Thought I'd better get a May BAM in the bag now "just in case", as the rest of this month is going to be busy...
Thursday night would have been much nicer, beautiful loooong sunset and sunrise, but after what felt like many many hours mowing the lawn, walking to vote and back, walking one dog then the other, it was 9 o'clock and I was feeling really cold.....
So Friday night it was, just a very local one in the woods, pretty uneventful but lovely nonetheless.
Still love my reflective tyres on this bike (present from Mr Z)
IMG_20210507_222009 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
With all the recent talk about the DD superlight pyramid tent, and the heavy rain forecast, I thought it would be a good choice for the occasion. Yes Stu, it does have a peak vent
. I also thought I'd try out the walking pole option, though I agree that it would be well weird actually going bikepacking with a walking pole. I much prefer the option of hanging it from a tree. But here I wanted to be near and within view of the badger set, kind of hoping to catch a glimpse (didn't happen, not helped by arriving when it was already proper dark, and being inside a tent with the door shut, and any noises they may have made would have been drowned out by the wind in the trees, tent flapping and rain noises
)
IMG_20210508_054746 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
The promised rain came in during the night, but I was warm and cosy, breakfast in bed, I do love a bit of rain on tent....
IMG_20210508_062656 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Badly pitched tent looking even more bedraggled in the morning
Not quite the vista I had in mind, I had pictured something more like kumquat's morning a few posts above
IMG_20210508_064908 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Also not quite the sea of bluebells I was aiming for either
, but if you zoom in A LOT you might find one or two....
I'll just have to go out again later this month won't I?
IMG_20210508_064948 by
Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Wildlife wise, well I could clearly hear some people have a fairly raucous party nearby, probably at Cwm Gwdi car park. Followed around mindnight by a couple of cars tear ar$ing past with super noisy exhausts (glad I wasn't out cycling then!). Then I heard lambs bleating much later into the night than sheep normally do. Does anyone know, are lambs like human children? Adults get sensible and sleep at night, whereas the little ones are wakeful at unsociable hours demanding milk?
An owl very nearby in the morning briefly. Then the usual dawn chorus only a bit subdued because of the rain, and the resident ravens, who have a nest you can see and chicks you can hear by the way, so eggciting!
Oh and somehow during proceedings I thought I had lost my woolly hat under mysterious circumstances - but I eventually found it when I got home, it had got stuck inside my buffalo hood.
5/12