of bivvyers with his amazing dedication - didn't you mention he spends more time in his bivvy than his bed?! :-bd . But the rules in post#1 say 'post per BaM with photo' so Chew n Taylor must be the princes and record holders? Frog's putting in some sterling work too isn't he? Anyway, as Borderer says this is a great thread and a wonderful historical document - one day it'll be the equivalent of the RSF Archive :smile: .

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:49 pm
by ScotRoutes
There's a guy locally has been bivvying every night for over a year.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:54 am
by RIP
Impressive :-bd . I guess we should add the rather sad point that some are bivvying every night with less choices than us dilettantes have :|. It's a complex world, ho hum.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:00 am
by ScotRoutes
Gordy chooses, but you're right. For some folk there is no option.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 10:23 am
by whitestone
Very true.

Back to frivolity ...

Just realised that it's now July and that for once we didn't leave it until either the last weekend or even the last night of the month to get the bivy done. Saturday night on the JennRide we pitched up on the Coniston side of Walna Scar. We'd been riding separately on the Saturday so I pitched up right next to the track so that Cath could find me when she arrived which was only an hour or so later. A surprisingly flat pitch as well.

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Like many we got over the scar in the hope of seeing a sunrise to match the previous night's sunset but it clouded up through the night so a bit of a damp squib (well it wasn't damp as there was no condensation to speak of). The evening's entertainment was provided by a group of new age travellers and their sound system a few hundred metres further down the track. Let's just say the first part of the morning's ride was aromatic :lol:

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:30 pm
by mountainposture
I believe there were a lot of folk on Walna Scar Saturday evening.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:09 pm
by Escape Goat
I went up and over Walna Scar and it was busy busy!

Does my bam count if I slept in the cricket field or whatever it was by Wheelbase before doing the JennRide?

ImageScreenshot_20190707-155806_Strava by Escape Goat, on Flickr

I was going to stop on Walna, but after Richards Bivvy spot, I looked a bit further down, and couldn't find anywhere and didn't want to listen to music all night!

I had a quick 8 minutes here;

ImageScreen Shot 2019-07-08 at 20.01.26 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

This was taken before a few minutes snooze here'

Imagereceived_1173572136164507 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

Then after I woke up, I noticed my legs where a bit dirty

Image20190707_080357-01-01 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

I'm honestly not sure if it counts as I done the route in one go....

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:53 pm
by JohnClimber
#JennRide2019 (with a difference)

7/7 - 39th in a row

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While the other hundred or so riders pushed themselves to the limit Dave The North Wind (from these here parts) had an amazing chilled out ride and paddle.
We rode the JennRide route to the ferry, used the pack rafts to cross and head north up the East shore of Windermere (until the strong head wind made progress too slow, We picked up the route until we headed over to the north shore of Coniston.
Using the slight wind we headed south halfway down, we crossed Coniston and as the wind had dropped we paddled north to the village of Coniston for our evening meal. Heading north on the JennRide route we got to Tarn Hows with a couple of hours worth of sun left, this was the most tranquil and amazing part of the whole adventure for me.
We headed to the island on Tarn How's looking for a place to bivi for the night, but the midges came out and with 3 hours before darkness to get eaten alive we reluctantly paddled away (noting it for a midge free time of the year), looking for higher ground or at least some place away from water and in a breeze.
It was great to camp right next to the route watching riders pass closely by throughout the night.
In the morning we followed the route to the edge of Windermere and paddled the 2 miles north to Ambleside to get breakfast when Stiles Cafe opened up.
A nip in to Alkpit for a jelly baby pocket fill up and off we went to complete the rest of the route.

Stats = 50 or so miles, 7 or 8 of these on water, 10% on made up sections and the rest on the official JennRide route.

It's made me realise that at my age (the wrong side of 50) chilled out riding, with occasional blasts and fun bits as well as mixed up adventures are so much better (for me) than chasing a GPX route on a little screen

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:21 am
by BigdummySteve
Looks like a fun trip John, considering joining the packraft jape in September, although not too many opportunities around my neck of the woods for water based fun

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 1:56 pm
by JohnClimber
BigdummySteve wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 8:21 am Looks like a fun trip John, considering joining the packraft jape in September, although not too many opportunities around my neck of the woods for water based fun
Same for me in the flat lands of Merseyside.
It's just another excuse to go exploring

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:32 pm
by Wotsits
7/7 July completed with many other JennRide refugees on Walna Scar :ugeek:

Mr Munro & myself were uncharacteristically the last ones out the Newfield :wink: Went chasing young Sam & Ste's lights up Walna, but my legs decidied that a liquid diet wasn't enough & went on-strike near the mines.. Was great to see all the familiar faces & had a brill weekend :-bd

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 10:32 pm
by paramart
got over walna scar eventually, burty romped it we then dropped down to the packhorse bridge saw how many peeps were bivvying then decided we could kill a brew so dropped into Coniston, a bit hair raising down the tarmac hill as our brakes gave up,
got to the pub where we met dave and ? sorry fella your in the photo, 100 regt RA, who had a brake issue as well and terminated his ride the next day,
we then gate crashed a school field being used by people from alderhay hospital, set up in a corner and settled down to some well earned sleep, only to find someone playing a bloody guitar till about 3am and people using a toilet shining lights and shouting, bad choice on pitch choice,
rode into ambelside went into costa went past alpkit closed, so carried on uneventful to the end only did the 70 miler that was my choice before we began, fantastic event with plenty of places to eat and drink which was a godsend due to the perfect weather, cheers rich :-bd 8/8 for me
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Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 8:50 pm
by JoseMcTavish
I'm well behind on posting my bivies, so here is April, for 4/4 which was a late night excursion to pick up some VVE squares before bivying in a wee forest near Midmar.

No tarp required:
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Some squares required offroad diversions in the morning:
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Once I'd finished messing about, I made a beeline for Aberdeen and in to work, hoping my shirt wasn't too crumpled!

http://highlanddrifter.com/bam-2019-april

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:32 pm
by JoseMcTavish
My May bivy for 5/5 was a big 237km ride from Aberdeen to Fort William to retrieve my car after using it to ferry me and some friends across the country for a coast to coast ride the week before. Rather than just set out early and do it in a oner, I took it as a chance to knock out my May BAM by heading out late one night and finding a bivy spot somewhere round Strathdon.

Left just after sunset as usual:
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Managed to pick a lovely spot in the dark, -2 degrees was unexpected though:
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Soon warmed up by climbing the Lecht the bad way:
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The Cairngorms were looking lovely as I skirted round them heading West:
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An athlete's brunch in Rothiemurchus:
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Lots of pleasant Speyside views to enjoy:
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Hard work into the headwind along Loch Laggan:
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The closer I got to Fort Wiliam, the worse the traffic and driving standards got, so I sacked it off for some offroad:
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Finally I got to Glen Nevis and retrieved the car, safe and sound for a long drive home!

http://highlanddrifter.com/bam-2019-may

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:22 am
by javatime
Now moved to its correct place, thanks Ben. I wasn't all here after my Welsh odyssey.

BAM July 6/6 Completed – I started in February

Part of a bigger trip through the empty quarter of Mid Wales from Neath to Mach (and back)

Will write that up sometime, in the meantime spent Friday night just above Trap in the bivvy bag. A brilliant clear night after ham and boiled potatoes in the pub below. Enough of a breeze to be midge free !


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Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:39 pm
by TheBrownDog
Heading out tonight for a local one with MAG* and her son. He's 8. Claims to hate cycling and camping. So it's a 2 mile flat ride to the pub for fish n chips and then half a mile up into the woods They both want to try hammocks and, as luck would have it, I have three of them and three tarps too, ranging from very light to not so much. I just need to find a spot with six trees where He can be very close to Her and am thinking we might hang their hammocks in tiers. What could possibly go wrong?

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benconnolli - you might recognise the frame in the middle :-bd Thanks again.



* My Adventurous Girlfriend

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:21 pm
by RIP
Was that a rhetorical question Tim? :wink: .

Expect he'll want to say afterwards that he loved it, but won't be able to bring himself to say so...

It's nice to read about all these offspring being encouraged to take up this mad pastime, nay way of life - yerself, Borderer2, MaM2, BDS2, RichP2, and many others :-bd . Real character-forming stuff.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:29 pm
by TheBrownDog
Real character-forming stuff.
Exactly that. Cheers Reg. Will report back tomorrow.

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:36 pm
by middleagedmadness
TheBrownDog wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:29 pm
Real character-forming stuff.
Exactly that. Cheers Reg. Will report back tomorrow.
Believe me it was character forming for ME on his first trip ,but I did choose the 50 miler Jenn ride last year to introduce him to a loaded bike and proper sized hills =)) =))

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:24 pm
by TheBrownDog
Well that all went very well and happy to get 7/7 for 2019.

It went as planned with a very easy ride out to the pub and a nice meal before riding the half mile to the bivvy spot. MAG and Son hung one on top of t'other and that worked well from a "stop him waking in the night screaming" perspective. I woke about 430am with the first wood peckers and happily dozed off and on till 6am when a pair of red kites decided to have a battle royale in the trees above us. Ye Gods there were loud. And all their mates seemed to turn up to cheer them on. No chance of sleep after that, so we all got up and breakfasted (sort of) and packed and moved out around 7am for a rather decent 7 or 8 mile ride round a few of the woods in my borough, which the young fella managed very well. All up, a great evening introducing two people to the fun of bikepacking, and hopefully a precursor to some long trips in future.

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Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:36 pm
by RIP
:-bd

That "multi-level hammocks" scenario is fantastic! Must be a first? "Unless of course anyone knows better"......

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:26 am
by Zippy
https://www.strava.com/activities/2533511782

July - which also involved to quote Tim:
TheBrownDog wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 1:39 pm a local one with MAG* and her son. He's 8.
(and a friend who's parents field we headed too)

Although they went in the car to the take-away, and I pedalled over (in the spirit of things, I cycled and carried my bivvy kit). Stopped at a friends to eat the curry and have a beer. Then cycled over a few minutes to the bivvy spot in a friends field. It was warm, but it was quite humid and at 2200 condensation was forming on my gilet! At some point between setting the child to bed, and the adults going to bed, the child had wriggled out of his child size sleeping bag and into his mum's sleeping bag... I don't understand children.

Anyway, July bagged, although I might do another trip this month anyway.

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Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 4:39 pm
by JoseMcTavish
Not done July yet, but June was a short ride up the coast line to the North of Aberdeen for a beach on a work night. Unfortunately the casual last minute nature of this one resulted in me leaving my phone sitting in the garage, so no pictures till I got back! I also decided to try out bivying without a sleeping bag since temperatures were mild and it was pretty successful. Just went with my SOL Escape bivy and a slik liner for a very minimal setup.

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That's 6/6 for this year and 18/18 since the start of 2018.

http://highlanddrifter.com/bam-2019-june

Re: Bivvy a month 2019

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:22 pm
by Moff
Finally got a bivi in....now to see if I can BAM it through the winter and beyond?!?

new job means some new trails to explore, so met up with a friend and headed off along to Droves, Ways, Lanes and Byways of the Test Valley.
Burger and a few pints sat by the river at the Boot Inn, Houghton, before heading up to Farley Mount to find a bivi spot. We couldn't be bothered to hide ourselves away, so pitched up on the southern edge next to a convenient bench.
The most public bivi venue I've used yet, as we were joined by a small smoking party whilst setting up (they stayed over in their own corner. At around 2am a mini rave started inside the monument (probably only a couple of people its tiny in there), I don't think they knew we were there and I've no idea when they left.

Sunset over the Monument & Sunrise over George's bivi.
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We woke up to find a guy sleeping, bike up turned slap bang in the middle of the crop circle in the field below us & got pounced on by various excited dogs out for a walk as we packed up.

The body in the field. Southampton and Isle of Wight over yonder.
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Headed down to Longstock Park for a posh breakfast, before rolling to last 20k back to the car. Just over 60km round trip.
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