RIP wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:37 am A quick "Happy Birthday" to that stalwart Bammer - James G .

I think it's your "Granite" birthday - a bivvy in Aberdeen to celebrate perhaps?

Thank you Reg. Nice of you to notice. Mind you, at my age I barely take notice myself! 68! Still, I'll take it over the alternative any day!

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 12:24 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:37 am A quick "Happy Birthday" to that stalwart Bammer - James G .

I think it's your "Granite" birthday - a bivvy in Aberdeen to celebrate perhaps?

'Bammer' has a slightly different meaning up here

Certainly does!

JimmyG wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 5:59 pm

RIP wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:37 am A quick "Happy Birthday" to that stalwart Bammer - James G .

I think it's your "Granite" birthday - a bivvy in Aberdeen to celebrate perhaps?

Thank you Reg. Nice of you to notice. Mind you, at my age I barely take notice myself! 68! Still, I'll take it over the alternative any day!

Belated happy birthday Jimmy... I couldn't work out who James G was

Thanks David!

Reginald always uses peoples Sunday names...

JimmyG wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:00 pm Thanks David!

Who?

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:11 pm Reginald always uses peoples Sunday names...

Yeah and only my mum calls me Reginald . And only when I've been naughty. Which is most of the time.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:11 pm Reginald always uses peoples Sunday names...

aaand another one. 53!

RIP wrote: ↑Sat Feb 10, 2024 3:19 pm

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 11:11 pm Reginald always uses peoples Sunday names...

aaand another one. 53!

Happy birthday Phil.

Happy birthday youngster.

Someone else's birthday tomorrow

Cheers John and Bob. One more year closer to retirement!

Amen to that (. I get there a whole 6 weeks earlier than you)

Bagged February's BAM last night. Headed to my go to place carrying 10kg of coal, a chair and what seemed like everything else from my shed!


The hillside looked great in the low afternoon sunlight


It takes less than 10 minutes to set the tarp over the building but its an effort to get up there first!


I used the Exped mat with my Cloudcover and it was very comfy indeed. Was good to sit in comfort and get the heat from the fire


Kitchen


Starter


Main, lamb rump steak





It was a clear night

I like the slate plate. Quite the trendy bistro .

Happy birthday Phillip!

RIP wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 5:46 pm I like the slate plate. Quite the trendy bistro .

I had to keep up the tradition. There's plenty of 'plates' in some of these Welsh hills

February Bivi in the bag with Barney.

We chose a spot about 8 miles away to help Barney ease back in to cycling. The spot in mind was under a bridge that crosses a old railway line that is now long gone, however the distinctive hollow and land scars are still visible on Google maps and it shows up a dismantled railway on the OS maps.

Picking this spot as our option meant we could forgo a shelter and have somewhere under shelter to stand up and get changed if it was raining. It also meant we could use only bivvy bags. It offered a mixture of quiet country lanes with a few gravel byway, bridleways and no mountain climbs or horrendously steep hills.

PSX_20240210_201759 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr

There were two pubs options en route and we agreed to go with the flow about dinner in one of them if at all. The first pub came and went but at the second pub we said we would just a have a drink and chat but the menu and availability of a table got the better of us!

PSX_20240210_202059 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr

PSX_20240210_202132 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr

Game keeper pie duly dispatched we made our way up a gentle gradient that felt steeper then it actually is, I suspect the mashed potato weighed us down a bit.
By now the temperature had dropped and Barney was feeling the chill and possibly a degree of regret for wearing shorts .

Safely at our destination we noted the temperature had not dropped to much under the bridge and it felt slightly warmer.
We laid out gear for the night and marveled at the stars before turning in for the night

PSX_20240210_202449 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr


PSX_20240210_202930 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr

Morning came after 8 hours of sleep and teased us with flickers of sunshine.
Once up and packed menacing clouds on the distant horizon reminded us Barney was wearing shorts and we had better get a move on.

PSX_20240211_114529 by Matt Reilly, on Flickr

We decided to stick to tarmac and take the most direct route back home, Barney's choice of leg wear attire finally paid off when a lady from a group of cyclists we rode along side up the final hill made a flattering comment to him about his shorts which was along the lines off "I am glad I am not the only barmy person to be wearing shorts today"

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 6:41 pm Happy birthday Phillip!

Only my Mum and the boss calls me that

I see Jeff has just pulled out a tremendous lead in the catering category (again....)

Good bridge that MM-on-point, I must try and figure a similar one out round here. The ones I have seen are either full of water, or cows, or both....

summittoppler wrote: ↑Sun Feb 11, 2024 3:02 pm
I used the Exped mat with my Cloudcover and it was very comfy indeed. Was good to sit in comfort and get the heat from the fire

Superb stuff, Jeff. Surely a contender for "BaM-of-the-Month"?

Aye, looks very deluxe. Do you carry all the kit up every time, Jeff? Or does the hut now have some permanent fixtures (e.g. the grill)?

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Mon Feb 12, 2024 8:34 pm Aye, looks very deluxe. Do you carry all the kit up every time, Jeff? Or does the hut now have some permanent fixtures (e.g. the grill)?

Thanks.
Yeah the grill and bottom grill are residents of the mountain now. I also left some more coal and firewood there on January 1st. I've a stash of firelighters, gas, brick hammer and the odd can of Stella up there too. I did stash my 3x3 tarp there last year but after a few weeks the mice liked the taste so it's a bit holey in places!

It's amazing. What's the history?

Heeelp. Live (half dead?) BaM In Progress with Frog. Turned up 24 hours too soon (long story). Pub. Beer. Stagger out. Pontcysyllte aqueduct again! Wind. Rain. Tarp. Rubbish photo below. Tomorrow? Who knows. Heeelllpp. Don't mention Sarah's panda slippers.

gecko76 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 12, 2024 10:43 pm It's amazing. What's the history?

It's an old cabin the slate probably used as a small shelter. There's about 8 of them either side of the quarry but the other are in a bad state. The quarry dates from 1840 to 1900, this one is higher up the incline so probably dates to the latest 1800's.


Reg, hang in there. Interested to find out more on the '24 hours too soon' story......