Live BAM currently in progress, sat in the Plex somewhere in Pickers manor, a square hunting trip took me into his backyard and after sending the route for his approval he decided to join me for the Bivvy. Now if you know pickers you might be aware that he used to be a rally navigator, obviously his map skills are ninja like, you might also know that he once entered a pond upside down in a Ford Mexico, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when the ‘pickers approved’ route included this


Made me pucker slightly in the bottom area.

To be fair his advice to reverse my route was spot on, a mile and a half down hill finish was much better planning.

Hopefully the promised thunder storm will arrive, currently it’s just slightly boring rain.

8/12. 44 in a row

After a damp ride I found some decent fish and chips in Bidford-on-Avon and was escorted by pickers to a top secret location somewhere in Warwickshire, quality accommodation


Sadly the promised thunderstorms didn’t arrive but it did rain, a LOT. Stayed nice a dry in the plex, there again so did pickers in a shelter cobbled together out of a flat piece of fabric and some carbon sticks

Awww HOTT, you didn't go for the stick shelter right next to you! WHAT a rank amateur .

A short bivy ride around Swaledale.

We were going to park up in Wensleydale but it was heaving so ended up parking on the moor above Swaledale. That meant that we started with this



It actually starts about five metres from the road but you wouldn't really know it's there. It's one of the old lead mining hushes. The bottom was slightly different to the last time I'd done it:



We came down the left hand gully, all this used to be level with the green areas to either side but the deluge a year ago (almost to the day) had ripped out over 2 metres depth of material. There's sod all draining into this, maybe three hectares in area, showing just how much water they had.

We headed up towards Marske then headed over the moors, with some full on tussocking that Stu would be proud of, towards Hurst to pick up the YD300 route over to Langthwaite and up towards Gunnerside. The descent to Langthwaite has also suffered from landslips but the most impressive remnants of the storm were at Slei Gill just past Storthwaite Hall where the once wooded gill is now just rubble:



We ended up at the Old Gang mine:



We just got turned in and it began to rain. There was quite a bit more overnight but it had mostly stopped by the time we rose.

Anyway, "Leave no trace" I said. I ask you!



Actually it's just the dry spot where she'd slept

It was a bit murky heading over the top:



We decided not to head over to Gunnerside Gill but turned left and dropped over the moor to do the Electric Gate descent.



Then we headed along The Swale Trail to get a second breakfast at The Dales Bike Centre. A bit of a chinwag with Stu (I'd bought the Solaris from him back when Cotic had dealers) before heading back up the hill to the van in the mist.

Another view...
And about time too! by Richard Picton, on Flickr

Steve.... I left that piffling little ford (actually the river Avon!) in on purpose, never a doubt in my mind*







* - That I'd be able able to recover the bike!

8/8 In and around this slate quarry building last night with 2 from Jeff and Allen from on here in Snowdonia

I don't know whether to call this one my August BAM or wait until after the WRT at he end of the month, so you can have both...

After my rather traumatic 3 months (heart attack/stents and Covid-19) the family were a bit worried that I was determined to WRT, so one of my sons stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be my minder. "So they know where to find the body" he says. He's no stranger to outdoorsey stuff or cycling, but hasn't been bikepacking. This was a shakedown ride for him to get a feel for the job.

He lives in Holyhead, Anglesey, so that's where we started from. We rode down the lanes and a mile or so of beach ending up in Newborough Forest where we hammocked.

Me 'n him selfie on the beach to Rhosneigr..


And the bivvy...

Good to see you're back at it Frog, plus a new bikepacker so every cloud etc.

Ralph and myself had company for our August BAM, Landslide was on the Island and contacted me to see if I wanted to go for a ride/bivi. I had also discovered a potential new spot, some National Trust land which is open access... except open is not how I''d describe the access.

It's a strip of land on a hillside and about a mile long but only a quarter of a mile wide up the slope. There is a footpath that touches one end, but it's a fight through the woods to use it, and the other end has a bridleway that cuts across it. I sometimes go along it when running but there isn't much more than a faint sheep trod cutting along the slope, but I'd spotted that the top might flatten out. A bit of exploring found the top to be flat and grass to get to it requires riding/pushing along the slope which is also full of rabbit burrows and thistle etc. so this puts off other users so I guessed (hoped) we''d not be disturbed. The boundary joins the Bowcombe Estate and they do have a gate into it so fingers crossed the game keeper doesn't come round, but there was a thick hedge between them and us.

Meeting up in Newport it was only a 15 mile ride to the spot. I'd actually brought a small tarp as there was some rain forecast. The wind was blowing hard but luckily we were able to get some shelter. It rained heavily during the night but no issues with the wind.



we did hear the game keeper in the morning, on his quad just the other side of the hedge, but he had no idea we were there.



It's quite a nice spot, and if i went back earlier in the year next year before the birds are down I wouldn't even have the sound of the quad bike to disturb the peace. In the morning I couldn't locate my shorts in any of my dry bags... turns out they were half under my bivi bag in the rain so they went on wet, but the gale force wind soon dried them out. Once packed up we headed west, rounding the first corner and getting hit by the full force of the wind revealed just how sheltered our spot was. Luckily we'd decided to ride to the Needles, so as far west as you can go, into the wind all the way It didn't get up to the 100 mph it can at the Needles but it was a hard enough struggle on the last exposed section. The silver lining was a tailwind back to the cafe at Chessell Pottery for a full english (thanks Landslide) and to meet up with Mrs landslide and the little landslides. Suitably fuelled they headed off for adventures in Freshwater and I sailed home on the tailwind.

I'm up to 6 this year and Ralph is on 5. As he started a month after me he'll have to go on his own to finish off his 12 next year to get his blue badge

You'll have to get him a tiny remote-controlled bike .

Ended up walking up Tennyson Down again in the afternoon. Wind had not abated.

It was great to meet Sean and have a bivvy off my usual patch. Sean's current swearing off from alcohol ahead of the Cairngorms Loop also meant I didn't need to share my beer and whisky stash.

2020 BAM 8/8
2020 total bivvies 10
Current streak (months) 21

Good to meet you, and have someone to bivi with. If I wasn't 'in training' I'd have brought my own beer and whiskey stash

It's nice to do a social bivi, Ralph was also pleased as I had someone else to talk to so his ears got a rest.

I think I'll have to try and do more social events, perhaps gate crash another winter bivi. The Chilterns are as close to me as Dartmoor

Landslide wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:07 pm Sean's current swearing off from alcohol ahead of the Cairngorms Loop

You what?

htrider wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:58 pm

Landslide wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:07 pm Sean's current swearing off from alcohol ahead of the Cairngorms Loop

You what?

I've drunk enough through lock-down to see me through

Thought I should make an effort, although I don't normally drink that much anyway. I quit 2 weeks ago and I'm 3lb lighter already. I knocked 2lb off the bike today by changing the bars, seatpost and tyres. Hopefully I'll lose another couple of pounds yet, that way me, the bike and my kit could potentially weigh less than just me and the bike did 2 weeks ago.

I'll be drinking again as soon as I've finished, see you in (outside these days) the pub

htrider wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:58 pm

Landslide wrote: ↑Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:07 pm Sean's current swearing off from alcohol ahead of the Cairngorms Loop

You what?

Ignore 'im Phil, he's weird he is, he's from dahn sarf inne?

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Aug 23, 2020 6:38 pm Ignore 'im Phil, he's weird he is, he's from dahn sarf inne?

We are weird down here. I measure the volume of my bar bag in litres. Landslide measures his in number of cans of beer that fit in 12 in case you were wondering.

24th August, such a fine evening, off I went local, to favourite spot near a moorland reservoir.

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Note the angle of the bike....

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

The midges were out but I'd brought Smidge and it worked a treat.

Had my meal and a huge cup of tea with 3 sugars and no milk, and bedded down.

It got windier and windier and in the night the rain started.

I wondered whether any pegs would come out, but before bedding down for the night, I found a rock and hammered them in a bit. It was not good ground for placements.

From about 4am onwards I was seriously worried that everything would hold, and at 6am there was enough daylight (mist actually) to pack up..

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

And look at the angle of the bike now !!

No midges

Some pegs were almost vertical but none had come out... lucky.

Glad to be out of it in those conditions, but a grand spot all the same.

32 consecutive bivvies so far

Gone With The Wind - great fillum!

You still on for this proposed jape in October, Eric? I'm insisting on perfect Autumn conditions of course . Bit earlier in the month would help with my negotiations here if poss.

Yes Uncle Reg, the Pensioners’ Outing.... (note the position of the pos trophy.... )

Lu - d’you think you’ll last till then ? Be great to see you

And NO racing

ericrobo wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:01 pm Yes Uncle Reg, the Pensioners’ Outing.... (note the position of the pos trophy.... )

Lu - d’you think you’ll last till then ? Be great to see you

And NO racing

ericrobo wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:01 pm Lu - d’you think you’ll last till then ? Be great to see you

And NO racing

Yes, I'm still up for it. Just have to avoid my days in work . In October:- 4,5/12,13/20,21 and 28,29th

I planned a possible route for this jaunt some time back - before my medical misfortunes. I don't know if I'll still be up to all that climbing. Maybe the WRT will give me an idea of what is now possible. To be fair, I don't feel all that less fit than I was. so maybe.....

Joe and I did lots of camping this August on An Turas Mor so that is July and Aug done for us this year. Here is a shot that doesn't show the tent very well but it is fairly pretty. It's us camped outside Melgarve bothy, which was padlocked for Covid19.

I've passed this lunch hut a couple of times and thought it might make an alternative bivvy spot. Loads of room for 4-5 folk, though my mate had a new tent to try so I had all the space to myself.

Luckily, it was cold enough that we didn't have any midge so sitting around and having a couple of beers worked out fine.

1060666 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

8/8 for 2020

45th consecutive month

Have been feeling a bit grotty the last few days, with the onset of a cold type thing. Decided to ditch my original plan and just pop down to a group of trees, on a byway about two miles from the house. I set up the bivy bag under a friendly tree and settled down for the night, or at least, I tried to.

Sleep just would come, no matter how I arranged myself, on that side, on my back, on the other side, face out, face in. I started getting cold, so put on my jacket, but that just warmed up my torso, leaving my feet to get colder. I broke at 04:30 and headed home to warm up on the sofa.



Getting cold was my own fault, as I decided to take my old Polartec sleeping bag liner, rather than a sleeping bag. I've overheated every other night in the bivy bag, so I was trying to work out how light I could go. The answer is, not that light, so I might go for slightly more insulation in the quilt, than I was first thinking.

Fun breakdown: 10% type 1, 10% type 2, 80% type 3.
Strava: Distance: 9.38km; Moving time: 30:01; Elevation: 83m
2020 BaM: 8/8