Thought I'd best get this up in case anyone's really, really keen, so here we are .... bivvy a month for 2015.

Thought we would start early this year. Bought my wife a Hunka bivvy bag for Chrimbo so we saw the New Year in sleeping out on Dartmoor, near Bell Tor. Bit misty/drizzly and windy, but quite warm...

Next stop, Ford Fiesta...

Si

Congratulations Si ... although I'm not sure whether that counts as the first bivvy of 2015 or the last one of 2014

Both of course!

I went out with my wife for a news years eve ride on the Isle of Wight, we stopped at some high ground at midnight with a view of the Island and the south coast to watch all the firework displays, then rode on to our chosen bivi spot. We didn't get to our bivi location until after midnight. This was our first ever bivi, inspired by all the tales of adventure on here. We both loved it and are now committed to 1 a month, if not more

New years done at that Strata florida bothy, first trip with the dog too and she loved it.

I'll excuse myself from Feb, then I think I might have a crack at this for real.


P1030601 by zippyonline, on Flickr


P1030623 by zippyonline, on Flickr


P1030627 by zippyonline, on Flickr

Zippy wrote:New years done at that Strata florida bothy, first trip with the dog too and she loved it.

Found this blog by chance, was this you?

https://aroundthehills.wordpress.com/20 ... es-part-2/

Mart wrote:

Zippy wrote:New years done at that Strata florida bothy, first trip with the dog too and she loved it.

Found this blog by chance, was this you?

https://aroundthehills.wordpress.com/20 ... es-part-2/

Ha ha, yes it was!

Nice to see this thread being so popular. I started the original one back in 2012 after my successful TD ride as I wanted to give myself an incentive to use the kit that I had bought and that others may feel the same. Besides myself Taylor, Chew and ScotRoutes (I think) completed that year and increasing numbers in 2013 and 2014.

If I was younger and beardier I might have come up with a hashtag such as #short ride to describe what we were doing. But I didn't.

If I was younger and beardier I might have come up with a hashtag such as #short ride to describe what we were doing. But I didn't.

Bet you wish you had

I think you should feel quite chuffed knowing that your original thread has been the spark of the forest fire for so many trips that might not have happened otherwise

Hash tag #BAM sounds cooler actually ;-)

Zippy wrote:New years done at that Strata florida bothy, first trip with the dog too and she loved it.

Are we talking about Moel Prysgau here or is there another bothy near Strata Florida?

composite wrote:

Zippy wrote:New years done at that Strata florida bothy, first trip with the dog too and she loved it.

Are we talking about Moel Prysgau here or is there another bothy near Strata Florida?

Yup.

Did Guy Martin not mind sharing wit' dog?

first bivy o' the year last night, wow, it was a windy one! even in the most sheltered bit of wood land i could find to hide in...

2 more days at work next week then three weeks off, there will ore more nights out then too

Yetiman and myself went on a mission to deposit Gnorm the Gnome somewhere, so decided we might as well make a night of it. Set off about 5.30 and went up, then down, then up some more until we eventually found ourselves in Mach' around 8.30 for some chips.



I cried all the way to the chip shop and when I came out there was Gordon standing at the bus stop*



Mike wondering whether to help me patch my tube or not ... 'not' won.

Laden with pie and chips we climbed out of Mach' on what would have been a lovely bridleway in the hours of daylight ... and it started to rain. Only a little bit at first, then a bit more and a bit more. We stopped at a gate to attire ourselves in eVent goodness, 30 seconds later I hopped back on my bike to discover my front tyre was flat. The rain was now coming down in sheets, sheets that were being blown sideways by one of the fiercest winds I've ever tried to ride / push a bike in. Mending my tyre at this point wasn't a winning option so we pushed on and up the (now) trackless hillside.

'Otters pocket' doesn't begin to describe how wet we were as we dropped off the tops and into the santuary of a forest. 30 seconds were taken to secure what seemed to be the driest / flatest piece of ground we could and camp was struck.



Home sweet home. Solo tarps, down bags, high winds and heavy rain ... oddly no one died or actually got wet during the night but we did have some drying of the previous nights gear to do.

This morning I removed 3 big thorns from my tyre and patched the tube after realising I only had a cx tube as a spare and that wasn't really going to cut it inside a 3" tyre ... although I did try. A steady and dry 10 miles home before the same weather front we met last night returned for another go this afternoon.

*Ten points if you can tell me who was with him.

Julie

Yeah Julie

That's a nice looking bivvy spot for getting out of the weather.

Top marks in this weather though, it's being a bit of a pain here in the cushy SE, must be proper weather in Wales!

/attachment]

I took advantage of recovering from a month long cold and being in Somerset over new years eve to cycle from Milverton to Holford and then have a little explore before bivvying down in some woods. . As a bikepacking novice was pleased with my set up no tarp, bivy ,bag and pied d'elephant/ jacket combo but in future think will opt for the tarp if there is a cool wind as I kept getting a cold bum !There's a lovely Coombe by Holford where I stopped to take some photos in the morning the path is interspersed by lots of (very shallow) stream crossings

My January entry.

http://phased.co.uk/the-ford-fiesta/

Ford fiesta for January, spent in a memorial viewpoint half way up a big, cold and very windy welsh hill... 1/12

Here's one of Stu doing his repairs on our bivy out thursday. I think the total was four holes in all.....good effort stu

Bivi a month kicked off with attendance at the Bearbones Ford fiesta.

Had a nice, windy ride round a 95km loop, slightly shorter than planned due to me being full of a cold and too lazy to go further.

Bivi was had in the smallest wood ever at SN 816 853

Heres me snoozing as the sun comes up.



the rubbish photo can be blamed on sue.

Thursday night last week saw hux and I on the porch of the hut in the wyre forest again. A quick micro bivy, ten miles in ten miles out chips two pints and some whisky. Awake by 6 up and into work.