SE (Chilterns) Winter Bivy - 10/11 Dec

[Mbnut]

Hi all

New here and new to bike packing.

I have cobbled together a fair bit of kit but I am waiting for my sleeping quilt (who knew.... things have changed, i'll start a thread on it over in Banter in a bit as I may have made a blunder.) to arrive and i'm good to go.

I would love to join you on this adventure/cafe tour/booze up.

I am planning on getting out at least once beforehand if not twice to work out the gear and figure out some of the fundamentals so shouldn't be a burden!

I am in Maidstone so will be driving.

Cheers

[RIP]

Nice to hear from you Mbnut! We'll have to take over a whole pub at this rate....

[jameso]

Late to this one .. but I'm in and also happy to plan out a route in my backyard, know pretty much all the options between Woburn and Stokenchurch area.
Reg's suggestion of Tring to Princes Risboro or Chinnor via Wendover cafe is one I'd go with, would make a good loop of 40 to 80 miles. Plenty of suitable riding on harder wearing open tracks and nice but probably a bit muddy woodland singletrack. Loads of options to vary the route to suit. We can aim for a pub with a good bivi site not to far away, could be a few options there.

Let me know..

[RIP]

Nice one - a good firm hand on the tiller there, as Stu always nags us to . Yep the whole ridge through the woods from Tring over to Chinnor is ace. Good point about Chinnor, not been that far over for a while but guess there's some good bivi spots in the woods behind? I know I always go on about pubs n caffs n things, I'm not a total dipsomaniac (no shouting at the back there please) but they often provide nice social moments and often as not some bizarre events (Golden Sands Tywyn..). What's the etiquette re publicising route details then? Are you happy to bung one up here for perusal JamesO? Getting all excited already - what a big kid.

"Reg"

[benp1]

Sounds all good

Jameso to be on route planning

Start/finish to be public, and maybe very rough plan. Suggest route details to be private (for confirmed attendees only)

[jameso]

Sounds OK to me. I can guide a ride and also happy to take other trail options if anyone has input as we go along. Berkhamsted+Ashridge possibly>Tring>Wendover>Checkers area>Whiteleaf>Princes Ris>Chinnor is a good route basis, an out n back with different trails most of each way, then there's the option along the Ridgeway and Swans Way as far as time + effort allows with the furthest likely to be Watlington (to access a bivi spot, but becomes more out n back in that area), then back either using the Ridgeway and the lanes or the woods. Wendover to Tring return can be via a towpath if needed. Much depends on how wet everything is then, faff factor, etc. Can all be very flexible as there's plenty of options along that general route.

Reg, any good pubs around Whiteleaf-Chinnor area you know of to aim for? Then a good bivi spot not far from the pub. Hard to get good sunrise views (December .. sunrise .. ha) as the escarpment is W / NW facing but I think I can find a good spot over the next few weekends (and plant a nice bottle of Scotch there).

Berkhamsted is a short towpath ride or 1-2hrs of trails to Tring, it's on the main line from Euston before Tring. We can start there or at Tring depending on start time. I'll be riding from Berkhamsted anyway if anyone wants to add a few miles. Just need an idea of how much time we have and an idea of pace - tbh Tring to Whiteleaf or Chinnor area will probably be plenty at a sociable winter pace.

[benp1]

Sounds good to me!

If I ride or train from home then I'll probably meet you in Berko and ride from there Jameso, it's en route for me

In fact for anyone training it, I'd be happy to meet you part way up and ride from there, would encourage me to ride straight from home rather than train (or even drive...)

Can meet at Watford Junction (which is a pretty major train station) and go from there, it's largely canal path from there to Tring

[Blackhound]

Quite fancy popping along for an evening shandy and a train station start / finish (or convenient to) would suit this rider.

[RIP]

Hostelries...hmm... I get a bit hazy about them the further west one goes (OK, I’m hazy about everything at the best of times)... some guesses along your rough route ... expect u know all these anyway TBH James:

Sat Lunch:
Tring – plenty places, 1 mile west of Rly Stn
Ashridge Monument – Brownlow cafe http://www.brownlowcafe.co.uk/ - allday breakfast etc. Wouldn’t mind having me lunch here but obv depends on James’s route (it's a pleasant 2-mile out/back from Tring Stn). If anyone fancies Tring Stn about 11.00, nip up there for quick bite then back to Tring Stn to meet up at 12.30? Unless of course that was later than you'd planned James, or you'd prefer we all met in Tring centre for example?
PM:
Wendover – Rumseys Chocolate House https://www.rumseys.co.uk/ - nice hot choc and coffee etc
EVE:
Cadsden – Plough http://theplough.pub/ - good for politico spotting, pricey.
Great Kimble – Swan http://www.kimbleswan.co.uk/ - bit off track, might be ok.
Whiteleaf – Red Lion http://www.theredlionwhiteleaf.co.uk/ - near some good b1vi spots, looks good option?
Risboro – Bird In Hand https://whatpub.com/pubs/AYL/00429/bird ... risborough - some good recent reviews, wacky beers etc.
Bledlow – Lions http://thelionsofbledlow.co.uk/ - some iffy recent reviews, but cute and food looks OK.
(*) - ALL of the above in sequence
Chinnor – Kingston Fisheries chippy!
Sun lunch:
Back in Wendover area? Or Tring?

Think all above pubs do interesting “local” beer, and food. “Pre-booking” must be anathema to a BBB-er but we’re quite a big group so dunno what you reckon?

Maybe pitching up in Risboro about tea time (sorry, “dinner time”, I’m forgetting me E Mids roots there) would offer the most options in case a chosen one didn’t meet our, ahem, exacting standards – plenty of curry houses for example. Not sure what Chinnor offers pubwise, apologies.

Then again, forget the posh restaurants, much more hardcore to take 22g stove each, line them all up in a row and cook a different eve meal component on each one and share the whole lot out .

Don’t forget the tinsel ;-). Oh dear I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the C word....... all hell’s going to break loose now (hopefully!)
Go on, you know you want to:

“Reg”

[jameso]

Ha Santa suits in the Chilterns clag - fill yer boots, I'll be in shorts, laughing : )

Ashridge Monument – Brownlow cafe http://www.brownlowcafe.co.uk/ - allday breakfast etc. Wouldn’t mind having me lunch here but obv depends on James’s route (it's a pleasant 2-mile out/back from Tring Stn). If anyone fancies Tring Stn about 11.00, nip up there for quick bite then back to Tring Stn to meet up at 12.30? Unless of course that was later than you'd planned James, or you'd prefer we all met in Tring centre for example?

If we did the Ashridge cafe we'd be better starting from Berkhamsted, it's about 5-6 miles of trails from the station to the cafe. Off-road stuff starts 200yds from Berkhamsted station.

I'm all for an early-ish start as it'll be dark by 4 but I'll have lights. Starting at Berkhamsted at 9.30-10 could get us to Tring station by 12 as a second start, depending on how long people take for cake breaks. Later starts if people are travelling further, no probs.

Whiteleaf Red Lion looks like a good spot to aim for and there are bivi sites around there that could work.

forget the posh restaurants

Well I did have an idea for food but I'm not sure we want to reveal that yet ; ) It does involve 2 fingers to ITT rules but even the TDR allows gear drops ..

Rumseys Chocolate House

One for the way back, definitely.

Oh and anyone needing parking or bag drops near Berkhamsted station just PM me.

[benp1]

I'm good with an early start, might be driving instead though! Might also have to ask for parking advice

Quite fancy popping along for an evening shandy and a train station start / finish (or convenient to) would suit this rider.

Good stuff Kevin, there'll definitely be a train station - Tring or Berkhamsted it looks like

[RIP]

"Ha Santa suits in the Chilterns clag - fill yer boots, I'll be in shorts, laughing : )". Probably no coincidence that they're roadies... It can get pretty gloopy up in those woods sometimes can't it, might have to dig out the old faithful Swampthings....

The "several pick-up points" scheme sounds good (Berko 9, Tring Stn 11/12, whatever) - would allow those further afield time to get there. You're probably right, Brownlow lunch a bit too leisurely, maybe we should be well on the way west by lunchtime or half the day wasted? Anyroadup, look forward to seeing your route....

"idea for food" - intriguing! Would personally go along with what said elsewhere in this parish: no ITT/etc rules for this outing, the craic is surely the thing. No Bara Brith though, fairy cakes are probably more our line dahn Sahf.

Lights, deffo. I'll dig my set of these out:


OK, ok, ok, not really

[Blackhound]

Would be good to catch up benp1.

[Zippy]

I'm happy to go along with whatever. I have my works do on the Friday before this event though, so no packing on Fri night, google says it will take me about 1hr30 to get to Tring, and I'll need to sort my bike/kit in the morning, so i can do say 1030 okish. Or if I get the route beforehand, I can play catch up or meet somewhere along it or something.

[jameso]

Would be great if you can make it Kevin, owe you a beer from 2013 still!

[MuddyPete]

Staggered starting points at Berko & Tring, then heading out to Chinnor-ish sounds ideal. Both are nearer the trails with easier parking than Watford Junction.
I'm happy to follow and look forward to the exploring.
The...

80 miles

...option sounds epic!
I agree its best to keep the route discrete: might attract unwanted attention otherwise.

[jameso]

Closer to 40-odd I expect, by the time cafe and pub priorities are met!

[Dr Nick]

Very very late to this party but one more (slow rider!) to the list please.

[Pickers]

Very very late to this party but one more (slow rider!) to the list please.

Excellent!

PM sent as well.

[benp1]

Blimey, this is becoming so popular the other Winter Bivys might be a satellite event of ours We should have done this last year!

Latest count of potential attendees is at 14:
benp1
jameso
crewlie
ssnowman
RIP
Dan_K
TheBrownDog
jamesatthelodge
Muddypete
Zippy
Pickers
Mbnut
Blackhound
Dr Nick

[Bearbonesnorm]

We should have done this last year!

Or the one before that or maybe even the one before the one before - you know, those years when the rest of the country was out there

[benp1]

We should have done this last year!

Or the one before that or maybe even the one before the one before - you know, those years when the rest of the country was out there

True

But I didn't want to get my skinny jeans dirty and it was a bit cold so thought my latte might not retain the perfect temperature

[Bearbonesnorm]

But I didn't want to get my skinny jeans dirty and it was a bit cold so thought my latte might not retain the perfect temperature

I hope the jeans belong to a female sibling

[adjustablewench]

"Ha Santa suits in the Chilterns clag - fill yer boots, I'll be in shorts, laughing : )". Probably no coincidence that they're roadies... It can get pretty gloopy up in those woods sometimes can't it, might have to dig out the old faithful Swampthings....

The "several pick-up points" scheme sounds good (Berko 9, Tring Stn 11/12, whatever) - would allow those further afield time to get there. You're probably right, Brownlow lunch a bit too leisurely, maybe we should be well on the way west by lunchtime or half the day wasted? Anyroadup, look forward to seeing your route....

"idea for food" - intriguing! Would personally go along with what said elsewhere in this parish: no ITT/etc rules for this outing, the craic is surely the thing. No Bara Brith though, fairy cakes are probably more our line dahn Sahf.

Lights, deffo. I'll dig my set of these out:


OK, ok, ok, not really

Ha ha you joke but Chew and I were once confused by a weird glowing apparition arriving to a bivi very late one night. . . Turned out to be wotsits with his bike covered in fairy lights!

[RIP]

"But I didn't want to get my skinny jeans dirty and it was a bit cold so thought my latte might not retain the perfect temperature"

"weird glowing apparition", reminds me of a mate in Stockport (say no more). He had an old bike which he painted matt black all over (ALL over - rims, levers, spokes, everything). He donned his pristine white boiler suit and rode round the town one night in the dark. Obviously the bike couldn't easily be seen and there were some interesting reports in the newspaper afterwards about some wierd ghostly figure running about, a few inches off the ground, around the roads late at night!