Bivvy a month 2019

[Zippy]

Right, I'm all over this...for now!

I'll start a spreadsheet up and do some analysis later in the year too

[Bearbonesnorm]

Knew we could count on you there Zip

[Loki]

Signing on again, hoping to make a complete year this year and not just the tougher months, I found summer harder to get out during, first one is set, off out on the 12th for a night on the Quantocks, I will post up a link to my blog

[ScotRoutes]

Live BAM in progress. Metalheart and I camped in the dunes at Culbin.

[SeannyD]

First one of this year, just a little trip along the Forth coast to try stuff out. Poor quality pictures linked below.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/07GCbb9 ... AlDLkSmrZg

[restlessshawn]

Bit of riding round Newcastleton then a quiet night in Kershophead bothy last night. Had to pull 10 half melted beer cans out the stove and clean it out, when will people learn they don't burn? Came home with a bag of other people's rubbish in the seatpack Still a pleasant night followed by a foggy ride back to my van this morning.

unnamed by Shawn McFarlane, on Flickr

[gazaddy]

1/1 that's my year started. left home at around 9pm and did a 10 mile chilly and hilly ride / hab to the mast at Winter Hill Rivington , arrived at my spot to lovely clear skies and frost already forming on the ground ..bbbrrrrrr..first job Jetboil on , then start putting tent up ..both my wife and daughter were not to keen on me going out for the night due to the frosty conditions, m ( the wife mentioned something along the lines of " remember American werewolf in London "..LOL.. My daughter sent me on my way with a Gin & tonic in the new hip flask she got me for xmas and her small hot water bottle ( bless , she's 21). Anyway tent up, sleep kit sorted, sweaty clothes changed then brew in hand took in the views of the Northwest all lit up like a carpet of sparkling jewels and then to gaze upwards at the stars with the red beacons on the Winter Hill mast was amazing.but bloody freezing.
Settled down for bed just before midnight alarm set for 5.30 , slept like a log ,no werewolves or animals in the throws of passion not a sound only a slight breeze , perfect. woke up at 5.00 for a piddle then thought if I have to go out I'm getting up, so jetboil on, banana for brekkie packed up and headed home just in time to wave the wife off to work..All good

46621619342_c893e0bf70.jpg (71.01 KiB) Viewed 6497 times

[Shedbrewed]

The cold killed the phone so only pic is from departure but it was a cold night in the Welsh woods.
Who knows if February will be warmer?

https://flic.kr/p/QnauX8

[TheBrownDog]

1/1 for 2019 after a very late decision last night to go bivvy near the woods where my club coaches GoRide mountain biking on Saturdays. At least Id eaten dinner, so spared myself the expense and empty calories of a pub meal and several pints. It was after 9pm by the time Id strapped everything on the bike and headed out. I would normally go via Hodgemoor Woods and Penn Street, but given the time just followed the Misbourne River footpath up to Amersham, then up into Weedon Hill Woods.

I made the mistake of deciding to camp down near the train line, not because of the trains (they shwoosh past) but because that side was logged just a few years ago, so the trees in there are young and cramped, and there is still a lot of dead wood everywhere. I eventually found a reasonable spot and slung up my tarp and hammock, brewed up a cup of lemon and ginger tea and bedded down around 11pm

Eight hours later I woke feeling absurdly refreshed. It was very still, and nice and dry, so I raised the tarp up and pushed it back over my hammock to give me some room. Breakfast was brought to me via via Tent Meals (linky below) who do vegie dehydrated camping foods. (Reg, if you're listening, give them a go. Expensive, yes. Heavier, yes, but still way nicer that yer porage)

https://tentmeals.co.uk/

I had forgotten my spork so put my BearGrylsSkills to the test and whittled a spoon from a piece of wood using the tiny pen knife on my tiny Gerber multi tool. There then followed two cups of coffee while I swung gently in my hammock for an hour. So relaxing. I could have stayed there all day, cosy warm and hidden away.

But I had stuff to do, so I packed slowly and headed into Hyde Heath to get some Haribo for the kids at coaching, sweets being the most important component of any youth coach's first aid kit. Coaching went well, though it was exhausting, so I rode home mostly on roads and am now showered and fed, looking forward to dinner with some friends this evening.

Also looking forward to February, and thinking it might be another "man in a shed" experience, though this time I'll drop the firewood round there rather than cart it in.

[RIP]

Impressed with the spoon whittling Tim. I'm assuming you did a really good job and ended up with some sort of super-intricate Welsh love spoon style of thing..

[darbeze]

Despite my vans best efforts stopping me getting to the Winter Event. I regrouped in Malvern and, setting off at around 8.30pm, rode up to the ridge above Holywell, along to British Camp, then back along the ridge to the Worcestershire Beacon. Very constant Westerly wind, although nothing like last October in Wales!

Found a small flattish spot on the East side just below the summit and crawled into my sleeping and bivvi bags. Didn't bother with my mat, but did stretch to laying out my sheet of Tyvek.

Actually managed to sleep a bit and rode down to Mum-in-laws at dawn.

Hopefully 2019 is my year for 12/12!

Si

[MuddyPete]

"...lemon and ginger tea..."

Lovely with a blob of honey to sweeten, Tim

[TheBrownDog]

Impressed with the spoon whittling Tim. I'm assuming you did a really good job and ended up with some sort of super-intricate Welsh love spoon style of thing..

Erm .... not quite, but it did the trick. I may "finish" it this evening.

[ericrobo]

Friday night got January's bivvy in, urged on by the threat of colder next week..
I always find it a bit grim setting off in the dark, in this case 9:25pm, most sane folks would be in the pub...
On the fat bike, still winter innit ? I go 0.4 miles then a big slog uphill on a neat tarmac covered track which is actually a footpath...(confessions of a stealthy bikepacker )
Only 4.5 miles to my spot in the woods, but did it seem to take a long time, with drizzle drifting in the glare of my light.
Here's a shot from Saturday morning ('cos it was daylight):
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr
A lovely spot which is about half a mile from the A666, so only a faint hint of traffic BUT every now and then it sounds like a bloody Fokker 125 (whatever that is, I made it up ) attacking me - I have a theory that some sounds travel a lot more late evening when most folks are A) still in the pub or B) at home.. or maybe it's only like this on a Friday evening...
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

A lovely spot which I had sussed out before... a bit like JC's Sleepy Hollow but very restricted with the trees and very soft ground for the pegs (so I've ordered some 9inch MSR pegs)
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

To the right of this you can see a pile of stones where somebody had a big fire and probably a big piss up too as I collected more than a dozen bottle tops and other bits of litter to take away with me.
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Thought I'd got the hang of pitching the Trailstar, but it was very difficult this time due its big footprint and being restricted by trees, and the soft ground.

A windy night but my spot was well protected from the wind, which sounded very ominous whistling through the trees, especially when the tops of my trees touched each other and made "noises".

I wasn't getting up before daylight (after 8) so lay there just listening to the wind in the trees... it's so good to be away from all the crap which surrounds us all...

Here's the beast ready for off... and me having withdrawal symptons for strong tea (I had my brewing kit but decided to get home as I had a busy day ahead)
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

[TheBrownDog]

it's so good to be away from all the crap which surrounds us all...

Very much this. You don't have to be too far away from it all to be away from it all. That looks a cracking bivvy spot too. Hammock would have been perfect. Lots of nicely spaced trees to give you some options for the hang so your tarp doesnt become a wind tunnel.

[Bearlegged]

^ That struck a chord with me too.
Also, that spoon makes me happy.

[middleagedmadness]

Covered by the winter event , will do a proper write up after operation clean up is completed , but a big thanks to reg for the route , Steve Scott al and mark for the company and mark thanks for the lift back to caersws

[RIP]

1/1, 36/36, as part of Winter Event we keeled over at the Scouts ground near Mach after an aborted effort to get to the Bearded Lake - which would obviously have been appropriate for us hirsute bikepackers. Chillier than the warm temperatures belied, I could have done with a couple of scouts to rub together to keep warm.


20190113_081436 by Reg

[BigdummySteve]

1/1, 25 in a row

As per reg above, winter event bivvy. If fact you can see my telemark above in reg’s shot. (possibly bad form to co-opt someone else’s photo?)
Unlike reg I was roasting in my 200 fill bag plus a down vest and had to strip off
Finally had my dried egg and crispy bacon for breakfast after carting the packet around for several nights out.
Very enjoyable weekend, thanks all

[TheBrownDog]

possibly bad form to co-opt someone else’s photo?)

Perfectly fine in my book. How come you made Reg sleep all the way in the middle of the field?

[RIP]

I think I was actually on the Guides side rather than the Scouts side . Which was a bit of a waste of time because it's only open in summer . Must pull me finger out and post some WE pix. Mebbes tomorrow.

[TrepidExplorer]

Bugger it, setting out my stall for 2019. I'm in. (pre-bivi bus-stop dinner hack).

[Borderer]

The brakes on our car failed on the way to work on Monday morning so we had to turn back and put the car in the garage. No way to get to work by public transport so what could we do with the unexpected car-free time....? With snow forecast for later in the week it felt like the ideal time to nip out and score our first January BAM. I wanted to do this last year but we both had bugs for most of the month so weren't able to. With limited daylight I didn't fancy a long ride to a bothy so we took the tent out instead. It was very windy so we took shelter in the forest where I lay all night listening to the trees and wondering if they were about to fall on us... A nice trip of 28 miles in total - you don't have to go far to get away from everything as someone else said....
I am still having trouble with posting pics from Google Photos so here is a link to our FB page instead.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 8796016239

[Bearbonesnorm]

This is Lu's post. I've copied it over from the WE post.

BAM 2019. 1/12.

Lying in my hammock somewhere in the Model Famau Country Park. No photos because Flickr is being difficult! It's no loss - you've all seem enough pictures of my hammock already.

Started in Mold (Flintshire) and pedalled 32 miles @ 150ft/mile. 19 miles to do tomorrow to get back to the car.

Note to self - don't drink all the whiskey before getting into bed. I was stumbling around on the uneven ground and only avoided falling by a quick grab at the hammock.

Looking forward to February, the coldest month. Historically, the 16th is the coldest day of the year. It said so on the telly so it must be true.

Ah! My foot warmer pads are just kicking in. Mmmm.

[thenorthwind]

I don't normally frequent this thread, BaM being nothing more than a loose aim for me, but I've just been on the 2018 thread and htrider mentions a possible meetup Kielder sometime, to be posted on this thread. I'd be interested in that, so would appreciate a poke if it comes to pass.

Looks like Kershopehead's been well used of late, including by myself. Good to see (apart from the rubbish and burnt cans).

I don't tend to count, but noticed the rules in the first post, and I think possibly the Winter Event would have counted for me after all - dossed on the floor in the house of a couple we met in the Star: no paid accommodation. 1/12? I'll take that.