It was Dan - Dorking and cold!

3 of 3.

Rode 15 miles out to Larkton hill, Bickerton, Cheshire. The site belongs to the National Trust and if you enter from the main car park there's a sign saying No Cycling. However, if you go in from one of the many other entrances there are no such signs, so if you're challenged, you can claim "plausible deniability"


This is my bicycle by Maiden Castle, an iron Age hill fort on said Larkton Hill.


Hammock hung

Found a good spot off the main pathways, set up my hammock and set to cooking my meal of pan-fried (in lard, 'cos they taste so much better) sausages and sticky beans. The beans were sticky not from over-cooking but because I'd forgotten to pack the pan gripper and while taking the pan from the stove with a couple of pieces of twig, it slipped off and my beans went on to the forest floor. By the time I'd scraped them back into the pan, they were a bit sticky and leafy and sandy too for good measure. I ate it all, anyway. You've got to eat a peck of dirt before you die, they say.

This was the first time that my cold feet didn't keep me awake in the night. This time I was cold while my feet were toasty in my new down booties. Sometimes you just can't win. Roll on the warmer weather, Please!

View from my bed.

Out of bed at about 8 o'clock, quick breakfast, pack away and back home by 10:30. I weighed my bike and kit when I got home; 24.5 kg. not counting food and water. Jeez I've got to find some lighter stuff for the WRT and smaller too - Look at that drybag on the bars!

Soon be April.
Lu

last minute attempt again 20 minute walk from home, forgot my bivvy bag, but had my new hexamid to try out. Looked at the forecast and providing I got back home early, I'd miss the heavy rain. Anyway, decided that the ground way dry enough to not require bivvy so all was good, tarp kept a few spots of rain out, but was fairly strong winds until about 2am when I drifted off to sleep. Got back home, then it started raining properly. Well timed hap-hazard bivvy a month for March done

April is planned to be better as it involved bicycles and Wales


Bivvy a month - Mar 2015 by zippyonline, on Flickr

p.s. the reason the tarp is all flappy is because the pole sunk in the ground - I partially rectified this by putting my shoe under it.

Proper last minute job for me. Rode all of 2km into local woods, put up tarp, slept through much wind and a bit of rain. Woke up, made brew, packed up and rode home in time for breakfast with Beth and the kids


Bivvy 31/03/2015 by ianbarrington, on Flickr

3/3 for 2015

edit: also used my Ook Tub for the first time with the Hexamid - it was ace. Perfect size to fit under, and the elastic cords at the corners all reach the main corner pegs of the tarp, so no additional peggage required

Squeezed a no night out in large week. It was with the missus and pretty rainy so we took the tent. Still. It a was a night out in the local hills so I'm counting it.

Two days late with March's, does that still count? After the flapping tarp last month I had think about my setup. I was trying to pitch the tarp to make a tent, but is the point to be out in the open to see the stars? Or mist in our case so it was out with the sewing machine to make a smaller tarp and we also selected a sheltered pitch in the woods.



We had a much better nights sleep, despite the rain, and were warm and dry in the bivi bags. Woke up to drizzle for a first light selfie.



Just need to be more organised and get April's done in April.

I had 3 nights out on a fully loaded cycle tour of the Cotswalds earlier this week. Way too comfortable, expensive and heavy to count towards a bivvy a month total, not that Im counting. I was hoping to be away for 5 nights but the wind defeated me and chased me home with a 25mph tailwind.

Six nights out from Monday with AW n the boys on the isle of man. Should be good hope there's some good bivy spots even though we will be in a tent

I will be interested in your Isle of Man trip as we are bike touring there in July.

Well, that's my first April bivi popped in a sack with a brick and thrown in the canal. Hope to get at least another one in before it's time to dance around the village Maypole and sacrifice an incoming caravan driver in a flaming wicker effigy.

No trout were hurt (or gently fried in a Jetboil) in the making of this excursion. Better luck next time, hopefully.

Southern Dartmoor....

P4040199 by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

P4040190 by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

Flyfishing @ the Avon Dam #avondam #bikepacking #dartmoor #bivouac #nothingforthepottonight by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

P4040198 by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

Turkish Coffee by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

P4050252 by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

P4050272 by Dittisham Stickleback Breeding Station, on Flickr

Local bivvy last night in the company of Alan Goldsmith and Chris Purt. 4/4.

Little jaunt in Wales for Easter.


P1030708 by zippyonline, on Flickr

Full album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zippyonli ... 802912045/
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/280210695

Learnt a few little things too, tried out some new bits of kit for proper, and haven't lost all my ability to ride a MTB despite a while off it. Good trip, despite the 6 hour drive to get to the start.

The 'Bear Bones Unemployables' had a little trip out yesterday. Weather was glorious, lunch at the Red Kite cafe was very nice and over-night spot ideal ... laid in bivvy bags watching the shooting stars and the space station going over



Did I say it was hot, dry and dusty?



We had a little detour up a bridleway to admire the view ... not a house in sight although Snowdon is just visable many, many miles away.



Matt enjoying his tea ... I think.

4/4

A few miles in Wales

Lovely photo!

4 of 4.
A walk-in this time, with my son and a couple of grand-kids. The venue close to his house. A beautiful clear night with no frost. A good sighting of the International Space Station. Campfire with marshmallows.



That's not me, I'm much older than that!

My grandson has been hammocking several times already but it was my granddaughters first time. She wants to go again so I guess she liked it, even though she woke her dad up several times in the night saying she was scared.



I'll have to have another bikepacking bivvy this month, to have a last shakedown before the WRT.

April ticked off with a fabulous walking trip on the South Downs with a couple of uni mates who I've not seen properly for nearly 30 years. Beautiful countryside, amazing weather and a campfire shared with friendly strangers at Gumber Bothy. Great stuff. I must take my bike down that way soon.

Another one for April ... at what I imagine might be the most 'famous' bivvy spot in the UK. Bit windy, touch of rain in the night but still lovely.

Blatantly the wrong time of year to be at The Winter Bivi spot

It was quite chilly in the wind

And now for the longest write up i will ever post for bivi a month - and true to form for me it isn't actually written by me, but by my poor suffering children. . . . but don't feel that sorry for them as they were rubbish when it came to packing or setting up camp!

We had carefully planned out Easter trip to the Isle of Man, we got to the station in Sheffield at stupid o'clock, just in case we could only take two bikes on each train. The first train came in looking very empty so we could all travel together . . . unfortunately at the same time we also got a text from the Isle of Man Steam packet company saying our sailing was cancelled and gave a number to ring. The number didn't work so we decided to jump on the train anyway and see if we could get the next crossing. Before we arrived in Liverpool we found out there would be no crossings from Liverpool for at least 4 days. So after a little discussion we decided to head out of Liverpool along the canal to Leeds and make it up as we went along . . . Which in hindsight wasn't a bad turn of events as the IOM spent most of the week chilly and fog bound!

So I will now leave it to the boys to tell the story . . .


We were GOING to the Isle of Man BUT we got rejected by the ferry company so we had to ride all the way home from Liverpool. The first night we had to sleep next to the canal in a poo covered field and made a fishing rod out of a wire, a stick and a micro worm as bait. We also watched mike fling poo everywhere with a stick.

On the second night we came across the tree of lost soles( picture) and I figured out what it was. It was where the serial killer farmer came around every morning on a motobike dealt with any wild campers in his fields, everyone he killed he took one of their shoes and hung it on the tree But Mum and Mike made us camp there anyway.


We stopped in the Rams head inn for a drink where they had shetland ponies in the garden . . . one was rather happy to see the other one . . . After we set off we were soon overtaken by some men on motorised parashutes . . . we wanted those instead of bikes!

On the third night we camped in a quarry next to a resevoir and went skinny dipping in the freezing cold water when we got dry and warm we sat on some rocks and ate some packet pasta.In the morning it took us about two hours to pack .as the boys rather helpfully ran round and played on walkie talkies

On the forth night me and max were playing with some stones and dropping a heavy stone on really wide thin ones to see if they would crack whilst mum and mike were setting up the tent.Then we went down to the resevoir to get water to filter and were realy scared because we heard some bull frogs. Later on we watched the sun go down

The last day had finally come. We rode down into penistone then rode through warncliffe woods and stopped to drink our milk shakes. We were riding along a road when we saw something…no…it coudnt be…SHEFFIELD!!! We were home and we were ready for it. We had a quick stop at a pub then we went home, we burst through the door and we new that this was it.
Word of the week;
SHLONG I blame Mike for this!!

Ps The boys forgot to mention the weather and the fact that they rode 154.5 miles(edit! It was the long way back but not 254.5!!) home with over 2500 meters of climbing!


more pics here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... e1692300c8

Excellent write-up! Sounds fun

254 miles?
Bloody hell, thats good going considering they moaned all the way round Claerwen.

Brilliant write up & pics, looks like a proper adventure for you, Mike & the boys..

Sorry Taylor - that was a typo, now corrected. 154.5 miles in total, and yes suprisingly little moaning considering the distance. . . . They still moaned on Monday when they had to do the 3.5 miles to school though!