nearly let april slip by, so a quick night on the chase very windy and wet so used the outdoor school.[/U[URL=http://s215.photobucket.com/user/mart_0 ... 7.jpg.html]RL]

April. Sneaky Highlands Easter in glorious weather took an alarming turn.

https://trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/201 ... recce.html





I'll just about be back for the real deal next month but definitely at a BB kind of pace.

April done last night, so 4/4 for the year. A short trip again in rural south Perthshire. Decent weather, cute wee lambs jumping around but boy it took an age to find a pitch not covered in sheep-sh!t Oh and lots of ticks as well..

That was pretty epic, with some dodgy moments, Trep - nice one

April covered with the lower section of bigbear zippy

31 April Bivvies counted thus far

Escape Goat
redefined_cycles
MuddyPete
mountainposture
TheBrownDog
BigdummySteve
Pickers
RIP
Alan63
Borderer
crewlie
JohnClimber
metalheart
Zippy
ScotRoutes
ChrisF
Raggedstone
jaminb
Wotsits
whitestone
faustus
sean_iow
ericrobo
gallowayboy
JimmyG
Landslide
postierich
paramart
TrepidExplorer
petemaz
middleagedmadness

162 Bivvies counted in total for 2019.

Bloody good going everybody. Keep the photos and stories coming too. They always brighten up a dull day.

vaguely exciting stuff. Anyone making the most of the coming bank holiday? Any nice plans? I thought we might do a short one say mid Wales or so. Cakes and castles sort of thing. Anyone else fancy it?

"say mid Wales" - I'm very slow today but not sure if that's tongue in cheek MP . You might find a few others already wandering about in that approximate area this weekend........

If in doubt RIP it’s usually tongue in cheek. The question is always whose cheek and whose tongue.

. A man after my own heart. I've met my match and been "gotcha'd" .

April Bivy - Baileguish on a beautiful calm Monday night.

All the trails and forest floors scarily dry.

Lovely spot. Hope you checked for ticks.

A man after my own heart

Never assume Reg

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:44 am Lovely spot. Hope you checked for ticks.

Oh yes. No ticks found there, although I did see a couple near Uath Lochan (quite a few roe deer there).

It is indeed a lovely spot. Rode up from Kngussie, up the Creag Dhu single track (wimped out of the newly repaired Badan path in true coward fashion) over to the pony bridge, then back to bivy. I saw one other bike and a couple of horse riders in the entire evening. Incredible privilege living here.

April BaM 4/4 , just managed to squeeze it in. nothing spectacular just a quick trip to Rivington Pike (making sure everything ok for WRT). Had a mooch round Liverpool Castle remains then onto bivi site.
2019-04-30_09-41-52 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-04-30_09-42-06 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-04-30_09-42-17 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-04-30_09-42-28 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr

April-2019
Dales Divide
It all seemed so positive before the start, the weather was good
There was an aim to reach York on the first day with the view of a three day finish....


.....thought the bike was minimally packed
Clearly not


Arrive in Driffield
Time for food
Nice to have something "proper", even if it does slow me down
Push on as wanting to cover more distance, and need to find somewhere to camp


End of day two, a little behind where wanting to be, but not too much
Been a long day
Back in the countryside, this will do as a place to camp



Whilst it is nice having a tent, to have "personal space" away from nature, it does take time to set-up and take down.....
So, when passing a barn it seemed a good place to stop.....
That and it was 22:30.....
Another long day


Wasn't particularly thrilled when the route went down a rock face, swore to the god's of boner and got on with carrying the bike down ....in the dark
Thankfully the last section is all road, say thanfully as with 20km to go the front light battery died
This is all the more amusing as carry a spare USB battery pack and a back-up means of navigation; never considered carrying a spare light battery. Lesson learnt.
Still, tell myself "I am boner", move the LED safety light from the camelbak to the front and carry on
With the very faint glow from the red LED am just about able to follow the road; aware if that light fails it will be a walk to the finish

A late write up for 3/3 April done a couple of weeks back - I started in February

I had hoped to join Peter and Reg on their FoD foray, but events conspired so headed off to do Route 01 around the Deverills from "that book" (but left my firelighters at home). Despite having reservations for meself and bike on the train to Warminster, a tense time as the platform fills with MoD workers knocking off early on a Friday, and the abbreviated train with 2 carriages instead of 3 arrives.

Detrain at Warminster and take lanes to Sutton Veney where the grit begins - good car free byways and farm tracks climbing gently up to The Great Ridge through the chalky downs.



Drop down to one of the Deverills, then back up to Cold Kitchen Hill where there was a large and locked shooting lodge, and a water tap that was dry...big views across the valley and also some nice tracks through the hilltop woods.





Found a good bivvy spot in a high copse and spread out amongst the bluebells and wild garlic. Couscous, bag tuna and hot chocolate and then a quick spin down to the Bath Arms for a quiet pint and the paper.

A good night and descended back down to a frosty Hornisham where I realised it had been warmer high up. NCN24 gets you in through the back door (legally) of Longleat. Very impressive to approach the house with no one else around.



Had a second breakfast in an upmarket eco deli in Frome that was open early then followed a cycle.travel route homewards through Mells, Wellow and Pensford into the Bristol hinterland. The Whitchurch Greenway gives a quick down hill route into town, and the shoppers and the cars...and home.

I really enjoyed the chalk uplands, and the wooded areas with good sleeping bag views - will get back again there with a second water bottle !

BAM, April.

A last minute dash'n'crash for this month due to family stuff. Left home with no clear idea where to go, but thought it would be nice to find a bluebell wood to sleep in. Ended up at Wynnstay Park near Ruabon. I lived there at the Polish Resettlement Camp until age 7. The camp was closed in 1955 and we moved to Wrexham. I thought it might be an idea to bivvy in the camp. It has been allowed to run wild since then - amazing how big trees can get in 60 years.
This is the concrete pad where my Granny and Grandads' wooden barrack hut stood :-

I couldn't get to where our Nissen hut had been - the way is blocked off. Anyway, bivvying wasn't an option because some new houses have been built and I couldn't find anywhere suitable that was far enough away from them.

Plan B was to bivvy by the river Dee where my dad used to take me fishing (if he couldn't find a good enough excuse to leave me at home. Taking a small child fishing is a good way of not catching any fish). Down I trundle to Rhos y Madoc to get to the river, but there's a sign saying "Private - Keep out"

Plan C - Go down another lane to the other end of the stretch and track back upstream. There's no Keep Out sign at this end, so claiming plausible deniability, I crossed to the river bank and started upstream to the woods. I always hammock it if I can and when a good spot came up I thought "That'll do" and pitched up.

Even got a few bluebells

Corned beef hash pie for supper and to bed with a flask of honey liqueur for a jolly good kip.


When packing up in the morning I found a curious thing. In the crook of a tree, the one i had hung my hammock, was what i thought at first glance was a golf ball,

but turned out to be an egg.


There were no nests in the tree above, nor in any of the nearby trees. Something must have brought it there, but what?

So now back to the path through the woods, which wasn't a path but a scramblepush through thick undergrowth for a few hundred metres

until - halleluja - the gamekeepers' quadbike tracks back up to the No Entry signs found the previous day.

Result! 4/4.

Back home in time for lunch.

Zippy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2019 4:16 pm 31 April Bivvies counted thus far

Escape Goat
redefined_cycles
MuddyPete
mountainposture
TheBrownDog
BigdummySteve
Pickers
RIP
Alan63
Borderer
crewlie
JohnClimber
metalheart
Zippy
ScotRoutes
ChrisF
Raggedstone
jaminb
Wotsits
whitestone
faustus
sean_iow
ericrobo
gallowayboy
JimmyG
Landslide
postierich
paramart
TrepidExplorer
petemaz
middleagedmadness

162 Bivvies counted in total for 2019.

You forgot Joe. He has done 4/4 this year.

Borderer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:25 pm You forgot Joe. He has done 4/4 this year.

Hmm, spose so, but kinda not really. I posted this near the beginning of the thread:

Zippy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:34 pm In terms of data I’m collating, I literally am just going “tick” for anyone who posts up, I’m not totting up more than 1 bivvy in a month, not this year anyway.

So basically, I’m just totting up usernames. If Joe wants to post up himself – or we just count your username as you and Joe, then it all still counts. I think it’s a similar situation for a few, Bob has done several bivvies with Cath, I’ve dragged my other half out on occasion, but part of BAM, or rather this BAM thread and being counted in my stats is posting up yourself (otherwise I’ll just get slightly confused, case in point being when Reg has gone out with several other people on this thread, but they’ve all had to report in separately to count on my spreadsheet!)

Does my double on the 31st March/1st April count ?? ( clutching at straws I know, busy month this month)

Does my double on the 31st March/1st April count ??

If it was just the night of the 31st, then that counts as March. A single trip with 2 nights out but in different months can if you wish count as 2 months.

Fair enough, start again in May

Phew... Seem to be making a habit of bivvying on the last night of the month! April BAM on the coast path not too far from home last night. Misty evening, misty morning... Good nights sleep though and surprisingly warm.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw6C9pFDH77/

Si