Bivvy a Month 2021

Share your rides with us.

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shutuplegs
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by shutuplegs »

I headed out on Sunday night to somewhere local that has been on my bivvy list for a while, it’s got a great view over town and the Xmas lights.

It was the turn of the fixie for my final BAM, fun to ride and also the lightest to carry up the hill!

It was pretty windy so I circled around looking for somewhere a little sheltered but still with a view. Once I found somewhere suitable I begun my usual practice of finding the bumpiest, most uneven and slug ridden spot unpacking all my gear and lying down to a series of multiple naps and pranging out about every little noise thinking a mutant badger/axe murder is about to get me….
…except that it felt different this time. I cracked a beer and looked out at the view while running through the previous 11 BAMs and felt a very peaceful sense of accomplishment.
The trips I enjoyed the most were definitely those as part of a longer trip, it always feels like a bigger trip than the number of hours suggests. That said, there’s something satisfying about sneaking out late and being back before breakfast.

I slept remarkably well and was up before the dog walkers to be home for work. Glad I got December done as I’ve just tested positive for the cough so would have fallen at the last hurdle if I hadn’t!

Obligatory unclear photo:

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12/12 it’s been fun taking part and very enjoyable to read everyone else’s BAM reports!
“We live and learn, and big mountains are stern teachers” - HW Tilman.
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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

Congratulations 👏
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fatbikephil
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by fatbikephil »

Nice one! Fixed gear bivvy, now there is something I need to do next year :-bd
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Bearlegged
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Bearlegged »

I'll leave it to Reg to wax lyrical about our adventures, but he and Trep and I had lots of mud, café stops, beer, and unsatisfying naps last night. That's 16 bivvies for me this year. Probably not as prolific as some folks here, but I think probably the most I've done in a year, so that's pretty cool.

Here's our extensive spread of breakfasts.
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2021 BAM 12/12
2021 total bivvies 16
Current streak (months) 37
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ledburner
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ledburner »

:-bd breakaway sub group team colours? lol: :roll:
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

Wow, that's an impressive breakfast spread, jealous!!!
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TrepidExplorer
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by TrepidExplorer »

Stealth for the win @Ledburner

(also there were seconds)
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ledburner
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ledburner »

outed? :lol:
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by TrepidExplorer »

https://trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/202 ... oughs.html

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I suspect the boys captured more colour than me (mostly because my waterproof is bright orange!) but I love a claggy day out.

(not counting just contributing) (see you in 2022)
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ledburner
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ledburner »

TrepidExplorer wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 12:15 pm
I suspect the boys captured more colour than me (mostly because my waterproof is bright orange!) but I love a claggy day out.

(not counting just contributing) (see you in 2022)
wow, it think those are very atmospheric :-bd :YMAPPLAUSE: . in both senses if the word. I especially like the first two and I'm trying to decide it the are B/E or Colour.
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ledburner
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ledburner »

TrepidExplorer wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 12:15 pm
I suspect the boys captured more colour than me (mostly because my waterproof is bright orange!) but I love a claggy day out.

(not counting just contributing) (see you in 2022)
wow, it think those are very atmospheric :-bd :YMAPPLAUSE: . in both senses if the word. I especially like the first two and I'm trying to decide if they are B/W or Colour?


[edit : I've turn the screen brightness up they are both :grin:]
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Bearlegged
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Bearlegged »

Landslide ...had an equally harrowing sprint over the hill.
I'd just like to assure everyone there was no sprinting involved, just a plod.
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Bearlegged
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Bearlegged »

like a snivelling drunk who'd been out all night on their birthday and made a mess. Oh.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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RIP
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by RIP »

I like the diving board photo there Trep :smile:

"Peacs and Troughs Tour" (with acknowledgments to Bearlegged, modified by Reg)

With some trepidation (and indeed Trepidation) I'd asked The Bikepacker Formerly Known As Landslide, and by association Trep, if they fancied a wobble round the White Peak, and they kindly allowed me to drag their normal pace down by about 90% which must have seemed like biking in treacle :smile: . Seriously, it was great to ride with you guys, and hopefully all the cafes and pubs made up for the slothly speed.

We'd arranged to meet in Grindleford village, but as Trep mentioned, Bearlegged's train had turned out not to exist so he rode over the hill instead, and I toddled up to the station, bumping into him there, whence we proceeded to the cafe where Trep was pre-installed and enjoying a second breakfast.

The first job of course was to visit, er, another cafe. I was hoping to go for a record triple visit to the same one in a day, and this would be visit #2. Sadly, and to let you down gently now, the attempt was cruelly dashed later on when they closed early at 3.30pm.

Off we headed up the Eyam road past the "Closed" sign - what rebels eh? - and gradually grinded our way to the top whilst our eyes roved over the pleasant Derwent valley views. From here the cafe was all of two minutes away but why make it easy? We plunged off down a rocky track to Stoney Middleton to view the first water trough. I was aware there are quite a few in the area, throwbacks to lack of water in this limestoney landscape. This sign in the Roman well encouraged us, although paraphrasing Bearlegged, were we tomorrow now after yesterday, or were today before tomorrow and therefore too early?....

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The second theme of the trip (well, the third after Peaks and Troughs) was Green Lanes, of which there is a proliferation around Eyam. We duly headed up the next one into Eyam, for the cafe stop. The cafe is situated on "The Square" but I noticed that this spot in Eyam is actually three-sided, so what was going on here? Had one of the sides been confiscated since the original naming?

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Free cafe blankets to keep us warm. Nobody expects.......

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Just before we set off I spotted Trep's emergency rations on her bike. A persimmon fruit, now there's exotic!

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Troughs number three and four followed in quick succession, and then it was off up the nasty hill in a completely pointless side loop which allowed us to enjoy three more green lanes.

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At the top of the hill is Mompesson's Well, named after the rector who suggested the village cut themselves off during the Great Plague to stop the spread of the disease which had arrived with fleas in a consignment of cloth from London. Unimaginably, one third of the village contracted the disease and were lost within a few months. But they had contained the plague to the village and stopped its spread. A selfless and sobering lesson for our times perhaps.....

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By this time the fog had started to envelope us, wrapping us up in its ghostly embrace.

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We wound our way still further upwards, joining the track which continues Sir William Hill Road over the hill towards Bretton. The question is was the hill named after Sir William Hill, in which case surely it should be called Sir William Hill Hill Road, or was his surname actually William in which case it might be named correctly. Answers on a postcard. Hammering down the other side and swerving to the right down the track to Little Bretton took us past the Duric Well and its trough hidden in the grass. All this culture and history had made us thirsty and Bearlegged made the executive decision to pop in to the Barrel Inn for a quick one. An excellent idea. "Wright's 20 Minute Rule" very nearly overcame us but we managed to fight it and bailed out before our residence became terminal and ended up with us settling in for the night there and then.

The road along Eyam Edge was thick with fog, and as we rode we were confronted by a mass of bright lights ahead of us where no lights should be. A car? Far too many lights. A Close Encounter surely! Sadly it turned out to be a lorry parked up for a brew.

Bearlegged left Trep and myself floundering in the rocks, well me anyway, as he piled down yet another super-steep B.O.A.T. back down to Eyam, where, as already mentioned, my daring Triple Cafe Attempt was ground into the dust due to early closing.

Several more BOATS were lined up next but the prospect of dinner was elbowing its way into our consciousnesses, so we restricted ourselves to enjoying the gloop of Tideswell Lane, then up the road to Foolow. Appropropriately just round the corner from Foolow is the superbly named Silly Dale which was obviously compulsory viewing, so us Silly Fools took the bridleway along it, stopping on the way to test out Trep's new camera which played hard to get and almost caused Bearlegged to come back and check what silliness we were indulging in.

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Anyway, the same as the last time I visited Silly Dale, things were remarkably un-silly - no sheep standing on their heads, or farmers showering us with silly string or party poppers over the wall as we rode past. I'm reasonably sure that Silly Dale also takes the crown as (one of) the shortest dale in the Peaks. From here we took a variety of lanes and back roads to reach our pub venue for the evening, where we met Mr Trep and had an extremely convivial time with plenty of ales, pies, burgers, and a fairly exceptional STP (sticky toffee pudding of course) adorned with a strawberry which I felt distracted somewhat from the quality of the underlying pudding but there we go. The landlady yet again recognised me, despite the last visit being a good three years ago, and she was confused that she now had two crackpot Chris's to contend with. Despite this, she still gave us tacit village permission to access our bivvy spot, and off we headed into the murk full of good ale, food, and cheer. The conditions were advertised as fog and 0-2degC. Lovely!

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I'd packed my DD Superlight tarp for a change, because even though previous visits had seen me bottling the outdoors and kipping in the cemetery shed, there were now three of us and the gentlemanly thing to do would be offer that to Trep. Rather patronising I know, given Trep's record of utterly mental bivvy spots, but I'm terribly old-fashioned like that :smile: . I remember the shed only just being large enough for my svelte carcase, but this time it seemed to have taken on TARDIS-like features and all three of us managed to spread out with ease amongst the headstones, barrows, and stakes (presumably kept on standby for any vampires escaping outside in the night).

I like this photo, which admirably captures the wreckage and destitution of a typical BBB group indoor bivvy spot :smile: . It was interesting to compare and contrast our various kipping kit, in my case a PHD Hispar 400 on an Exped Winterlite mat and a chunk of tyvek, comfortised with an Exped pillow pump. I rather liked the look of Bearlegged's S2S Aero pillow but not sure I can justify yet another head rest... or I can I.. hmm.....

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The usual first breakfast of porridge and brews, and away again by a pleasant 8am. Standard shot of a BBB 22g under power...

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More lanes and tracks, but no troughs, brought us to the Monsal Trail, and it's always a pleasure to coast gently downhill admiring the spectacular limestone scenery. In this case either the scenery is blurred, or I'm blurred, or the photo is blurred.

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Cutesy Great Longstone sported another trough, although we had our suspicions that this was either transplanted from elsewhere or, worse, a genuine fake... or possibly a faked genuine... or...

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Our final hill over Longstone Edge had a rather Highland flavour to it...

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The long blast down across Peak Pasture and into Calver was a fitting end to our Peacs and Troughs Tour, and we rewarded ourselves with a stonking second breakfast at The Eating House, a new establishment for all of us despite it staring us all in the face for about the past 40 years. Unlimited coffee refills had Trep and Bearlegged in caffeine heaven, although I had to fork out for my second pot of tea - hah! I'm sure that's beveragist! Absolutely superb breakfast though. Eventually we had to drag ourselves away before too many extra coffees sent Trep and Bear into orbit, themselves over t'hill back to Steel City and me back to Grindleford and thence to pick daughter Perrin up.

It only remains for me to thank Trep and Bearlegged for indulging my hopelessly snail-like trampiness and providing such good company. I expect they had to ride home via Doncaster or somewhere to shake off such slothlike riding :smile: .

12/12, 12/12, 71/71

'Reg'
Last edited by RIP on Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

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RIP
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by RIP »

Been a strange year for BaMs. Forgive me for indulging in a self-centred mini-review but it helps me remember how lucky we were to get any in at all earlier on. Hope all you other BaMmers enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine. Beats staying at home watching the telly.

Some might have taken my last BaM of 2020 as my first of 2021, since it was quite literally a "last minute BaM" commencing at 23:59 on December 31st. However we've had this debate before and it was indeed a gen-yew-ine 2020 BaM. So...

Jan: masochistically under 9x7 Trekkertent DCF tarp on the Perrin garden lawn. -5degC overnight and woke to an iced up tarp.
Feb: in the Perrin garden shed after Episode 2 of "Pete & Reg's State Of The Nation Tour". -4degC overnight.
Mar: Nostalgia trip in my Macpac Microlight tent on the lawn. Frozen up again.
April: finally allowed out to play. -3degC sheep shed in Macclesfield Forest and -4degC Trekkertent tarp in the Manifold Valley.
May: The very excellent Chilterns Spring Thing, Gatewood cape in a wood somewhere in Bucks.
June: "Better Slate Than Never Tour". Gatewood on the beach at Bangor, Gatewood in farmer's field at Caernarfon, church lych-gate near Porthmadog.
July: 6 months late "Virtual Winter Event". Inside a pub "covid pod" at Woburn Sands.
Aug: Inside "Bob's Barn" near Settle, and another cow-shed round the corner from there. Deluge from start to finish.
Sep: "Rude Place Names Tour", toilet in graveyard near Leominster, pub floor in Talgarth, pub marquee in Pontsticill. Deluge from start to finish.
Oct: local country park, Gatewood cape in bushes.
Nov: "Teversal Trails Tour" round Mansfield area, kipped on the floor of some bloke's workshop.
Dec: "Peacs And Troughs Tour", floor of graveyard shed.

By luck, a fortuitously wide-ranging mix from local to remote, banal to spectacular, solo to group, frozen to drenched to sunburned, post-industrial wasteland to high mountain multi-county views, potnoodles to gourmet sticky toffee pudding. Gawd I love two-wheeled tramping.

Favourite? All of them were, until the next one!

Looking back, it was fun to use a variety of shelters - big tarp, medium tarp, Gatewood cape, Macpac tent, and a variety of "structures". Lots of interesting places to explore and nose around, but what really made it a fantastic year of BaMs was the convivial company of many other Boners who overcame adversity and got out there. My thanks to all who put up with me!

I'd like to vote for Shafiq's "Bulldozed in his sleep" Bam and Verena's "A40 roundabout" BaM as Best BaMs of '21 :-bd

2022.....
Last edited by RIP on Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

"At least you got some stories" - James Acaster
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fatbikephil
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by fatbikephil »

A good season finisher there folks :-bd
I've just done a bonus December Bivvy which I'd roughly agreed with a couple of pals a couple of months back before I realised it wasn't the SWB weekend.... So we took ourselves a huge 5.25k to a fine spot by the mighty river Spey.....

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Top spot - the shed was locked but the bit holding the hasp had actually rotted out. I was determined to finish the year under the flat tarp however. Min temps around -3 or -4 I think. Tarp and tent were well iced up but I remained cosy under the quilt once more.

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Rob brought his portable fire stove thing (on a yak bob, how retro; and Iona was using panniers!) And I have to say it was mighty pleasant sat on the 'beach' eating and drinking as well as the usual fat chewing about anything and everything. A full 5.35k back to base this morning.

That's definitely it for 2021 for me - a total of 20 nights out, one in a bothy and one in an open fronted shed, but all the rest under the flat tarp or Deschutes.
I'll do a final tally in the new year, looking forward to doing it all again. :-bd
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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

Great write up and pics there all of you, like the cows and yeah I too thought today how nice it would be to get a bivvy in next to a lake or river...

Who would've thought that there's so much fun to be had in the middle of winter :-bd
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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

Sort of deconstructed BAM for me this weekend, in 3 parts.

The obligatory beautiful sunset before
ImageIMG_20211217_170704_359 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Taken Friday afternoon, on foot rather than by bike though. Had intended to head out for my BAM straight from an early finish at work, but it became a crazy busy day with no time for a lunchbreak let alone to get packed and ready, so I just grabbed my trainers and went for a run before/ as it got dark. Got home in the dark, didn't get showered and changed straight away so ended up feeling chilly and more in the mood for a night in by the fire in my pyjamas than for heading out again for a bivvy...

Went out Saturday morning for a really nice bike ride, exploring at long last a bridleway I have had my eye on for a couple of years now....turned out to be every bit as lovely as I had hoped, definitely a better kept secret and lesser well known/ used track.... although surprisingly well signposted as an actual llwybr beic mynydd, and none of the extreme mud fest/locked gates/ bramble infested non existing track/ angry farmers/ snappy farm dogs scenario I had envisaged...

View back up to the hill with my favourite quarry where I was going to bivvy - another month very soon!!
ImageIMG_20211218_103058 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
ImageIMG_20211218_103039 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
ImageIMG_20211218_103446 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Even stumbled upon a little chapel and graveyard in the middle of nowhere, which would make a great bivvy spot
ImageIMG_20211218_104435 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Back up the hill and home
ImageIMG_20211218_112644 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

In the evening I headed out for my actual bivvy, in my favourite local wood and in the hammock, on what was a very clear, very bright full moon lit night...

Rode past this which I thought looked like something from a creepy film
ImageIMG_20211219_083254 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

In the woods, the moon was so bright I didn't need my head torch at all to set up. But the light was playing tricks on my eyes, and it did take me a while to be really really sure that there wasn't someone wandering around with a torch...

Hot chocolate with some brandy, and a snuggly night in my hammock followed, serenaded by owls and ravens....

In the morning, it had gone really foggy, which was playing tricks with my camera
ImageIMG_20211219_062003 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I have recently (re)discovered QT for my morning brew, as I really don't actually like coffee and much prefer tea when out on a bivvy - great stuff, better than any of that yukky 2 or 3 in 1 stuff, and I struggle with black coffee...
Breakfast this time was a festively flavoured porridge with cinnamon, mixed spice and cranberries.

I was amazed how dark it was, I rolled down the hill and got home about quarter to eight in the fog, and it was still pretty much pitch black....
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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

Forgot to add, did my bivvy in semi stealth mode, in jeans, my dad's cashmere turtle neck jumper and my smartest boots, and on my town bike with panniers.... I was on the stewarding rota at church on Saturday evening and went straight from there, having pushed my inconspicuous looking bike into the hedge for the duration....
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RIP
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by RIP »

Verena wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:11 pm cashmere turtle neck jumper
There's posh!

There's something quite evocative about isolated little Welsh graveyards with chapels, especially those on a hill. Could sit for ages just being there.
"My God, Ponsonby, I'm two-thirds of the way to the grave and what have I done?" - RIP

The sign outside the asylum is the wrong way round.....

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Verena
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Verena »

RIP wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:21 pm
Verena wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:11 pm cashmere turtle neck jumper
There's something quite evocative about isolated little Welsh graveyards with chapels, especially those on a hill. Could sit for ages just being there.
I'll definitely go back there and contemplate! Easier to get to than Patrishow too.... :cool:
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ScotRoutes »

It's a sort of tradition that I mark the solstice with a bivvy so I took advantage of a good spell of wifely heath and I'm currently in a wee bothy.

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Not too far from home and it's minus 3c. The new Primaloft trousers are being put to good use
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by ScotRoutes »

No need to send out a search party, I made it back home safely.

It was minus 3C on arrival at the bothy and trying to snow. I therefore decided to actually sleep in the bothy rather than under the lovely old pine nearby. Although it wasn't any warmer, at least I didn't have to deal with frost-covered kit in the morning.

A quiet night was had, lit up by a few tealights I'd taken in with me (and I left a few spare).

It was a simple enough spin back home this morning, though the temperature had dropped by a couple of degrees.

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That's 12/12 and another year of BAMs complete. I wasn't sure I was going to manage that this year but just planned accordingly and played it by ear a bit. I've no idea what next year is going to bring so will carry on in much the same vein. Hopefully, I'll fit in a few more "not-so-local" overnighters, something sadly missing from my recent run.
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by redefined_cycles »

So... BAM done and this was the 12th. Another meaningful one to sit amongst the ones during the BB200, going to the Uigher demo and sleeping somewhere near the central zone on a cycle path, finishing night-shift work then having a daylight bivy as well as a few others that I forget about.

This final BAM involved cycling to London on a route that I've never actually managed to complete fully. After putting out a bulletin on here Karl decided he'd come along. 12ish on Monday we set off from Dewsbury and this is how it went...

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Got to the first self appointed checkpoint so I could say my prayers. Dental surgery or health centre it was and after I noted that only one side of this Gas-House had broken tiles. Chavs, only broke one side of the tiles and the other was left looking clean and fresh. But Karl put me right by noting that it could be the tree branches. The discussion was a little more complex than that but we agreed to disagree and carried on our way...

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Then after a little two hour bivy in a pub car park we were on our way. I said "4 hours of sleep" but Karl was unimpressed. So we were off at 0630 with 2 hours of kip under our belts. He said I was snoring straight away but I could have sworn I hear his snores before I dozed off. Foss Way survived so we treated Karl to a wee around here with his knobblies (Shwalbe Pro Summats I think). Obviously I was careful to avoid the litter on both sides and Karl was keen for me to do that (maybe!). Don't wanna show up the locals do we...

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Then Karl said his goodbyes as I'm dead slow and didn't want him missing his train. Got this far and decided to chuck in the towel. Leighton Buzzard, where Reg might be from and it's got nowt to do with Buzzards. Anyway, I out out a little bulletin on a telegram group with lots of roadies that I was giving up. Then decided to ride past the train station instead and think it over with a cheap Costa coffee. Can't whack a cheap and nasty Costa can you.

Maybe it was the Costa or maybe it was cos the chaps on the roadie-group pledged a few £50 if I make it to the end without catching train. So I continued on to the Chil Uns and noted a slow puncture whilst riding up Bison Hill. Felt good as I'd never actually made it this far and took a self-check at Whipsnade Zoo. Not sure why I never took a pic but at least I took one to mark the Chil Uns...
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Then with about 25 miles remaining I noted my tyre had started delaminating which was disheartening. Karl had managed to get to the end and intercepted by the Cage.ngo (human rights charity mainly working to stop the torture at the black sites and Guantanamo Bay etc) workers. I believe they fed him before he caught the train.

At 20ish miles remaining I decided to give up again as the left knee was giving a lit of gyp. Spoke to Azad from Cage and never got much sympathy thankfully. He was indifferent to the pain which I suppose when you work with the water-boarded, abused and humiliated, a bit of knee pain is hardly working crying over. Told me to give him an update at Barnet and I continued. Feeling motivated at the types of human rights abuses that these lots encounter and my feebleness, I soldiered on. I thought I could make it.

Pedalling one legged up the hills, walking a little here and there and looking forward to bed-time I managed to get within 8 miles of the end point (East London Masjid). Met Azad and Dobbir who had driven out to me and told me of their meetup with Karl. I was motivated but knackered. Two miles remaining and finally I couldn't pedal. So I walked it most of the way. Couldn't take a pic at the end as all my electrics were kinda dead. But here's one I took after a good night's sleep Alhamdulillah.

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BAM done with £4k raised for CAGE.ngo in honour Dr Aafia Siddiqui. A neuro scientist that spent the best part of the last 15 years a victim of abuse... Hopefully some day soon she'll be released or at least get a fair trial and be able to see her children...

Apologies for the poor grammar and/or if anyone disagrees that the UK and USA govt are guilty of some of the worst human rights violations the world has ever seen. THE END :smile:

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The story of Dr Aafia as explained by TRT
https://youtu.be/YvAGpWds8D8
Last edited by redefined_cycles on Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:42 am, edited 4 times in total.
Raggedstone
Posts: 271
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:20 pm
Location: Nr Malvern

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Post by Raggedstone »

11/11 for 2021
I have just realised I didn't post for November .
It started out as the BB200 but by the time I came out of the Hafren forest struggling with my breathing and legs like rubber it became my BAM for the month . I thought I will get to Bwlch y Sarnau and see how it was going on the way in I met a guy coming out who said you will leave a different person unfortunately I didn't but the tea and cake and chat was good . Decided to keep going at least as far as the shortcut across to the route along Offa's Dyke I knew the rest of it from there , I decended to Lloyney and met a couple who where bailing and was very tempted to join them but didn't fancy the route back it was the way I had driven up so decided to keep going . I failed to find the gate behind the trees and the old trick of following the tyre tracks wasn't going to work as they were going in all directions I saw a bridleway sign so went that way despite what the GPS was saying after a very long decent I ended up at a junction on a lane saying Lloyney 2 miles !! After finding a suitable wall to bang my head against I decided to head towards Clun to pick up the route again so one climb later and a bloody good talking to by myself I turned round I had come this far I was going to complete the route however long it took . 3 hours of indicision and stupidity later I found the gate behind the trees :oops: I found a good spot in Bucknell woods close to the route so decided to stop .
ImageIMG_20211107_065755071 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
The rain had stopped and it was cold this is when the bivvy kit I had brought looked to be a bit minimal as I wasn't planning on stopping originally . I did wake up cold a couple of times and once to the sound of a bike clattering by at 3am but slept ok and got going again about 8 after breakfast to follow the route back it was a complete contast to the previous day sunshine and lovely colours with a headwind.
I had to a lot of pushing but got back in the end at 8.45 to a wonderful sight a bag of goodies I had let Stu and Dee know I wasn't getting back before 8 but could they please leave me some teabags and milk as all I wanted was a brew they went well beyond that for which I was extremely grateful..
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