Bivvy a month for 2013

[Loz394]

Thanks for sharing guys, inspiring stuff

[Cheeky Monkey]

Cracking picture of Taylors Lunar

I agree, very cool 8-)

The first one has far too much man-gusset for my liking though :?

[gairym]

4 out of 4 for 2013 so far!

I'm in the process of putting a little trip report together (for my blog which I'll post here when it's done) but in the meantime.....

The highlight of the trip was at 01:30 this morning when I found myself up in a tree in my pants armed with only a headtorch and leatherman as a huge male boar nibbled on my handlebars thinking: "should've grabbed my down jacket, why didn't I pick-up the camera, I'm gonna need a bigger knife"!

[InspiredRamblings]

Ha ha ha he he he... That's brilliant! Look forward to reading about it!

[99percentchimp]

gairym wrote:
"should've grabbed my down jacket, why didn't I pick-up the camera, I'm gonna need a bigger knife"!

Was your next thought "how much crackling will there be on this one!"

Excellent - looking forward to a read of that Gairy!

[Ian]

Were the grips Titec pork rinds?

[gairym]

ok, here goes (sorry, it's a little long):

You know a trip has gone a little awry when it's 01:30 in the morning and you're sat up a tree in your pants, armed with only a headtorch and leatherman watching a wild boar attempt to eat your bike!

So.....what happened?

The plan was simple enough: Head out for my April overnighter somewhere lower in altitude than here (to save my still recovering spine) and do a nice little ride, sleep somewhere purdy, ride some more and then head home - what could go wrong?

The first days riding was fairly straight forward - the terrain was nice if not massively challenging and the views were pretty without being breathtaking - all good.

I was trying out a few bits of new kit as well as honing my weight/kit distribution for my upcoming 'big trip' and everything was working out perfectly.

The tubeless 29er was riding better than anticipated (it's first bikepacking venture), the tubeless set-up is still performing as advertised and trouble free, the recently serviced rear brake is still working great and so all was well.

Here are a few shots taken during day 01.....

Near the start (trying the Thermarest mounted on the bars with my dry-bag which didn't work as it rubbed):



Cherry blossom - proof that Spring is actually coming:



A dainty little ford became a proper tricksy bugger with an extra foot of snow melt to negotiate (proper COLD, I tell thee!):



I did a few little climbs (not as small as the route had claimed actually!) and enjoyed some pleasant late evening views:



and.....



I came across this burnt-out wind turbine which didn't inspire confidence as I rode under the other 20!



As nightfall approached I found a lovely little spot on a grassy patch with some surrounding foliage to protect from the wind - perfect.

Here's the tent and bike just before I retired for the night:



and the inside - am loving my double sleeping mat combo (light at 650g for the pair and with an R rating of 3.8):



I was warm, comfortable and very happy in my little home for the night and, after an hour spent reading and doing some light back stretches, I dropped off to sleep at around 23:00.

At just after 01:00 I heard an almighty noise which I immediately recognised as being pig-based in origin (having kept pigs for the last few years) which meant that I'd either accidentally camped next to a top-secret hidden pig farm (you never know?) or that there were some feisty wild boar roaming the area.

It's always a possibility that you'll cross paths with some boar when you camp in France but it never actually happens. We've been living here for 5 years and I've only (very briefly) glimpsed one once in all of that time - they're very reclusive animals.

So.....I popped out, did a big circular wee around the tent, popped one of my headtorches on blinking red setting (so that they knew I was there - obviously) and went back to bed.

I laid there for half an hour without hearing a thing and eventually starting dropping off to sleep when.....

The unmistakable and very VERY close grunting of a boar sounded right next to the tent - bugger!

I was up and out in seconds which resulted in some frantic running around, grunting and confusion from all involved before we all regained our bearings and calmed down.

Boar will run from humans 99.9% of the time but, especially during breeding season (now-ish), if you are within a certain distance of a boar when it realises that you're there it'll charge and that can be pretty damn nasty!

One individual decided to do just this coming hurtling through the bushes and sounding a lot bigger than it actually was which prompted me to make a hasty (yet dignified) retreat up a near-by oak tree.

And so I came to find myself up a tree in my pants, in the middle of the night, armed with only a headtorch and leatherman watching as one of the braver boar explored my gear and even gave an exploratory nibble to my bike before they got bored and wandered off.

I came down and was thinking that as soon as they'd moved off I'd head back to bed but they just kept getting closer and then further away again without actually leaving the area and so eventually I began (whilst keeping a very keen eye on my surrounding) packing up and decided to begin the second days riding a little earlier than planned.

I was packed-up and away within half an hour and took a road route (as I didn't have my good off-road lights with me just a couple of headtorches) directly back to the car.

Below you can see the bike all packed up (this time with the sleeping bag mounted under the seat which I think I quite like!):



Once back at the car I managed to get another couple of hours of very uncomfortable semi-sleep in the passengers seat (not ideal for my back or newly cricked neck!) before sorting my crap out when it got light and setting off home.

Not the most successful of trips ever and especially annoying as I think that the second half of the ride would've yielded some great trails but it certainly was a sniff more of an adventure than I'd initially planned!

Right, I'm off to bed.....

[InspiredRamblings]

Thats brilliant! Now if only there was somehow a picture of you up said tree...

[Zippy]

he he, I enjoyed reading that Gairy.

[johnnystorm]

Thats brilliant! Now if only there was somehow a picture of you up said tree...

Only one of him back at the car I'm afraid....

[slugwash]

Here's April's Dartmoor bivi (don't ask about the March bivi disaster, I'll knock out an extra one in May to make up for it )





Tofu sausages and not what it might look like...





Camping mat sprung a severe leak so foraged bracken was pressed into service...




Too beautiful to fry on the gas stove so was put back into the lake...

[99percentchimp]

April Bivi was a chance to make the best of the forecast for a 24 hour Trans-Snowdonia from work in Conwy to make a train back on Saturday lunchtime from Mach (to get back for James and the Giant Peach with the family!). Left work at 1300 and travelled pretty much direct south on Sarn Helen and Ian's C2C route.
A few new trails and a few familiar ones (from Ian's C2C route - thanks), a few mechanicals, some serious pushing and bike hauling, some industrial archaeology and great food (a must! Ian will remember a great cafe for breakky in Dolgellau - still brilliant).
Thanks for the inspiration and motivation :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99percentc ... 288018567/


April_Bivi-5 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr

April_Bivi-22 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr

April_Bivi-42 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr

[sillybigfella]

Managed a quick trip out a few weeks ago. Train to Mach, and followed a nice route around to the base of Cadair Idris. Trundled down to Tywyn the next morning and back to Newtown on the train.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillybigfe ... 668239576/


P1040787 by sillybigfella, on Flickr

One of the highlights on the route was passing Bron y Aur, where a generation of Welsh virgins were deflowered by messrs Page, Plant et al....


P1040791 by sillybigfella, on Flickr

Managed to find a little re-entrant out of the wind.


P1040807 by sillybigfella, on Flickr


P1040806 by sillybigfella, on Flickr

There must a good few of these pics around..... :D


P1040815 by sillybigfella, on Flickr

[jameso]

The highlight of the trip was at 01:30 this morning when I found myself up in a tree in my pants armed with only a headtorch and leatherman as a huge male boar nibbled on my handlebars

:) Great post..
I was woken up by a boar in France once, didn't know what it was at first, I moved, something large grunted and crashed through the bushes and I nearly ruined my sleeping bag! Big aren't they?

3/4 - Back to the old school, almost.

This weekend, another long ride / short bivi. Took the Jones SS this time, was a bit spur-of-moment based on a good forecast but all good. Had my new loop bars, map-holder and sleeping bag to try out too. Great weekend for it. Went out of the Chilterns, onto the Ridgeway and then turned back at the other end, aiming for a particularly nice fir-treed area of woods just outside Goring. Was one of those clear blue-sky days when all the hills seem more distant, the woods smell wonderful and Colorado probably can't offer much more. Reminded me a lot of the trip to Spain this time last year, the emerald super-green fields and spring flowers appearing.
A lighting experiment meant I didn't get as far as those woods on the return leg - the concentration from peering into the 1W headtorch-lit gloom even on a fairly well-lit night and the low speed needed to avoid death by rut (if you've ridden the Ridgeway / N Wessex downs area you'll know about the ruts!) slowed me down and I decided to bivi early. Turned out it was 11.30 - been a long day. Food, sleep and awake at first light for coffee and porridge via the beer can stove and mytimug. My kind of breakfast in bed, the sleeping bag was wonderfully cosy )

I was up and riding just before 7am. Got to the woods I had intended on bivi-ing in to find 100 ravers milling about and a sound system going! Wouldn't have slept well there but potentially would've had more fun, well if had I sufficient energy.. the music's just not as good as it was in the good old days of 89-92 though 8-)

After a brief chat with some friendly space cadets ('bike bloke, want some G+T?' er, no but thanks!' it was 7.30 am.. 'Had a good night?' 'yeaahhh...wicked' 'Takes me back a bit.. Universe and Entropy when I was younger, Carl Cox and Sasha.. ' 'No waaay.. saaaaaafe maate..' was about the sum of it)
I rode on, re-traced the route until near Watlington where I used my map holder to follow some extra loops based on those route card books that are going cheap now everyone uses GPS. Added a few hours and some great trails / links to familiar ones. Felt tired after that. Had about 4 hrs to go. Felt odd on the final hills going SS. Minor visual hallucinations, a shimmer at the edges that wasn't heat haze.. maybe something from the rave rubbed off on me haha. Or just needing proper food. 27hrs of riding with 4hrs kip. Got in, ate dinner and fell asleep about 10mins after putting down my plate. Brilliant weekend.

[ianfitz]

I'm leaving Aprils trip until late in the month again. Am riding from Sheffield to Buxton to a friends for Sunday lunch tomorrow. Just left home a bit earlier than I could have done ;-)

This update coming live from under my tarp. Got to love a bivy spot with good 3G signal...

Promise to take photos this time too! New quilt is working well - see report in the sleeping bag and quilt thread

Righto, sleep now and a better write up tomorrow...

[adjustablewench]

Due to crazy busy April I nearly didn't get any kind of bivi in. In my true last minute style that i seem to be adopting these days I grabbed the kids, phoned a friend and headed out on foot to one of my favourite hidden bits of the peak.

Pics on here - but no bicycles or any of me - just some of the offspring!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 441&type=1

[Ian]

Does 00:50 am until 05:00 am in Nant Rhys bothy count?
I was asleep for some of it.

In other bothy news, the upstairs at Nant Rhys is now closed. They've taken the staircase out and made another sleeping platform in the large room.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Does 00:50 am until 05:00 am in Nant Rhys bothy count?
I was asleep for some of it.

Busy was it?

[Bearbonesnorm]

April done

[99percentchimp]

s8tannorm wrote
April done

North of the border? Very Glen Coe looking in the top one!

[Bearbonesnorm]

North of the border? Very Glen Coe looking in the top one!

Glen Affric.

[Ian]

Does 00:50 am until 05:00 am in Nant Rhys bothy count?
I was asleep for some of it.

Busy was it?

Well, unbelievably, there were two other people in the there in the snug who decided to leave at 3am making a bit of noise and waking me up :(

[Taylor]

Any idea why they left?
Did they think you were the Nant Rhys strangler or something?

[Chew]

Aprils knocked out with Stu north of the boarder

[Taylor]

You knocked one out with stu?