Bivvy a month 2023.

[RIP]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/corrugatediron

Nearly 38,000 people on FB already do

Fabulous! I thought Pylon Of The Month was brilliant, but a corrugated iron society is ace. Maybe they do Shed Of The Month photos, but I don't do Fartbook so I can't tell from here.

[faustus]

I love a bit of wriggly tin too. And let's not forget the joyfully quaint alliteration that is the Tin Tabernacle, high scoring on the bikepackers Top Trumps/Eye Spy spotting:

https://heritagecalling.com/2022/06/09/ ... abernacle/

[josh]

This month's BAM wasn't a particularly exciting one. The route was 3× longer than the previous two months, but 100% more boring.

I'd planned to meet my dad for a ride at our local trails the next day, so I was working to a fixed location for a route and ended up with 35km all on tarmac.

Nothing particular happened on the way there or the way back, but as ever it was good to get out when I wouldn't have previously. The only notable thing from either ride was that the weather/temperature at moment is annoying to ride in – too warm when pedalling or when the sun peeks out, too cold down hills and in the shade.




Breakfast facilities were similarly civilised

Luckily the shelter that I half remembered being there was indeed there and proved palatial, this was almost glamping, but much appreciated as it rained on and off from sunset to sunrise.

The posh accommodation made up for the lacklustre route, and I may well find myself doing it again despite it being 100% tarmac, given the proximity to the local trails.

[gecko76]

BAM3 was about 200m from February's, but on the other side of the wall of the Duke of Buccleuch's Dalkeith estate and in woodland as opposed to the middle of a field. Woodland by a burn, with an off camber pitch which led to worries of sliding off into said burn (the Dead Burn), the coefficient of friction between pertex and tyvek being roughly that of an eel on ice. Wriggling was of necessity kept to a minimum.

Knowing that the gates to the estate were locked at night added an additional frisson but meant I was unlikely to be awoken by early dog walkers.

Did a recce with number one daughter yesterday who spotted this

and this

in case of rain. Was fine though. Fell asleep under the Plough until a pair of tawny owls fluttering around and hooting and screeching at dawn.

No seatpost bag this time (no tent-in-case), took only sleeping bag, mat, bivi bag, groundsheet, whisky, coffee, and a couple of cereal bars. Rolling this morning by 6, home before 7 to finish my jigsaw. https://www.themapcentre.com/bedrock-ge ... 1999-p.asp

[josh]

the coefficient of friction between pertex and tyvek being roughly that of an eel on ice.

[Moder-dye]

It'd be amusing if you woke up under that surrounded by pheasant looking for their breakfast
You could just grab one and take it home for dinner

[gecko76]

Do they eat ticks? Caught one climbing up the shower curtain earlier

[Moder-dye]

Bummer

[Retiredtester]

March bivvy ticked off for me and the boy. We took advantage of the milder temperatures and ventured (only slightly) further afield this time - up onto the south downs way and a pitch by the trig point at the top of firle beacon.

Having entered the clouds just after alfriston, it turned out a bit colder than I'd expected and the numb fingers and nagging breeze offered yet another timely reminder that I need to practice with the newish tent. It's an alpkit Ordos and I'm sure in the right hands it's an excellent piece of kit. Thus far my hands are clearly the wrong ones.

Anyway, I managed to get it up after a fashion and not without some deeply cathartic language, much to the amusement of my 14 year old and we crawled in. Standard meal of macaroni and pesto, polished off with a vast array of Lidl comestibles used to bribe pip into accompanying me.

There passed a relatively uneventful night, save for the customary 2am tent collapse and bad tempered resurrection, followed swiftly by a heavy shower. We were woken at 5.30 by the skylarks and treated to sunshine and a magnificent view across the weald.



Breakfasted on porridge, coffee and more chocolate and then slowly packed up and mooched off along the south downs way, back along the Ouse to newhaven and then home along the coast to seaford. Lovely

[gecko76]

Nice one. Did a summit camp (not on bikes) a couple of weeks back and it was cracking. Got me thinking about local trig points now.

[Retiredtester]

not sure if 200 and something metres counts as a summit camp!

[gecko76]

I reckon if you're away from water with views it counts, and Google maps says it's a Mountain Peak so there's that. Looks like a nice part of the country.

[Retiredtester]

Nice one, I'll take that! It is a lovely area, but nothing like as wild or dramatic as a lot of the places I see people posting here. Always amazes me how few of the locals seem to spend any time up there.

[Leerowe76]

Nice spot that fella

[Stinginglip]

March BaM ticked off Saturday just gone. Weather wasn't playing and got the Lurgy last week so probably wasn't the smartest move setting off just before 8pm into heavy rain. Armed with just the bivvy bag and mat the aim was a covered cricket club porch but changed my mind halfway with no improvement on the weather front.
Ended up in a Go Ape 'Forest Shelter' but for anyone who knows the Rivington Go Ape location I'd personally drop the Forest bit for Dogging Car Park maybe?
Fired up the burner for a Lemsip & whisky and got in the bag about 10pm feeling damp and getting cold. Lots of messing about car drivers all night but luckily didn't get busted and did warm up for some shut-eye before my 5am alarm call.
Riding before 6am,home just before 7am.
Overall it was just for the bivvy..Riding was uninspiring but I always learn something else from every outing and was happy I made it as this weekend coming I'm booked in with the missus on a walking weekend. 3/12

[Verena]

Went out last night for my March BAM, hadn't even realised that it was the spring equinox.

Nothing fancy, as there is a lot on this month, and the weather forecast was rain, so I opted for a night in the hammock in my local woods. I'd visited there over the weekend and noticed how the birds are in full swing with their singing at the moment, so I figured that would be a nice place to be and nice to wake up to the dawn chorus, quite possibly as well as rain dripping onto the tarp as I was gently swaying about in my hammock - and so it was.

Nothing much to report really, except that wildlife wise we had on an earlier visit spotted evidence of recent badger activity, but no-one came to visit me during the night.... Also the ravens' nest there had sadly been blown down a little while ago (an amazing sheep wool lined bit of engineering), and I was delighted to hear that they were still about, hopefully rebuilding and getting ready for another round of baby making.

My only little bit of excitement was that I had decided to head deep into a denser part of the wood, further away from the track than where I usually go, so having found my spot, put down the bike and started to unpack, I then realised, silly me, that I hadn't picked up the hammock on my way in, which I had pre dumped there earlier....
So off I went back to go get that, but very fortunately had the good sense to stop and think before I'd gone to far, thinking that finding my way back to the bike and sleeping bag etc, might be a challenge.... so I did a Hansel and Gretel job and laid myself a trail of the equivalent of breadcrumbs, by putting down a selection of reflective things as I went, checking I could still see each one looking back.... that could have ended up a bit daft couldn't it, out in the woods, in the rain, carrying a hammock, but lost trying to find a well hidden bike and bedding/ tarp....

IMG_20230320_220926 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I slept really quite well, and the morning didn't disappoint.

Had a coffee (Aldi coffee bag, or was it tesco?, Nicaraguan) and a honey and oat granola bar for first breakfast, then packed up and pedalled home for second breakfast at seven.

Lovely.

3/12

IMG_20230321_060537 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230321_061859 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[ledburner]

Well done.
Coffee bags. Interesting, boiling water, stir. Then leave to brew.

[RIP]

Nice one V. Trying to think of a caption for the 'reflective things' photo. Maybe present it to someone with no idea of the context and see what they come up with. Surprised you had that many reflective things about your person . All my gear is black so I would have had an uncomfortable night...

[Moder-dye]

I've had that feeling of sub standard I thought the camp was here in the woods in the dark My WP jacket reflectives hung over the end of the hammock have been useful catching in the torch light before, so good thinking with the trail of reflectives.

I always waypoint my camp on the mapping app on my phone now and send the location (grid ref and w3w) to my wife for her peace of mind. Waypointing my camp/rucksack/bike when I leave them to go off doing stuff has become a bit of a habit as it's amazing how easily things can hide behind little features, especially when you try to be stealthy anyway, nevermind in the dark. I did have an incident once when I came back down a mountain looking for my backpacking rucksack (cammo) I'd left on the moor and may have started feeling a bit panicky wondering where the feck it was

Should I query caching gear that instigated the inventiveness... It had crossed my mind before when a bulky winter bag would have been nice.

[ledburner]

Surprised you had that many reflective things about your person . All my gear is black so I would have had an uncomfortable night...

Surely , anything metallic is reflective. Pegs, boner mugs spoon. A bit or orange or yellow. Would stand out...

[Raggedstone]

They look like the white piano keys to me

[Lazarus]

Ended up in a Go Ape 'Forest Shelter' but for anyone who knows the Rivington Go Ape location I'd personally drop the Forest bit for Dogging Car Park maybe?

Dont they all have a reputation for either that or young people getting stoned?
Always assumed near the lake would be noisy personally so neve done it, i have used the castle once as it was a huge gale and i wanted to be out of the wind - horrible weather so there was no one there
I assume the cricket club is white coppice?

[RIP]

As per Whatever Floats Your Boat

3/3, 3/12, 87/87

[Raggedstone]

If riding to a mates place and sleeping on the floor is within the rules then next winter is going to be a lot more comfortable than previous ones
Nice tale though

[RIP]

All above board as per page 1.

It was quite an interesting sleeping situation because as well as my mat 'wallowing' slightly as normal, the boat also rocked gently which meant that I experienced some rather unusual combined wave forms. Ducks make very good alarm clocks too.