Scottish Winter Bivvy 2019 - D&G Edition
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:50 pm
Now that Christmas thing's finally out of the way, I've sorted some photos from the winter bivvy.
I parked up in Langholm, where the Ewes Water flows into the Esk, and followed the latter up the valley on minor roads and tracks, being careful to avoid the local moose population.
I turned north and headed up Megdale towards Greensykes bothy, and into the forest. I didn't go down to the bothy itself, but climbed up and picked my back across to Eskdale on the fire roads.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2i5TLL5]
The threatened rain never really materialised and I arrived in time to have a quick poke around Samye Ling Tibetan Centre before it got dark, and spin the prayer wheels for good luck on my journey up to Dryfehead bothy.
I pedalled up a side valley and began the climb up to Dun Moss in the gathering gloom. The hills to the west were topped with snow, and in the dark, it felt quite a bleak place to be. There was a light covering of snow at the top of the pass, and I identified the fresh tracks from Jamie's gravel bike and Jimmy's fat bike, as well as, more worryingly, vehicle tracks.
I arrived at the bothy to find Jamie and Jimmy had already got the fire going - always a welcome sight - despite the damp wood. Phil joined us after a while, and Bridget much later - complete with the heroic quantity of coal. Despite wondering initially how we were going to fill the time and stretch out our somewhat meagre supplies of drink, it was one in the morning before we turned in, having shared an evening of good craic.
The morning was frosty but bright, and we breakfasted and packed up at a pretty leisurely pace.
Bridget had some sleep to catch up on, and Phil headed back towards Moffat to tackle the by now infamous Garrogill, leaving me, Jimmy and Jamie to head south to the road via Black Esk reservoir.
The others continued back to Eskdalemuir, and I turned back into the forest to pick up the Black Esk again.
It wouldn't be a Bearbones ride without a bit of tussock dodging - Stu would be proud.
The "ford" which was the crux of my shortcut turned out not to be distinguishable from any other stretch of the river, and it was off with the overshoes, shoes, Sealskinz and socks to wade through.
The reward for my icy dip: more tussocks:
I rejoined the road by the confluence of the Black and White Esks, and followed the river down to the foot of the Megget Water where I picked up my route from the previous day back to Langholm.
I have previous with this bull, but fortunately him and his harem where well out of range today.
Coming back into Langholm on the north side of the valley, I took the wrong fork in the track up what is marked on the map as a dead end. Since the track was clearly well-used, I followed it up the hill anyway, and chanced on some nice steep built trails in the woods on the edge of town. They would have been much more fun on an unloaded bike, but it was a nice surprise anyway (not quite as good as remembering I stopped at the butcher's the previous day and left a pork pie for my return though).
All in all, not very wintry, but a very pleasant 24 hours of bimbling around nice bits of countryside on a bike and putting the world to rights with like-minded people.
I parked up in Langholm, where the Ewes Water flows into the Esk, and followed the latter up the valley on minor roads and tracks, being careful to avoid the local moose population.
I turned north and headed up Megdale towards Greensykes bothy, and into the forest. I didn't go down to the bothy itself, but climbed up and picked my back across to Eskdale on the fire roads.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2i5TLL5]
The threatened rain never really materialised and I arrived in time to have a quick poke around Samye Ling Tibetan Centre before it got dark, and spin the prayer wheels for good luck on my journey up to Dryfehead bothy.
I pedalled up a side valley and began the climb up to Dun Moss in the gathering gloom. The hills to the west were topped with snow, and in the dark, it felt quite a bleak place to be. There was a light covering of snow at the top of the pass, and I identified the fresh tracks from Jamie's gravel bike and Jimmy's fat bike, as well as, more worryingly, vehicle tracks.
I arrived at the bothy to find Jamie and Jimmy had already got the fire going - always a welcome sight - despite the damp wood. Phil joined us after a while, and Bridget much later - complete with the heroic quantity of coal. Despite wondering initially how we were going to fill the time and stretch out our somewhat meagre supplies of drink, it was one in the morning before we turned in, having shared an evening of good craic.
The morning was frosty but bright, and we breakfasted and packed up at a pretty leisurely pace.
Bridget had some sleep to catch up on, and Phil headed back towards Moffat to tackle the by now infamous Garrogill, leaving me, Jimmy and Jamie to head south to the road via Black Esk reservoir.
The others continued back to Eskdalemuir, and I turned back into the forest to pick up the Black Esk again.
It wouldn't be a Bearbones ride without a bit of tussock dodging - Stu would be proud.
The "ford" which was the crux of my shortcut turned out not to be distinguishable from any other stretch of the river, and it was off with the overshoes, shoes, Sealskinz and socks to wade through.
The reward for my icy dip: more tussocks:
I rejoined the road by the confluence of the Black and White Esks, and followed the river down to the foot of the Megget Water where I picked up my route from the previous day back to Langholm.
I have previous with this bull, but fortunately him and his harem where well out of range today.
Coming back into Langholm on the north side of the valley, I took the wrong fork in the track up what is marked on the map as a dead end. Since the track was clearly well-used, I followed it up the hill anyway, and chanced on some nice steep built trails in the woods on the edge of town. They would have been much more fun on an unloaded bike, but it was a nice surprise anyway (not quite as good as remembering I stopped at the butcher's the previous day and left a pork pie for my return though).
All in all, not very wintry, but a very pleasant 24 hours of bimbling around nice bits of countryside on a bike and putting the world to rights with like-minded people.
Jeez that river must have been cold!
) but just chilled and enjoyed the solitude for an hour before a leisurely bimble back in the snow.
