Bivvy a month 2023.

[Leerowe76]

Pure scenery Peter & that caravan looks a little cracker maybe a 4 star by the looks nice one Reg, Frog & Kev

[Raggedstone]

This months bivvy was the No Sheep Till Buxton experience

2/12 for this year and 50 consecutive months

[RIP]

Given my enjoyment of graveyard bivvies and chapels and so on, this would seem a sound purchase.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/i ... s-29279521

I could bivvy in the graveyard whenever I liked since it would be mine. Ah, if it was mine it wouldn't count as a BaM would it. Back to the drawing board.

[fatbikephil]

Bivvy in progress. Currently in a bird hide next to loch leven. I wish the sodding geese would shut up!

[RIP]

Got any grape juice to throw at them Phil?

"Geese hate the smell of methyl anthranilate more than anything else. Methyl anthranilate is a chemical that naturally occurs in grape juice and is often used as an artificial grape flavouring. Methyl anthranilate is the scent that irritates geese the most".

Or any lettuce handy?

"Geese also enjoy conventional dog toys or bells to chew on and play with. Nosing around a few toys will not only help keep them amused, it will also keep them relatively quiet. You can also hang a head of lettuce from a rope"

They're supposed to sleep at night apparently...

[Moder-dye]

Yeh sometimes the countryside isn't so peaceful!

In shetland the bloody.oyster catchers would make a racket 24/7 in the summer, but then it hardly even got dark either.

[Boab]

Bivvy in progress. Currently in a bird hide next to loch leven. I wish the sodding geese would shut up!

That's the one problem I've found with kipping in bird hides. The birds wont shut up!

[Verena]

Bivvy in progress. Currently in a bird hide next to loch leven. I wish the sodding geese would shut up!

That's the one problem I've found with kipping in bird hides. The birds wont shut up!

It's almost as if someone had deliberately put these things in places where there are a lot of birds in the vicinity....

[fatbikephil]

Turns out it was four swans although they made enough racket for a flock. I had a gander at them (gedit) this morning and then they all flocked off, never to be seen again!
It would have been difficult to get close enough to squirt grape juice at them Reg, without some kind of boat....

Anyway, February done 2/2. More later

[Verena]

My February BAM was Thursday night, or rather early Friday morning, a short bit if sleeping after my night ride which I will post about elsewhere, in my favourite local field by the river close to home - there are some really lovely old oak trees there which I have often fancies sleeping under, but I usually end up by the river bank.

This time I made my spot here. Always nice to have a big comfy tree trunk to sit up and lean against, which I did while making and drinking my first coffee at 4.30 am....

At one point a confused and panicky looking (or I guess it's just the general look sheep often have) stampede of sheep rushed past me, and I saw another group moving a bit further away, so who knows what interesting herd dynamics had been going there...

If it wasn't for the nearby town and A40 with the lights and noises, this would be such a peaceful spot... but I like it anyway.

Decided to make a second coffee just before heading home for breakfast, but first found that my little bag of coffee bags, coffee whitener and assorted tea bags, hot chocolate etc. was in fact just full of empties ; then, having decided to boil and just have hot water anyway, the mug decided to just jump off the stove and spill itself just at the point when it was ready ... - so I gave up and headed home.

2/12 this year.

IMG_20230224_065255 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[GoneCaving]

Another box ticking exercise this month due to coming down with the lurgy early in the month, and a cave rescue training exercise last weekend. So I headed out for another local bivvy last night. I left my house just as the missus was heading off to a warm cosy bed, and out into a nice, but cold night. I had planned to camp around an old famine-era village nearby, but found a nicer spot a little closer. Quick pitch, and after a few moments of stargazing, settled in for the night with an audiobook for company (and rather surprisingly, none of the sheep which usually graze on that area). I lasted until 5am, when a combination of the cold, and the need for a pee was the motiviation to pack up and head home to a warm bed. Reflecting back on a year ago, when I camped in similar weather, I'm quite a bit warmer, and actually getting some half-decent sleep, but still feel like I'm losing too much heat to the ground. I guess I might need to think about replacing my Alpkit Cloudbase with something better for this time of year.



February BBBaM

[Verena]

February BAM started on Saturday afternoon in Crickhowell. The forecast for cloudy but dry weather with a gentle breeze proved accurate as I set off up into the Black Mountains past The Hermitage and up the track into the hills.

The wind kept up throughout the night meaning a fitful sleep but it had blown itself out by the morning. New skill learnt during the night - up for an old-man-pee and having to stand with one foot on the bivvy bag to stop it blowing away whilst carefully peeing with the wind away from the bag

After enjoying the views it was the long descent down towards Cwmdu where I was planning to enjoy brunch. Stopping to chat with a couple of farmers as I came off the hill brought the bad news that the cafe had closed down a short while back
No option for it but to continue my ride back to the van in glorious sunshine.

Nice one

Yes the stop-the-bed-flying-away-whilst-having-a-pee in the night challenge was a new one to me as well, exactly a year ago at the bivvy world record attempt, high up above Cwm Gwdi. Can't remember quite how I did it, but it involved me conjuring up my inner elastigirl https://www.bing.com/images/search?view ... ajaxserp=0

Cafe in Cwmdu was shut?? I'd only recently rediscovered it and decided to make it more part of my regular haunts...

[Verena]

Another box ticking exercise this month due to coming down with the lurgy early in the month, and a cave rescue training exercise last weekend. So I headed out for another local bivvy last night. I left my house just as the missus was heading off to a warm cosy bed, and out into a nice, but cold night. I had planned to camp around an old famine-era village nearby, but found a nicer spot a little closer. Quick pitch, and after a few moments of stargazing, settled in for the night with an audiobook for company (and rather surprisingly, none of the sheep which usually graze on that area). I lasted until 5am, when a combination of the cold, and the need for a pee was the motiviation to pack up and head home to a warm bed. Reflecting back on a year ago, when I camped in similar weather, I'm quite a bit warmer, and actually getting some half-decent sleep, but still feel like I'm losing too much heat to the ground. I guess I might need to think about replacing my Alpkit Cloudbase with something better for this time of year.



February BBBaM

That looks like a nice spot though. I love local bivvies.

Re the ground, I can recommend those foil windshield covers you can get for cars - I used one recently in the Pyrenees when it was well below freezing, worked a treat, and made me giggle when I was thinking about all the endless discussions about R values

[GoneCaving]

That looks like a nice spot though. I love local bivvies.

Re the ground, I can recommend those foil windshield covers you can get for cars - I used one recently in the Pyrenees when it was well below freezing, worked a treat, and made me giggle when I was thinking about all the endless discussions about R values

Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds like something worth checking out.

[Verena]

That looks like a nice spot though. I love local bivvies.

Re the ground, I can recommend those foil windshield covers you can get for cars - I used one recently in the Pyrenees when it was well below freezing, worked a treat, and made me giggle when I was thinking about all the endless discussions about R values

Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds like something worth checking out.

No no, don't , I was joking!!!!

[GoneCaving]

No no, don't , I was joking!!!!

Hmmm, it still doesn’t sound like a totally crazy idea!

[Verena]

No no, don't , I was joking!!!!

Hmmm, it still doesn’t sound like a totally crazy idea!

Bulky to pack.

But for weight, simplicity and warmth, it worked.

[Johnallan]

February..

Roadie miles straight from work yesterday.

12:00 finish in Huddersfield, a bit of effort on the hilly back lanes to Settle to make the Bakery before closing time, sunset near Ingleton, second tea from Hawes chippy, over a very cold Fleet Moss to a nice church doorway in Kettlewell for a lie down at around 10pm.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oiQHTh]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oiS3R8]

Off again at 6:00, first daffies and lambs spotted, breakfast from Ilkley co-op then a few more hilly miles back home for another breakfast.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oiTbgL]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2oiN3xZ]

Roughly 150 miles/17k ft

BaM 2/12 (14/14)

[psling]

Cafe in Cwmdu was shut?? I'd only recently rediscovered it and decided to make it more part of my regular haunts...

Unfortunately yes. Apparently the long road closure a little while back and an upcoming rent increase meant they had to close.
But... they have opened up again in Talgarth so I was told

[Verena]

That looks perfect @John!

Thanks @Pete, I will have a look out for them in Talgarth then...

[RIP]

That looks perfect @John!

Yep, lovely little doorway that, well chosen .

[Leerowe76]

Great pics John and an epic ride to go with

[Leerowe76]

February BAM ticked off.

Last minute dot com this month and should have gone earlier as I had the time just got lazy I guess, long week/weekend in work followed by a lergy of some kind but made it to Bryn Alyn again just a different spot

B3 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B1 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B2 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B4 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B5 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

The sunrise was worth it, coughed all the way home

Feb BAM complete

2/12

[Leerowe76]

Last minute dot com this month and should have gone earlier as I had the time just got lazy I guess, long week/weekend in work followed by a lergy of some kind but made it to Bryn Alyn again just a different spot.
A small rock formation sheltered from light winds done the trick too

B3 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B1 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B2 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B4 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

B5 by LEE ROWE, on Flickr

The sunrise was worth it, coughed all the way home

Feb BAM complete

2/12

[Verena]

Nice Lee

Sunrises are the best bit.