Bivvy a month 2022

[Bearbonesnorm]

Oh and you'll be pleased to know that your 0.5mm dyneema lines on the Gatewood stood up to the 40mph gusts with nae bother whatsoever .

I recall it has a breaking strain of 100lb Reg, so would expect nothing less

[Moder-dye]

Well that's me failed at the first hurdle. Family life and my health just got in the way in January despite great weather.

Doesn't mean I can't still get out through the year, but I need to get back on top of my health/energy and a long cold night in a bivvy wasn't going to help that.

All is not wasted though as I have been checking out local places for camping up, and I have a daft Christmas present French MRE pack to use Definitely not lightweight food (1.7kg for 3600cal IIRC), but looks good

Onwards.....

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just start a month later and run from Feb to Feb

[Scattamah]

Thanks for the nudge, Stu. Need to get my game back on.

Greetz

S.

[frogatthefarriers]

BaM 2/12 with the Bearbones Pensioners.

Because it's wintertime and the days are short, Reg and Eric came down to my neck-of-the-woods a day earlier to maximise the amount of daylight for riding the next day. I didn't fancy trying the descent from the Wayfarer memorial down to Llanarmon D C in the dark. To that end I met Reg at Ruabon station and we made the short hop to meet Eric at the Telford Inn at the Trefor Basin. Reg and I made a quick reccy around the basin before meeting Eric at t'pub.

I've already posted a bivvy for January, so here's a bonus bivvy. It doesn't count for February. This trip being local to me, I had made a scouting trip to scope out where we could bivvy on this first night. This was the best option.



Mine was a nice sheltered spot surrounded by trees, (unlike Regs') but all the same, in the night I woke a little cold. Not too cold to get to sleep again (after a 'comfort break'). After I'd pulled the top of my quilt closer and the bivvy bag higher I was snug and warm and still asleep when Reg woke me after eight o'clock.

This was another option:-


I could have added snowdrops to the list of flowers I have slept in.

We didn't bother with breakfast, counting on getting some in Llangollen. This was not so easy as it turned out, because although there are lots of cafes in Llan, they don't (except for one) open until ten o'clock. I was going to have the Big Breakfast, until the serving lady said

"Why don't you have the he-man breakfast? It's only £1 more and you get twice as much"

No contest!

Regs' account of the ride is far better than I can manage so I'll skip to my little memory lapse in Glyn Ceiriog where we'd (I'd) stopped to put on a rain jacket and left my bag behind. Unfortunately, I didn't realise until we were three miles away after Pontfadog and this effectively ended our 'Fellowship of the Berwyns' because I had to ride back to get it.

Found it.


I put it back on and started off to maybe catch the others up but stopped short when one of my gloves dropped off the bar pack with a plop. Lucky, that! If it hadn't dropped off, I wouldn't have had to stop to put it on and then I wouldn't have noticed that the other glove was still on the wall I'd left it on along with my glasses and phone. My "'ead'll never save me legs" as my mother-in-law used to say. Or "Kto nie ma w glowie to musi mieć w nogach" ( If you haven't got it in your head, you have to have it in your feet). So true

Here's a pub sign that made me smile while riding home:-


I never enjoy the Wayfarer much (too much pushing) but it was much better this time with Eric and Reg for company. Thanks chaps, you made all the difference.

[Verena]

Lovely to see everyone out and about and in full swing. Ladybird in January - weird

I found one on my bath earlier....

[fatbikephil]

http://lochaberblog.sais.gov.uk/2022/01/dry-janaury/
Confirming my thought that this year (so far) is bearing a remarkable resemblance to 2017. Interesting that 2014 is showing as much more snow that 9/10 and 10/11, which were both eyeball deep. It was above 500m but below it just rained a lot....
Its currently quite wintry here

[edwellz]

Decided to get February's bivi in early with a busy month ahead. Just a few miles up through Gelliwion forest to a little spot overlooking the Rhondda Valley. The lights from the rugby pitch aided in pitching my tent!

[Verena]

Nice! I keep meaning to explore the hills above/ between the Valleys, I hear there's some lovely spots ...

[RIP]

They are coming in thick and fast!

They certainly are. I know you're in charge of the game this year Phil but if you'll allow me the honour of the position of your deputy and as January has now been n gone I thought it might be nice to see who's foolishly nailed their colours to the mast this year.

January ticked off and report posted
Andiphim
Ben Connoli (missed your report Ben, goodness knows how - have read it now, top stuff as usual!)
Benp1 (Winter Event - hmm! )
Blackhound
Bob n Cath
Boxelder - retry
Dave
Edwellz
FLV
Frog
Gonecaving
Jeff Summittoppler
JimmyG
JohnAllen
JoseMcT (emergency C19 garden allowance )
Kev
Linkpin
Lune Ranger
Mandicky + 2
NeilA
Phil
Reg
'Routes
Sean
Shewie
Stu
The Bikepacker Formerly Known As Landslide
Turfroof
Verena
Woodsmith
Zippy

Mr Slingerland needs to do his own post and not hide in Kev's or that's you out matey!

So 34 including Cath and Mandicky's + 2. But not including Peter . Good to see some new faces amongst the grizzled and reeking old hands .

Didn't quite make January

Moderdye?

Not heard about January's unless I missed it (apologies):
Chrisps?
Flyingpig?
Greg?
Lazarus?
NeilA?
Shaf?

Remember it's one post per month. In the past we've had contestants rolling up in December and attempting 12 reports in one go, which, highly entertaining as it is to see, is quite difficult to absorb .

A few keen folks already launched into February:
Edwellz
Lu
Reg

One month down, eleven to go!

A couple of years ago, or maybe 2019, a very similar number started - about 35. By April that had halved .....

[fatbikephil]

Well done Reg. It's funny that the worst drop out rate is usually in April when the weather picks up. I guess normal people family life also starts to intervene then.
Re late starters - this just about finished me last year as I get easily confused. I'll be relying on you to keep me right!
Feb in progress, nights fair drawing out and winter in full flow, get planning and get bivvying!

[psling]

OK, so the gauntlet has been thrown...

January completed at the WE with Raggedstone as per above ^^^
After tea and toast personally served by Stu & Dee (and having safely stashed the socks) we headed up the hill and through the woods behind BB Towers having completely forgotten about the ford at the other end of the track. In spate and full of snow melt. I bravely removed socks and leggings to wade across to test depth and flow and then everyone else promptly rode across

Refreshments in Mach followed by the long haul over the Happy Valley saw us in Towyn doing our very best to stay upright against the wind off the sea, the same wind that assisted us back up into the hills to our intended bivvy site, a real beauty

A morning coffee was taken at the Minfordd Hotel when the kindly (and obviously lonely) owner opened up for us, lit the fire, served coffee and talked non-stop at us for 30 minutes! Good coffee though and we did appreciate his kindness.

Up over the top, route 8 down to Corris, cross-country to Caemas Road and a quick(ish) dash back to Llanbrynmair to be our usual last back. All in all an excellent weekend in mildly challenging conditions.

Right, if I'm going to be doing this properly can you advise a good photo hosting site please; these reports are so much better with pictures

[whitestone]

Right, if I'm going to be doing this properly can you advise a good photo hosting site please; these reports are so much better with pictures

I use imgur. Easy to grab the code for forums like this, at least from the desktop/website version, no idea on the app.

[Linkpin]

February done and still enjoying the challenge of a new thing!

Finished work a bit earlier this time (2200) so headed a bit further afield into the Forest of Dean for some singletrack fun (it was slightly less blurry in real life).
IMG_20220208_221516 by David Pearson-Smith, on Flickr

Had a spot in mind but when I got there via the forest tracks (and a close encounter with an owl and some deer) I found it was really windy and a bit drizzly. I headed down a local mtb trail for a bit until I found a rock to hide behind... and realised I've never actually practised putting up a tarp.

This is what I arrived at after some messing about:
IMG_20220208_231110 by David Pearson-Smith, on Flickr

You can't really see what I've done in the pic, which is probably just as well because I had little idea of how to take into account the wind, attachment points and the drizzle. But once I was in it was surprisingly cosy. Scranned some biscuits then, in a nearly-asleep haze, got confused between the words 'boar' and 'bear' in my head and had a momentary panic that I should have put my food in a tree. Luckily realised my mistake just before drifting off.

Missed my alarm in the morning so must have been sleeping soundly, and packed my bike in a frantic hurry so did that in a daft way to match my tarp pitching!
IMG_20220208_224034 by David Pearson-Smith, on Flickr

In my rush I also left my hip pack in the forest on the way back to work so will have to go and get that this evening.

TLDR: Did lots of daft noob things as I'm new to bivvying, bloody loved it and looking forward to a March adventure already!

[benconnolli]

February done and still enjoying the challenge of a new thing!...


...Did lots of daft noob things as I'm new to bivvying, bloody loved it and looking forward to a March adventure already!

YAY and YAY!! Good going there. Fantastic attitude for things to go daft and you still enjoy it.

[ScotRoutes]

I was going through my count-back again, creating a little log of all my bikepacking trips. Ignoring all other trips (on foot, boat etc) and all of those involving paid accommodation (campsites, hotels, B&Bs etc) I've now counted 99 bikepacking nights.

Some further numbers...

50 of those were done solo, so 49 in the company of at least one other person.
36 have been done with a tent, 53 with a bivvy bag and/or tarp and 10 indoors (bothy etc).

So, next one is 100!!

[redefined_cycles]

I was going through my count-back again, creating a little log of all my bikepacking trips. Ignoring all other trips (on foot, boat etc) and all of those involving paid accommodation (campsites, hotels, B&Bs etc) I've now counted 99 bikepacking nights.

Some further numbers...

50 of those were done solo, so 49 in the company of at least one other person.
36 have been done with a tent, 53 with a bivvy bag and/or tarp and 10 indoors (bothy etc).

So, next one is 100!!

Well done Colin. Can I get you a happy panda as a prize? Let's call him Jim... (well actually I won't get you a Panda pic as they're only coming up as 'in captivity).

But really really inspirational and thanks for sharing. I'm planning to get back into it soon after having done my first full run of 12 for 2021. Think about 4 of them were actually without a bivy or tent being deployed (but were available as backup).

[fatbikephil]

February
In summary:
Weather - mixed
Trails - mixed
Bivvy spot - OK
Nights sleep - mixed
Food - mixed
Drink - ace!

'Twas my birthday on Thursday so I was determined to do a birthday bivvy having missed it last year due to vast amounts of snow and desire to stand on it, on a pair of planks. The plan was to do a luxury one with plenty of food and drink and the opulence of the Deschutes, given the weather forecast. Friday started perfectly with clear skies and a hard (-6) frost with a fair bit of snow in the hills. Of course by the time I'd knocked off for the day the temps were on the rise and the snow rapidly receding. I figured a shortish jaunt out to a site I'd scoped the other week. Alarmingly the forecast was suddenly going on about 20mph winds which actually means 40mph winds... After an easy run round a few cycleways I hit the hills and the snow - much more than at home and still quite firm underneath so instead of the predicted mud bath it was actually quite nice going. Should have brought the fat bike but the Jones' 29 x 3.25 boots kept the plot on the straight and narrow.

A fine snowy trail in the dark.

Got to the spot (on the flanks of Fanny Hill!) with the wind rising and cloud building. A bit of wandering around was required to find a decent pitch but it was well in amongst some fairly young trees so sheltered and (hopefully) no chance of one landing on me in the night. The deschutes went up easily for a change and I got in just as the first spots of rain came on. It nearly went horribly wrong lighting the soto petrol stove, which I'd brought purely to get some use out of it, I'd forgotten that it tends to be a bit exciting on first firing up and came very close to burning the tent to the ground. Then I managed to lean on the water bladder hose mouthpiece and created a nice puddle in the bivvy bag.....

Anyway after all of that I ate food, drank beer and read Joe Tasker's somewhat grim tale of the failed attempt to climb Everest's south west ridge in winter. Reading about their precarious camp 2 on a narrow shelf in a tiny box tent trying to cook and maneouver two bods about with the wind blowing to 100 plus mph and temps ranging from -30 to -40 made my situation seem fairly pleasant. I Crashed out eventually and had an interrupted night sleep thanks to the sound of the wind blasting away and the regular deluges of water being dumped on the tent by the trees. At my usual leisurely hour I got up and drank lots of tea, ate pancakes and noted that the seam round the pole reinforcing bit was leaking again - just an odd drip so no drama.


A pretty good pitch all in all, despite the racket, I was well sheltered.

Up and off eventually, spent a pleasant hour riding boggy single track round the woods then scored more bog on the trails home.


View back to the ridge I'd just sploshed along, snow largely gone.

[RIP]

Sounds like that's a starter-for-10 for your own Rude Places Names Tour, Phil .

[fatbikephil]

Sounds like that's a starter-for-10 for your own Rude Places Names Tour, Phil .

And there are plenty more where that one came from!

[Johnallan]

I got out out on Thursday. 3pm finish and Friday off work. The forcast looked good (for February) so I planned a 200ish km route straight from work in Huddersfield following an abbreviated Peak200.
IMG_20220210_155657-01 by John Allan, on Flickr


2 hours of wind and weather later I'd made sod-all progress, was cold and wet, and frankly not having much fun.

I re-evaluated the situation, turned my back to the wind and headed up the Pennine Bridleway from Greenfield. Stopped for a couple of pints of Landlord and found a sheltered spot near Piethorn Res for the night after 50ish km. It was a good call and I enjoyed the extra time just 'being' and slept better than usual.
IMG_20220210_192112-01 by John Allan, on Flickr

IMG_20220210_201135-01 by John Allan, on Flickr



Next day was a frosty and foggy start, second breakfast by Hollingworth Lake, then another dead chilled 50km back home on some classic trails around Hebden Bridge.
IMG_20220211_084236-01 by John Allan, on Flickr
IMG_20220211_091931-01 by John Allan, on Flickr
IMG_20220211_114758-01 by John Allan, on Flickr

2/12 boxed off. I'm enjoying these bivvys purely for the sake of having a night out, whereas I'd usually just bivvy as part of long ride/Audax/race etc.

Thanks for the inspiration

[lune ranger]

2/12 done. Another post work bivi on Thursday evening.
A couple of hours of back lane riding took me up into Ashclyst forest for the night.
I slept ok but was pretty cold out, -2*C I must be turning into a cold sleeper. I had full thermals and a Primaloft vest inside a -6*C rated (0*C comfort) bag and a Synmat 7 and was not really warm enough. I think I mostly felt cold from the ground.
I felt a lot less tangled up in the bivi bag than last tie though.
I yet again used a brush den to sleep in. I think the bit of cover they provide stops too much condensation forming on the bivi. In fact this time in the morning everything was completely dry.
Got cold hands packing up in the morning that never got warm on the 30min ride back home and suffered some u comfortable rewarding pains as a result. Must remember thin gloves for camp on days like this.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/066AOZM ... _-_Budlake

[RIP]

second breakfast by Hollingworth Lake

You'll find that a number of us judge a BaM solely by the second breakfast experience and that looks a good one, got proper baby tomatoes and everything. Mildly concerned about the gunge next to the tomatoes though. What's that? Can't quite make it out. There's an air of avocado about it but it's not quite right somehow.

[Johnallan]

second breakfast by Hollingworth Lake

You'll find that a number of us judge a BaM solely by the second breakfast experience and that looks a good one, got proper baby tomatoes and everything. Mildly concerned about the gunge next to the tomatoes though. What's that? Can't quite make it out. There's an air of avocado about it but it's not quite right somehow.

I think it was avocado. It was the worst tasting item on the plate and I'm sure it was just added to justify the cost. It still went down the hole though and the coffee was great

[RIP]

That pint of Landlord by the fire looked very convivial too. Anyway, enjoyed the write-up, nice frosty one. Very workmanlike bike and setup there .