Well that's February ticked off...

After tea in Bala me and JohnClimber parked the car in a FC carpark and then made our way up to the bothy at Penrhos Isaf.

A short fire road climb and we were at the empty bothy. It was my first stop in one and I slept really well. Too well in fact, apparently I snored all night and John had to move to another room after an hour and only managed an hour's sleep all night, ha !!!!

In the morning it was a 100% freewheel downhill back to the car, now that's the type of riding I like.
Not the longest trip but it still counts

The luxury of a bedroom compared to my usual tarp…


Not the prettiest selfie in the world…


homeward bound…

flatfishy wrote:2/2
.
Read the bothy book and who was there the night before????
John Climber and Barney!!
Could have swept the place though.

John said he was going to clean up so I'm passing the buck on that one...

No Feb trip for me, so I'm 1 from 2 for 2014.

It was a toss-up between a wet and cold bivvy or curry and a nice bottle of red.

No prizes for which option won. Oh, the shame....

No Feb trip for me, so I'm 1 from 2 for 2014.

There's nearly a week left yet.

Cheeky school night bivi.
It's all the rage I hear. I'll try one soon when the wife starts her new job.

s8tannorm wrote:

No Feb trip for me, so I'm 1 from 2 for 2014.

There's nearly a week left yet.

im in the same boat. not sure how it got away from me so far so it'll be some random after work location. still, it'll be good to be out

I jibbed out from going last night, Stella was swaying me
Gonna have to do a quick sneaky one in the week as its half term here (I'm off) but the wife is working so have to be back early doors...........

I'm out! :'(
Away in France until the end of Feb and got no bivi kit with me :(

I'm yet to get out.

Had plans to maybe do something whilst back in UK over the weekend but didn't materialise.

Looks like I'll be another trying to fit in some kind of midweek swifty.

Job jobbed



I managed to combine a shopping trip and a visit to some family with an overnighter in East Lothian on Saturday night. A bit windy!!!

With nearly a week to spare?
I am impressed.

Out for a local one tonight. Hoping not to get squished by falling trees!

February bivi 2/2

Did a recce of the 2tonOgravel route. To say this trip didn’t go to plan is putting it fairly mildly. However this is not this is not necessarily as negative as it sounds. The amount of tree’s down did mean I had some substantially challenging hike-a-bike to do and a fair amount of rerouteing but these are the sorts of challenges that actually add to trips. Sure you would rather be just riding along but coming up against problems and over coming them helps with the sense of achievement that come with off road bikepacking. Unfortunately though it was events that were totally beyond my control, that I meant that I had to cut short my 3 night trip to one just 1 night, that really made it a disappointing experience.

Full report and gallery here: http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/201 ... de-report/

A few of the best pictures.

Phew! Feb ticked off just in time. Not many miles due to a late start and some epic puncture mending but a great night featuring starry skies, gourmet cooking and a close shave with randy badgers (possibly).

Roll on March!

composite wrote: Did a recce of the 2tonOgravel route.

from your pics, it is clear that the USA's definition of 'gravel' is very different to our's.

jamiep wrote:

composite wrote: Did a recce of the 2tonOgravel route.

from your pics, it is clear that the USA's definition of 'gravel' is very different to our's.

Like I mentioned in the report. I think the wildcat100 is much closer to the American gravel road definition than the 2ton extra 100mile loop.

Bugger!

Only two months into 2014 and I've failed.

There's nothing to be done - I've got a wife with what seems like man-flu, 50% of the kids are down too and there's only a little over 24 hours of February left.

Oh well, there's always next year.....

What gairym said up there ^^^ Failed. February has thrown up a mixture of illness, a buggered elbow, rain, wind, fallen trees that needed clearing, floods (not us thankfully) and a thousand other less exotic excuses. Don't imagine I'm getting out tonight either, not with the Comptroller General at a conference and ironing to be done. Next month for sure though.

Managed a quick sneaky camp out last night. It was an impulsed decision to go as the time was running out for this months one. Left the house at 5pm in the motor and parked up a little later. A short ride got me to a suitable spot sheltered behind a wall with a good view in the receding light. The night was a rough one and I'm not really enjoying this tent now. Way too small :( The wind was very strong making the tent flap about and the sound of the rain hitting the canvas after midnight was also a recipe for non sleep:(
Was up at 6:30, sunrise was just after and I was back at the car for 8 and home for 8:30 as the Mrs was working. A short but tough night out. 2 out of 12 :)

A couple of pics:

2/2

Trip down to the Derwent Valley with Wenchie, Luca and Jase. Worth waiting to the end of the month with great weather yesterday and the ride back home today.

It was a good trip, brillant weather really does help. Freezing tems didn't put luca off too which is great :) Hope you got back ok chew can't imagine it was the most relaxing ride along there

Feb and March ticked off in one trip (a useful strategy for those short on time)

Feb bivvy was in the shadow of Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station. It was lovely and warm

March was a bothy - Nant Syddion, where I inadvertently attended the Wales MBA annual general meeting... Nearly nodded off part way through proceedings, but not before hearing of talk of another new bothy in Wales

Region?

North west. Haven't checked the map yet to suss out where it is...

Ian wrote:, where I inadvertently attended the Wales MBA annual general meeting...

Ha ha, brilliant!

Big thanks to Chew, AW & Luca for letting me tag along at Derwent on Fri

Was a bit of faff finding the bivvi spot, but when i did all was good..
The loop round Rushup Edge, Jacobs ladder, etc the next day nearly killed me though!
Hope you got back to Halifax ok Chew..

2/2 here too so far & looking forward to the next one