Also bagged April last night. I had to turn down an invite to the mainland as I'd need to have taken today off work and I'd already been off Monday and Tuesday

Left home after dinner, got all of 3 miles before I realsied I'd left my water bottles behind, so quick return trip and on my way again. Went to a woods I've been to before, it's suffered in the storms but I found a spot away from any leaning trees. Slept really well, took the summer bag and it only got down to 8 degrees. The breeze on my face felt colder than that but probably just because the rest of mew was warm.



This part of the woods has no proper paths into it, just a feint old line in the vegetation, so no danger of early morning dog walkers. Packed and away by 06:30 so plenty of time for the more scenic route in to work. I'm not the first person to go there, as I picked up and packed out an empty redbull can I found on the floor



Not recommended but no chance of being caught out by a train as its a heritage line so they don't run on weekdays at this time of year, it was too early for them and even if a train did come they are so slow I'd have about 20 minutes to move out of the way



I couldn't read the fine amount, I think it might have been removed as there are no catches to fasten on the gates anyway, they've been converted to self closing. What's most surprising about this sign is that it's still there, given how much they fetch at auction these days I'm surprised someone hasn't stolen it.

So far this year I've I managed a different square each month (10k x 10k) in my bid to bivi in each of them.



I did try this before a few years back but got stumped by the tricky ones. I'll have to be bolder this time and get them done. Two of them are very lacking in out of the way spots but I have scouted out one of them which looks like it might be ok but it will be very weather dependent.

Sean (and Ralph) 4/4 and 27 in a row.

jeffer wrote: my 3rd find!

Don't forget to title your separate thread 'Jeff gets the horn'

Nice trip!

RIP wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 9:23 am

jeffer wrote: my 3rd find!

Don't forget to title your separate thread 'Jeff gets the horn'

I'll have to now!

sean_iow wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 9:00 am I did try this before a few years back but got stumped by the tricky ones. I'll have to be bolder this time and get them done. Two of them are very lacking in out of the way spots but I have scouted out one of them which looks like it might be ok but it will be very weather dependent.

Needles Battery will need to be a smash & grab raid I reckon!

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:19 am Needles Battery will need to be a smash & grab raid I reckon!

That's the one where I've spotted a potential out of the way location, only really visible if you lean over the railings. Only downside is it faces south-west which is the prevailing wind direction and it's located where the highest windspeeds in the England are recorded. I'd need to make Ralph a mini climbing harness to enable him to tie-in. Might have to check the forecast carefully and wait for a north-easterly, in which case it's sheltered.

Two nights out on some of the Deeside trail. Lovely and sunny but ice on tent in the morning.

A field just outside Reading got me my April bivvy, as part of King Alfred's Way. Or another grassy bit just off Salisbury Plain for my 2nd bivvy this month. That's 4/4 so far.

Doesn't really count as a BAM I know, as no bike involved, but it's a bivvy. Had wanted to get an emergency April one in just in case, rather than rely on WRT, but run out of time now...

Drove back from Birmingham last night after Foals concert, then slept in a wood near home rather than go straight home.

Car is just out of sight, and I just chucked myself down where I guessed there wouldn't be brambles, as I was really tired at gone 2am, and I had no torch. Funny angle half under the picnic bench was to be flatter, even though it doesn't look like it on the photo

https://www.flickr.com/gp/130146078@N08/mSnj5M

April done for me -a barn midway round the Lakeland 200. No pictures I'm afraid, I wasn't thinking straight.

Another local one for April, nice quiet spot & the smell of wild garlic was pretty amazing

Trying to attach a piccie without success!!

BaM April 2022.

Be warned, this is a long 'un and only four photos..

My son Mike's coming with me to WRT this year, but hasn't got a suitable bike so I'll lend him one of mine. So far, so good, but he lives in Holyhead, 90+ miles away so to give him a chance to get set up I thought to take it up there and get my April BaM in at the same time. The plan was to get up to Anglesey on the train, bivvy up, then carry on to his and come back on the train. Simple, until the word "train" came in to the calculation.

I bought a ticket for a straight-through journey to Holyhead and that should have been that. But,(you could have guessed there would be a 'but') when the train came in it was just two carriages that were already full even before the forty or so extra passengers wanted to get on. Thankfully the train manager cajoled the passengers standing in the carriage entrance to move up into the aisle and I was able to get myself and the bike on. A loaded fatbike takes up a lot more room than your average commuter. I was hoping that a lot of the passengers would get off at Chester and leave me some room to at least put the bike into the bike-space. Hopes were dashed when, on the approach to the station the manager announces that our train was to terminate at Chester and we would have to transfer to another train to continue on to Holyhead. That too would have been OK-ish except the replacement train was even fuller than the first and it couldn't take all the passengers from our train let alone the hundred or so new hopefuls. No chance for me and a dirty great bike. We were told that there'd be another train in a little while (over an hour, actually) and I should (might) be able to get on that.

There was nothing I could do except get myself an expensive coffee and a bacon roll and settle down to wait. While I waited one of the platform staff told me that the train I was waiting for still only had two carriages (and there were what seemed like hundreds of passengers still waiting) and it'd be better for me to take an earlier train (of five carriages) that would take me as far as Bangor (Caernarfon) and I could change on to the other train when it came through. Most of those waiting to board would be getting off at the holiday camps at Rhyl/Prestatyn so the train would be less packed. That's what I did. It meant a cold wait of thirty minutes or so on Bangor station, but eventually...

I got off the train at the nearest station to Newborough and made my way to the forest for the bivvy, expecting to get some chips on the way. Hopes were dashed again when I found the only chippy on the way was shut. Who'd have thought it, a chippy shut on a Friday night! With all the delays, it was getting late and I'd thought I wouldn't need lights so another five miles was too far to go in search of another chippy.

This is dragging on a bit, ain't it?

The bivvy...



Thankfully, I had a pack of instant noodles and a couple of fiery Peperami with me and makings for a cuppa so I didn't have to go to bed on an empty stomach.

View from bed in the morning..



After packing up in the morning, I hoped there'd be a chance of a bacon butty from the van that usually stands in the visitor car park, so down to the beach and along the sand, but no van and no butty. I did manage to fill my camelback up from the shower stand outside the bogs though.

On the way to the car park...Llandwyn Island...


Pillow lava rocks - a feature on the beach by Llandwyn..


Onward and outward then, via a cafe and an ice cream, to Holyhead to deliver the bike. I cadged a lift to the station for my train home. The train only went as far as Bangor due to works on the line, so we we all had to transfer on to a bus to Rhyl. This called at all the (train) stations on the way, then at Rhyl we transferred back to a train for onward travel.

All in all, it was the worst experience of rail travel that I've had.I'm sure there are many worse tales out there, but hey, it all adds to lifes' rich tapestry.

None-the-less, that's 4/4 for 2022.

4/4 for 2022 with a loop from the Rhondda to Gloucester and back via Cardiff, Newport, Severn crossing, Forest of Dean (bivvy site), Usk and Risca. Great to be discovering new routes rather than my usual Mid Wales haunts. A lot less climbing too!

I was "forced" into an improptu trip up Glen Feshie yesterday - a recent landslip has caused a wee bit of an issue and I wanted to see how bad it was before the Cairngorms Loop Group Start on Saturday.

I had plans to be a wee bit further afield for a change but needs must eh?













2022 - 4/4

Lovely!

You've done well to leg it back, sit down and grab a swig of your beer before the self timer went off.

No need. That's my phone. I just ask Google to take a photo.

You lucky, lucky b**dart!
Can't actually place that bit of the Feshie

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:42 pm You've done well to leg it back, sit down and grab a swig of your beer before the self timer went off.

Colin won the BAM first quarter prize for selfie shots

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:54 pm You lucky, lucky b**dart!
Can't actually place that bit of the Feshie

The bivvy spot or the reflection spot?

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:42 pm You've done well to leg it back, sit down and grab a swig of your beer before the self timer went off.


Colin won the BAM first quarter prize for selfie shots

Yeah - I feel it's my duty now!

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:04 pm

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:54 pm You lucky, lucky b**dart!
Can't actually place that bit of the Feshie

The bivvy spot or the reflection spot?

The reflection shot is looking up the trail to the Minigaig that we were discussing the other week with that nice gorge beside it which I once convinced myself was rideable (fortunately I never tried it)
It's the bivvy spot that I've failed on

NN 85365 90508

Just up from the upper ford. I actually thought about crossing the river this morning and riding up the Feshie Lodge side of the glen but as it was only about 2C, I thought "feck that for a game o' sojers!"

I’m out.
It’s a case of ‘what am I trying to achieve here?’
I’ve actually slept out 4 days this month. Two in a tent- wild camping with my kids on Dartmoor for some fieldwork. One night in a tarp camp and one night in full bushcraft mode - again with my kids.
My point? I’m getting out and enjoying it. I don’t need to do yet another post work bike bivi just to tick something off.
This isn’t meant to denigrate BAM, quite the opposite. All luck and power to those of you who are carrying on

lune ranger wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 7:29 pm I’m out.
It’s a case of ‘what am I trying to achieve here?’
I’ve actually slept out 4 days this month. Two in a tent- wild camping with my kids on Dartmoor for some fieldwork. One night in a tarp camp and one night in full bushcraft mode - again with my kids.
My point? I’m getting out and enjoying it. I don’t need to do yet another post work bike bivi just to tick something off.
This isn’t meant to denigrate BAM, quite the opposite. All luck and power to those of you who are carrying on

I also have a number of non-bike bivvies in plan and I am happy that they might clash/overlap/just happen instead. Hell, as long as you are getting out and having fun without any added incentive, that's great!

I personally reckon we should include a non bike bivi. I know this is a bikepacking website but lots of us just like being in the outdoors through any medium. Getting out is getting out, as long as a decent proportion through the year is with a bike then crack on

I failed to accompany Bob on his Lakeland jaunt so headed out last night instead. A late finish plus being on call this weekend meant a local one. Heading out after work for a tootle ensured I got to the gate to the moor under cover of darkness. Up the hill a nice flat area made the perfect spot for a comfy if chilly night.




Up with the curlews I hastily packed up to be back home ready to advise people to turn it off then on again

Got it colin must get up there myself one evening. Thats me done april in queenies Scottish back yard. I'm mobile for a few more days (currently in a campsite ) so more later