Bivvy a Month 2016.

[Mike]

They sure are and I love em!

[Taylor]

Matt rode out with me to Penrhos Isaf where we had the bothy to ourselves then a ride around The Beast to finish in the morning before being back on dad duties.
8/8

[Lawmanmx]

They sure are and I love em!

Yup, me too Mike, best bars Ever!

[GregV]

7/7 Mid week peaks. Lovely warm & dry ride (& long push) from home onto Kinder. Up at 4.30am for a very wet ride home, breakfast & a weary day in work. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
IMG_8469 by Green Vegetables, on Flickr
IMG_8474 by Green Vegetables, on Flickr
IMG_8480 by Green Vegetables, on Flickr

What tent is that Greg ?

It's the fly sheet from an old Saunders Spacepacker (it's over 30 years old - got it for my 21st!) if I flip my bike over the fly sheet fits over it quite nicely & leaves plenty of space inside.

[Scattamah]

Multiple bivvies this month...on the road side half way up Col de Finestre, behind an old telco box 3/4 the way up Col L'Izoard, in a park somewhere between Demonte and Limonte and not really a bivvy but more of a passing out (with helmet and shoes still on) behind a rock on the climb out of Sospel.

8/9.

Greetz

S.

[GregV]

9/9 Beauty of a night in the Peaks searching for mermaids with a mate & his son

IMG_9067 by Green Vegetables, on Flick

I was sat in my bivvy bag admiring the morning moon & saw this:

IMG_9064 by Green Vegetables, on Flickr

[RIP]

Hope you found the mermaid! Barley Mow pub at Bonsall has one of course ;-).

Just back from a week riding the Voies Vertes in Brittany. Boat from Portsmouth, train to Morlaix, then ride back from Morlaix - Carhaix - Dinan - St Malo. Only managed to convince my mates to camp one night, plus a night "bivvying" on the boat floor overnight on the way, but hopefully you don't mind if a/ I count it as a bivvy and b/ as bikepacking. I know there's been some discussion in the 'hood about "bikepacking" V "touring" ;-). The routes are old metre-gauge railway lines closed in the 60s. Not everyone's cup of tea because they are, obviously, quite flat and straight. Also they tend to have trees lining both sides so the views are a bit minimal. However it's a very peaceful ride, there's loads of old fashioned caffs and bars, and plenty of cliche faded Bretagnique villages and equally faded Breton vieux and vielles to pass the time of day with. Don't try and cross the Dinan - St Malo road bridge like we did though ;-).

http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where ... -ways.html

My mate's Spesh Rockhopper 1985 vintage! -





"Monsieur Reg"

[JohnClimber]

Just counting back.
I've been out overnight just 11 times in 2016 and have been once (or more) a month following my operation in April from May until this month.
Looks like it would be rude not to carry on, but not to stress if I fail.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Just out of interest, how many people are on track for a 12/12 for 2016? I'm thinking of getting some nice badges or patches made in recognition of successful 'bivvy a month' endevours ... maybe it'd be a small incentive for 2017 too?

[whitestone]

Not me - missed April due to work

[Taylor]

I'm on track at the moment.

[RIP]

missed one . Could we have green/yellow/red for 12/11/10? Er, I'll get me coat.....

[HaYWiRe]

Just out of interest, how many people are on track for a 12/12 for 2016? I'm thinking of getting some nice badges or patches made in recognition of successful 'bivvy a month' endevours ... maybe it'd be a small incentive for 2017 too?

*cough* did somebody mention patches? *cough*


#shamelessselfplug

[MuddyPete]

I'll consider the next few months a warm-up for 2017, then.
A paltry 4/9 so far, but last night was the first time on a 'school night'. Made for quite a surreal day at work: one to be repeated.
Somewhere in the woods near Bletchley. Only visible by police helicopter with a thermal camera...


...with miles of discrete twisty trails on the way to work (38 in total).

[frogatthefarriers]

Me, I'm on 20/20 now, though I confess, most of my bivvies have been a single night out, fairly local, with the purpose being the bivvy, not the ride.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Me, I'm on 20/20 now, though I confess, most of my bivvies have been a single night out, fairly local, with the purpose being the bivvy, not the ride.

Nowt wrong with that Lu, some camp to ride and others ride to camp.

[RIP]

Hello M-P, I recognise that tree ;-). Lots of scope for bivvies in "that area" of course. Am just down the road. Maybe you'll be available for the "SE Wimps" pre-Xmas bivi discussed elsewhere...

"Reg"

[MuddyPete]

RIP - Cheers! Sounds interesting: I'll have a look at dates & let you know.
Pete

[RIP]

I think it was 10-11 Dec that Stu came up with. "Events all round the country". Sounds dodgily similar to Eurovision to me - presumably we all put our reports in and Stu awards every area between Nil (sorry, "nul") and 10 points for style, content, effort, possibly even singing......

"Reg"

[Blair512]

I'm on track for 12/12, hoping to keep pushing it beyond that as well. Loving getting out camping more and enjoying solo camps now when I used to hate it. Nothing beats sitting in the woods brewing up by yourself and just listening to the silence! Would love a patch to stick on the frame bag

[TimBB]

I'm still up for 12/12 ~ All 9 completed so far, although not all by bike. Some were walks in Lake District

[Taylor]

9/9 waking up near a film crew this morning ready to film another sh*te period drama.
Jbay was along for the night.

[MuddyPete]

I think it was 10-11 Dec that Stu came up with.

That's good for me for a 'South East'-ish Winter bivi.
Are there any plans, or is everyone open to suggestions?

[RIP]

M-P, we've been relocated over to the PlayingOut>SEWinterBivvy thread, see you round there.....

"Reg"

[frogatthefarriers]

Garrh! I typed all this in the other night, still in September but lost it when I pressed the Preview Post button. Gawd knows where it went - it's not in my saved drafts. But anyway, I'll try again...

9/9 Moel Prysgau.

Chew proposed this ride in "Mid Wales route suggestions" in the Routes thread. Last Tuesday saw me pedal out from Llanwrtyd Wells in the dark at about 8 o'clock, after a plate full of liver-and-onions and a pint of Thatchers at the Stonecroft Arms. I was aiming to hammock in the forestry north of Sugar Loaf Halt, but when I tried to find the route I'd put into the Etrex it wasn't there. Never mind, I'd got Viewranger to fall back on and a good idea where I wanted to be. Found a good spot and bedded down for the night here:-

Picture taken in the morning after packing up.

After packing up next morning I found my (tubeless) back tyre had gone soft. Pumped it up again and set off but it was down again after about ten minutes. Now at this point I said a mental "thank you" to Tony, Lawmanmax, who'd given me an "Are-you-mad?" look when I said I didn't have a spare tube when we were riding to Bearstock. Because of that look, I had brought one this time, thank goodness. What I didn't have was any means to undo the knurled screw on the ghetto tubeless valve stem. No pliers. Eventually, using various bits of metal and a teaspoon, said nut came off and tube put in. I found five thorns sticking through the tyre when I checked before putting the tube in and the Stans fluid to have mostly dried out. After the best part of an hour I was on my way again into the rain that had gradually started as I was working.

Now, although I had Viewranger to navigate by, my phone was rendered useless by the rain. The screen couldn't respond when wet and I had no effective way to keep it dry. Water had got into the plastic case when I took it out to take a photo. With not having an Etrex track to follow, at every junction the pantomime of trying to find a dry bit of clothing to wipe phone screen and fingers got me to the verge of launching it into the trees.

I got to Moel Prysgau eventually, soaked, at 6 o'clock after starting out at 9. That's nine hours to do 30 miles. As soon as I'd stopped the cold set in and when getting changed I found that I'd brought two trackie bottoms but no top. Lucky I had a down gilet and hoodie. When looking around the bothy I found a packet of Cuppasoup still in date and a brown-bread roll with only a tiny bit of mould on it. These warmed me up enough to get on with cooking a main meal,

which in turn put me into a cozy state to go to bed. That and six ounces of port from the hip flask.



Next morning was the "right-of-passage" thing through the water splashes. There are a few videos on YouTube of people crossing the river but the water looks just high enough to cover their shoes. On MY river crossings, after it had rained all the previous day, it was up to my nads. There's so much buoyancy in the fat tyres that the bike kept trying to float away. At least the water wasn't too cold after the first shock.

On the subject of Rights-of-Passage, where is this Strata Florida track that people talk of with a shudder?

I didn't like the push up the Devils' staircase at all.

At Abergwesyn on the turning for Llanwrtyd was this:-


So I ignored it thinking there's always a way around, but my shoulders sagged when there was a police car parked in the middle of the road a couple of miles further on. Bobby said that a milk lorry had crashed and to be careful going down the hill. What a relief.



I reached my car at eleven-ish, changed into dry togs in the public toilets and went for a well-earned all-day breakfast at the Drovers Restaurant. Very very good it was too.