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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:23 pm
by sean_iow
First weekend of the month so the first chance to try the hammock. I decided to go Friday night as the forecast for Saturday is sleet. I didn't take long to pack and I was ready. I really should make a bigger seat pack to balance the load more.

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The large front bag always looks huge but I guess that's the reality of winter trips. I'd planned a 10 mile loop but I'd only been going about 2 miles when it started to rain. As I was basically going nowhere I took a short cut and was at my destination in less than 5 miles. I got the tarp up, hung the hammock and started on dinner. Having somewhere to sit is a big plus, much better than sitting on the ground, especially when trying to eat.

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I lit the stove (BB 22g) and for this I have a bit of stainless wire with a pigs tail shape on the end. I dip it in the stove, light it and then dip that back in to light the stove, it saves having to try and get the lighter into the stove. I put the lighting device down and picked up the windshield, which is sectional and in 3 bits. Two of the hinges are fixed and the last join is held together by a 'U' shaped pin I made from the same stainless wire as the lighter. I picked up the joining U and held this in my lips (as you would a nail ready to use) and aligned the joint in the windshield.... except I'd picked up the still hot stove lighter and put the hot end in my oouth :o Ouch, luckily my water bottle was handy and it's no worse than you'd get from hot jam.

Post dinner and changed I then began the fun of getting into my bag, on a mat (I don't have an under-quilt) and getting comfy. The more I fidgeted and adjusted the more the hammock began to swing, which made it harder as well. I did eventually get sorted but I seemed to be in the bottom of the hammock and despite my efforts my head was quite a bit lower than my feet. The swinging was also making me feel a bit queasy but after a while either I got used to it or it stopped.

I did wake in the night, it had got quite a bit colder. I was wearing base layers, had my new Ghost Whisperer on, a hat and my down booties. I was in a bag with a comfort rating of -10 but I had also brought my 150 quilt just in case, which I'd hung in a bag on the ridgeline so added that and I was much warmer. I seem to be a colder sleeper the older I get. I'm usually a side sleeper but I couldn't manage that but I did have a pretty good nights sleep... I've had much much worse before... 2019 HT550 for starters :lol: It got down to 0.5 degrees but I was warm enough, I could tell the mat was working as when I leant against the hammock I could feel the cold.

With nowhere to be I laid in for quite a bit in the morning before getting up for breakfast. The sun was up and gradually warming the woods with the previous nights damp rising through the trees.

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I cooked up breakfast and sat an enjoyed my coffee watching the birds and listening to a distant woodpecker. I've seen enough Shug videos to know that 'porch mode' should be deployed for breakfast and just lollygaging* :grin:

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Fortunately the trees were near enough as I didn't have any poles with me. Before anyone worries, Ralph didn't sleep in the ridgeline organiser, he'd have froze up there. Despite the sun it was still only 2 degrees but the new jacket, plus many other layers, kept the chill off.

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I had spotted a strange object from my bed, it looked like a large toadstool, and was about 40 feet away. Venturing over to see what it was....

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I've no idea how that could have got there, apart from being in a private garden, it's thick scrub woodland, you'd never be able to kick it to there from anywhere clear, perhaps the squirrels like a kick-about? :lol:

I had fitted a structural ridgeline to the hammock with the length set as per The Ultimate Hang recommendation but wondered if that was the issue with the lay. As I had all day I undid this and adjusted the suspension and I did manage to get a flatter lay, I had another 40 minutes laying down watching the wildlife to be sure :grin: I spotted the Jay my mum says has been digging up the nuts the squirrel buries as soon as he goes, I think he was waiting for the squirrel to head down for breakfast. As I left I noticed that spring must be just around the corner.

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I didn't see any snowdrops which are usually first here. I had thought about heading out on a ride to look for a bacon bap or similar but as the garages here don't need to sell such things (nowhere is far enough from home to have to eat on the way) it would need to be takeaway from a cafe and I decided that it would be a fruitless task so gave up on that. Once packed away it was only 15 minutes before I had a house full of kit to air and coffee and pastry.

So, how was my first night in a hammock? Well, surprisingly good, I did manage to sleep and I was warm enough for the most part, but, I seem to have motion sickness :sad: Even as I sit here nearly 10 hours later it feels like I'm still rocking back and forth and it's making me a bit nauseous. Perhaps I'm prone to this sort of thing. When I raced land rovers I would often still feel the motion of the car after a rough race, even hours later, particularly when laying down, I also once went on one of those simulators where the room is on hydraulic rams and moves in time with the action on the screen of a roller-coaster or fighter jet, it made me dizzy for 2 days. Let's hope it's not going to happen every time as I think the hammock will be ideal for some locations. I only remember the dizziness after racing from when I started so perhaps I'll adapt to this as well, or just take seasickness tablets :lol:

Sean 2/2 BAM Ralph 11/12 FSL


*lollygag, verb, informal, North American, spend time aimlessly; idle. Favourite pastime of Shug

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:59 am
by Borderer
RIP wrote: Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:58 am Still, on the upside, because my groundsheet was frozen to the lawn, it ripped half the lawn up when I lifted it, so I've now got a sort of portable rolled-up lawn that I can use if I'm unable to find a decent bit of bivvy ground in future.
Best laugh I have had all year.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:05 am
by Borderer
Alan63 wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:27 am Fraser doesn't have any targets this year so he's decided he wants to try become the youngest BaM completer. At the moment he is 13 and will be 14 in November. Bold statement from him
Great, good luck to him. From memory Joe was 14 years and 7 months so he should beat him easily if he stays the course. :-bd

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:52 pm
by frogatthefarriers
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Before anyone worries, Ralph didn't sleep in the ridgeline organiser, he'd have froze up there. Despite the sun it was still only 2 degrees but the new jacket, plus many other layers, kept the chill off.

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A picture of Ralph in your posts always makes me smile. Soppy innit? I had thought to take the BB bunny from last years Winter Event as a bivvy buddy but Mrs Frog has nabbed him. :sad:

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:59 pm
by Andiphim
The weather looked like it was going to get wetter then colder(and it did) so I decided last Thursday was my only chance to get a decent ride in before I go away for work.
I managed a lovely 40 mile ride with a stop for a brew in the sun.
Once home I pitched my tent in the garden and then went in the house for some food. When everyone was going to bed I went off to my tent.
Even though it was a chilly night I slept till 7am.
Lucky I chose Thursday, it rained all day Friday and the garden was flooded by the end of the day and then covered in snow at the weekend.
When out on my ride I checked out a possible bivy spot for a future camp out, next month hopefully.
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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:21 pm
by whitestone
Sean - structural ridgeline, I started with one end fixed and then spent a while at different sags of the hammock until I found what I felt was right then fixed the other end. It just so happened to end up at the "recommended" 83% or whatever but it wasn't planned that way.

Getting the head-foot level right also takes a while and again is just trial and error. Might be different for different length hammocks, different widths, even your own weight distribution, dunno. Possible that using a mat introduces another slippery surface so you slide further towards the centre of the hammock.

I find the swinging motion stops very quickly, less than a minute, unless I'm actively encouraging it - or the cat jumps on me.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:07 pm
by sean_iow
whitestone wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:21 pm I find the swinging motion stops very quickly, less than a minute, unless I'm actively encouraging it - or the cat jumps on me.
I thought the swinging stopped quite quickly, I couldn't see that I was moving relative to the tarp ridge-line above me.

I don't know what caused the motion sickness, but it lasted right into the next night. Maybe my head was too low in relation to my body? Certainly the combination of slippery hammock fabric with a slippery mat on top and inside a bag with a slippery finish made staying where I wanted to be difficult.

I'll have to try again with the flatter hang to see if I still get the nausea afterwards, but as you can imagine I'm not overly keen to have to go through 16 hours of feeling sick to find out :YMSICK:

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:03 pm
by Verena
sean_iow wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:07 pm
whitestone wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:21 pm I find the swinging motion stops very quickly, less than a minute, unless I'm actively encouraging it - or the cat jumps on me.
I thought the swinging stopped quite quickly, I couldn't see that I was moving relative to the tarp ridge-line above me.

I don't know what caused the motion sickness, but it lasted right into the next night. Maybe my head was too low in relation to my body? Certainly the combination of slippery hammock fabric with a slippery mat on top and inside a bag with a slippery finish made staying where I wanted to be difficult.

I'll have to try again with the flatter hang to see if I still get the nausea afterwards, but as you can imagine I'm not overly keen to have to go through 16 hours of feeling sick to find out :YMSICK:
That's a shame. I love the swinging motion. Though once or twice it's made me a bit dizzy and disorientated...no wait that might have been the cider :lol:

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm
by RIP
Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:36 pm
by ScotRoutes
It only got down to -18.5 here last night.

Hardly seemed worthwhile.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:48 pm
by sean_iow
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c?
When I heard that on the radio this morning I thought to myself, I'm glad I wasn't there, it was cold enough in September :grin:

They obviously didn't cover Scotland in geography at school as prior to riding there I had no clue to what was where. On the travel news as they read out a long list of roads blocked by snow I realised that not only did I now know where they were but I'd cycled through all the places named :smile: Only a tropical -2 here, we miss out on the worst/best of the temps, but make up for it with windspeed.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:53 pm
by fatbikephil
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...
Bloody hell, I could have finally used my -30 bag! -10 here last night but I'm on the boards this week and weekend so no bivvy until next weekend which is looking very mild.....

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:53 pm
by benp1
Bagged my Feb BAM last night. Fairly uneventful compared with the very cold and crash-on-black-ice bivvy last month. Weather hovered around zero, the new montane insulated socks made such a difference. Saw a few buzzards and a kestrel hunting overhead on my ride this morning. Impressively, my zojirushi flask of coffee was still hot 12 hours later

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:58 pm
by redefined_cycles
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...
Looks like winter is over as temps are going back up to 2 and 5... from minus 2 and 5 (-18 for Colin obviously).

I'm this much away from my Feb BAM...

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:17 am
by ScotRoutes
I can see grass in my garden for the first time since Xmas eve. 😂

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 8:59 am
by sean_iow
redefined_cycles wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:58 pm Looks like winter is over as temps are going back up to 2 and 5... from minus 2 and 5 (-18 for Colin obviously).
It was already 8 when I left home this morning at 07:15 and he forecast is for 10 by the middle of the day, but as for winter being over.... we had snow in March/April here one year.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:20 am
by ScotRoutes
It's long been the case that we have more white Easters than White Xmases.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:23 am
by Mythste
It really hasn't been going well for me round these here parts. The only few spots I can think of to get out sneakily and sensible are up in the hills. Which is usually fine.

I went out for a bimble on Saturday afternoon to one of the spots I had in mind as I knew it would be well sheltered to the north and the east. It's a bloody good job I didn't pitch up because the "shelter" had actually provided opportunity for the snow to blow over the top and bank in the "sheltered spot" leaving a 10 foot snow drift in precisely the spot I had intended to kip. I'm still learning, and although my BAM may end up starting in March at this rate I think I've learned a valuable lesson the easy way!

Picture doesn't do justice to the size of the drift! there's about 3 foot of snow beneath me (I sank a few times to get to this spot!)

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Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:29 am
by ScotRoutes
Count that as a lucky escape. I once climbed a hill to bivvy at the summit where there is a bit of a stone shelter. I'd actually unpacked my bivvy gear when the wind started blowing snow into my wee sheltered bit. After about 30 mins I realised I'd likely end up buried overnight so packed up and headed home.

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:31 am
by sean_iow
Mythste wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:23 am the snow to blow over the top and bank in the "sheltered spot" leaving a 10 foot snow drift in precisely the spot I had intended to kip.
Surely you just swap the tarp for a snow-shovel in the bivi kit and you'd be sorted :wink:

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:09 pm
by Mythste
sean_iow wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:31 am
Mythste wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:23 am the snow to blow over the top and bank in the "sheltered spot" leaving a 10 foot snow drift in precisely the spot I had intended to kip.
Surely you just swap the tarp for a snow-shovel in the bivi kit and you'd be sorted :wink:
I knew I was missing an obvious solution! :lol:

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:29 pm
by RIP
Night in the shed (or possibly the political doldrums) after our State Of The Nation Tour. -4degC but at least my mat didn't freeze to the floor.

2/12, 2/12, 61/61

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:30 pm
by Verena
redefined_cycles wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:58 pm
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...
Looks like winter is over as temps are going back up to 2 and 5... from minus 2 and 5 (-18 for Colin obviously).

I'm this much away from my Feb BAM...
And me, hopefully this weekend, I'm just waiting for those 14 degrees 🌄🔥

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:53 pm
by RIP
Verena wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:30 pm
redefined_cycles wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:58 pm
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...
Looks like winter is over as temps are going back up to 2 and 5... from minus 2 and 5 (-18 for Colin obviously).

I'm this much away from my Feb BAM...
And me, hopefully this weekend, I'm just waiting for those 14 degrees 🌄🔥
What're you like :wink: . Can't beat that jolly crunch of ice in the morning as you smash your way into your water supply!

Re: Bivvy a Month 2021

Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:54 pm
by Verena
RIP wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:53 pm
Verena wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 2:30 pm
redefined_cycles wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 11:58 pm
RIP wrote: Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:25 pm Anyone kip out in Braemar's -23c? Still annoyed I didn't manage our last night's -10c here although that's positively tropical in comparison.

Maybe this Saturday night...
Looks like winter is over as temps are going back up to 2 and 5... from minus 2 and 5 (-18 for Colin obviously).

I'm this much away from my Feb BAM...
And me, hopefully this weekend, I'm just waiting for those 14 degrees 🌄🔥
What're you like :wink: . Can't beat that jolly crunch of ice in the morning as you smash your way into your water supply!
Ok ok, I'll take some ice cubes..