Bivvy a month 2019

[ScotRoutes]

I’m expecting a flurry of people reporting their Bivvy a month for February in the next few days. Currently I only have 12 totted up for Feb (and one of those is ootini who started in Feb), so that’s of the 40 people who have signed up to have a go for the 2019 calendar year January to December,

Might be worth listing those in and out just in case you've missed someone or somebody forgot to post?

[Escape Goat]

Hey up,
Been out for a play with some more of you guys and had a great time! There's a lot of firsts for me every time I go out, this first was sleeping in a bivvy bag (mostly because I don't own a tent since the guy on eBay kinda messed me around!
Anyways, I've attached a couple of pictures for you to see my #2 bivvy this year.

DSC02878 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02899 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02908 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02902 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02912 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02919 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

DSC02929 by Escape Goat, on Flickr

I really enjoyed that, thanks to all the new faces I met :)

EDIT; On mobile, the pictures appear to be cut off!

[ScotRoutes]

EDIT; On mobile, the pictures appear to be cut off!

Yeah - happens with me too, but they're fine on a big screen.

Looks like you've got the hang of this bivvying thing though!

[Escape Goat]

EDIT; On mobile, the pictures appear to be cut off!

Yeah - happens with me too, but they're fine on a big screen.

Looks like you've got the hang of this bivvying thing though!

Yeah, I'm loving it Scott, I'm not ever going to say I'm proficient as the bivvys go on, but I guess "managing" will be a better term to use. Getting out there first was the hardest thing mentally for me, now I've done it, I can't wait to go again. Next big step is the solo one, but again, I'm not worried as not doing it is harder than doing it. I don't know if I heard that somewhere, but I like it! :)

I'm going to have a good read of your blog soon, I work with bikes, but I'd love to work on bikes!

[ChrisF]

Ride out from work yesterday afternoon, perfect weather - not like February should be! I got to the shelter near Ladybower in the dark, settled down for some food and a dram before turning in.



The morning dawned hazy

and my planned stop for breakfast at a cafe in Hope was foiled by being too early. Sun came out once I got past Mam Tor, back home for 10 am.
2 of 2

[RIP]

Some atmospheric pix there Goat . Those look like proper chips too not frozen ones. I wouldn't be going out with that there Sam though cos he'll be getting you doing BaD (Bivvy a Day!) before you know it - he must be our most prolific bivvier .

[JimmyG]

Excellent! A free night in a Scottish castle - hard to top that. Your 5.30am encounter certainly added to the experience. Maybe you could have offered some bikepacker's porridge in exchange for their generous gesture? That would have baffled them.

I find it really interesting hearing about non-tent/bivi/tarp spots. Been a few caves here recently, bird hides often get a look-in, and don't start me on graveyards.

Talking of buildings-bivis, BrownDog's our resident expert with those - how's it going tonight Timbo? Or is it tomorrow? Thinking of you while I'm stuck up here in Sheffield bivvying on daughter's floor. Well I suppose that's one version of a buildings-bivi come to think of it!

PS. 'cutting a long story short' - never do that, we need to hear all the sordid gory details .

Thanks RIP. I'm hoping for a disturbance-free night next trip but if there are any gory details I'll be sure to share them!

[gazaddy]

2/2 Feb done. had a great evening meeting up with 6 other mad folk for the first time. after a 20 mile ride up to the Prince William pub (Wigan) we all had a meal and a couple of beers aswell as some hilarious conversation which included a " did you know if you press your phones on button 5 times it send an SOS emergency call", oops ,someone tried it (no names) it worked and the look of sheer surprise on his face (and a "quick turn it off) was priceless, we all expected some emergency service to turn up at somepoint.
Food and beers finished we rode over to our bivi spot which was a really good spot ( another future visit definately) where we all set our tents,hammocks and bivi bags, it was then I realised I had left the wrong bag at home which had the tent outer in and had brought the bivi bag, so had a very comfy nights sleep in my sleeping bag in my bivi bag inside my now large mozzie net....there was others who also had their ' I forgot something moments'.
all in all a really good night and met some great guys ( looking forward to a next northern bivi). after packing up had a meander home via the Leeds Liverpool canal.

brilliant , cheers guys.
2019-02-24_01-31-26 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-02-23_02-23-01 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-02-24_01-21-13 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-02-24_01-21-35 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr
2019-02-24_01-22-13 by Gary Adamson, on Flickr

[jaminb]

2 / 12

TheBrownDog and myself ticked off feb over the weekend. 20 miles of the finest chilterns to a pub for a quick pint and then on to Tim’s secret barn for dinner, a fire and rum. The beautiful weather was repeated today and another 20miles retracing are steps to try and find a lost exposure light but no luck! Other than the loss a great weekend meeting a great Bloke. Thanks Tim

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147112040 ... res/36BD0B

[Al]

Running roughshod over the rules here as I forgot to post my WE January bivvy - an elicit scout camp with Reg and MAM.

2/2 was last night making the most of the very unseasonal weather (we were snowed in a year ago!). A local bimble round the Shropshire hills finishing up on top of the hill I can see out my window (Corndon).
Awoke to an amazing sunrise and rode down into the valley fog. Realised I’d gotten a bit carried away with the weather and regreted my choice of summery gloves as the temperature dropped pretty sharp once I was in it.

[TheBrownDog]

2 / 12 TheBrownDog and myself ticked off feb over the weekend. 20 miles of the finest chilterns to a pub for a quick pint and then on to Tim’s secret barn for dinner, a fire and rum. The beautiful weather was repeated today and another 20miles retracing are steps to try and find a lost exposure light but no luck! Other than the loss a great weekend meeting a great Bloke. Thanks Tim

Cheers Ben. Brilliant bivvy. Shame about the light but it really took nothing from the weekend. Some more pix below.

So that's 2/12 for 2019. Bring on March.

Packed and ready


Beware the donkeys.


Happy bikepacker


No trip complete with a photo of your bike leaning against a gate


I am man. I have fire. Upon which I cooked my world famous one pot meal of chorizo baked beans and rice.


This morning's view. Lovely.


And here's the shed.


And my usual view of Ben as he took off up another hill.


And lastly, a moment of great hilarity. We'd gone over yet another gate into a field usually stocked with cattle to find a herd of two-year-old thoroughbreds happily grazing on the path. Horses aren't normally keen on bikes, but this lot were very interested and wouldn't leave us alone. We skirted round them, patted a couple, then headed off to the next gate. And they followed us. At a canter. I love the critters but we were both happier to have them on the other side of the fence.

[Escape Goat]

2/2 we all had a meal and a couple of beers aswell as some hilarious conversation which included a " did you know if you press your phones on button 5 times it send an SOS emergency call", oops ,someone tried it (no names) it worked and the look of sheer surprise on his face (and a "quick turn it off) was priceless, we all expected some emergency service to turn up at somepoint.
/quote]

Some atmospheric pix there Goat . Those look like proper chips too not frozen ones. I wouldn't be going out with that there Sam though cos he'll be getting you doing BaD (Bivvy a Day!) before you know it - he must be our most prolific bivvier .

Gaz; This was brilliant! The look on the persons face in question was class! What did I expressly say? "don't do it, BUT there's this thing..." first word out of my mouth. "Don't" haha!

Was great to meet you mate! Your bug tent was UL too!

RIP; Thanks, that will be the beer trumps in the night making it atmospheric! Was like a little musical every so often haha! The chips are like my mum makes, in a propper pan, class! We did ask sam is he going to be sleeping at home Saturday night and he did respond "...probably not"

[Escape Goat]

2 /

Packed and ready


[/img]

Really like this picture :)

[petemaz]

2/2, Feb done. Overnight near Loch Doon, north of Galloway Forest Park, mainly connecting wind turbine work roads with forestry trails. 50odd miles, windy/wet/misty weather...

[JohnClimber]

2/2 BaM 2019

Had a re count, - 34th in a row

[TrepidExplorer]

Lovely few hours of riding in the Peak District yesterday and today with Landslide. My second for February but with almost 6 hours sleeping, this one counted for more bivi points.

Pub dinner then peace, quiet, flat, comfy ground.



Like most, we had a fab sunrise and great temperature inversion to play with in the morning. Brewed coffee and porridge. Second breakfast was warm and fuelled by pork products. Third breakfast was icecream consumed outside.

[RIP]

JC 2/2 : have you given up giving up with BaM then matey?! That didn't last long then .

[JohnClimber]

JC 2/2 : have you given up giving up with BaM then matey?! That didn't last long then .

What you on about?
I don't understand.

[RIP]

Thought you were taking a sabbatical from BaM? Glad you're still in!

[JohnClimber]

Thought you were taking a sabbatical from BaM? Glad you're still in!

Might try and bag 36/36
But I'm not going to stress about missing one

[Bearlegged]

So, as Trep has already alluded to, I ticked off February (and she rubber stamped it in triplicate (Treplicate?).

We headed out through the leafy woods of Sheffield, and picked up the Eastern moors Loop. In what seems to be a departure from the usual BB modus operandi of following a line on a Garmin that bears less and less resemblance to what's on the ground, we followed a nice clear track that to date has escaped the attentions of the Ordnance Survey. A tour of local archaeology ensued, with stone circles, cairns, field systems and probably some of my finest jokes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUYddOAu06/

It was a glorious afternoon, all blue skies and sunshine, but it was starting to cool a bit when we reached the pub. In a very sensible attempt to keep ourselves warm, we stayed longer than we initially anticipated, thus affording ourselves the opportunity to load up on hot drinks and sticky toffee pudding. Extra layers (both of clothing and pudding) donned, we headed out into the dark, along the main road, then off up a nice steady farm track, where we saw no signs of life until we rode through the local herd of cows.
Planned spot reached, we very definitely did not go through the big gate marked PRIVATE. A nice bit of flat, dry ground with fairly minimal brambles was located, and we settled down for a series of almost satisfying naps, interrupted by "Ooh, look at the bright orange moonrise!" (pretty cool), "Where did the antihistamines get packed?" (I don't know if this was ever resolved), and "What the hell is this song doing in my head at 3.37am???" (https://youtu.be/RvqPTucEoDI)
Despite the temperature dropping a bit during the night, we stayed pretty cosy and sheltered, and were feeling pretty chipper as sun rose and we got our brews on.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUaXTCA0PS/

Once packed up and ready to go, we checked out the local bronze age burial site, and admired the view, particularly the spectacular cloud inversion in the valley.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUazneAxXw/

Which was all well and good, until we rode down into the valley. Fingers chilled rapidly, glasses fogged up, and more bloomin' PRIVATE signs put paid to our intended route. An alternative meander was plotted out, and worked fine until the track disappeared in the mist, so we just pointed ourselves in roughly the right direction, and hoped for the best. Which turned out to be a rather good tea room serving ALL THE PORKY GOODNESS. Full of second breakfast, we headed towards the last big climb of the outing. The mist was burning off now, and jackets were shed as we climbed up to rejoin the Eastern Moors Loop along picturesque crags, along which we threaded our (slow and polite) way through approximately 8,723 walkers to our third and final breakfast stop (ice cream is a valid breakfast isn't it?).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuUbwlnAsAh/

2019 BAM 2/2
2019 total bivvies 2
Current streak (months) 3

[fatbikephil]

Fail!
And all due to cowardice. Rode out from rovaniemi down river last night to find a lava hut (these are wee wooden shelters dotted across the landscape) got to where I thought it was but couldn't find a track across to it. I'd just passed a large area of open water so was a bit wary of plunging out across untracked snow given that it was dark so bottled it back to my digs. Went out again today and also noticed a large blown out bit of ice near to where I'd been. With no track to the hut obvious I was happy to have wimped out. ...
Hey Ho

[crewlie]

Hope I can still join in without breaking the rules (again).

Jan: WE, a fun romp around mid Wales with Reg et al (the longest distance between two points ride). Great riding, company, food, and overnight spot.

Reg, with Pandas

Feb: Despite warnings of wolf activity in the hills (local farmer...I think he was being serious), took advantage of the clear weather to pop out for a night.
Tempted by the view from the fire watch tower but decided to push on a bit

Watch tower

Ended up back in a spot I knew from previous years, a bit of cold pizza and settled down to what looked like it was going to be a chilly night.
It wasn't a problem in end, and was a peaceful night (no wolves or wildboar).
Up early and back for breakfast.

Giant pillow

Bike against tree

Le Beaucet

It was odd using the FS bike with a rucksack rather than my usual luggage, but it worked surprisingly well on the climbs, but not so much fun on the techy downhills.
I'll try to get March done here before we go back to the real world.

[RIP]

Nice one Mark. I look a bit pained there. Twas a muddy steep hill I must say. Not as pained as that guy who'd lost his bit of kit half way up/down it though.

Blimey. Mrs Perrin has lifted my Feb curfew a couple of days early, dunno why, best not ask but just grab the opportunity. Already ticked Feb BaM but no reason not to squeeze another emergency one in at the last minute I reckon; so nipped down the station earlier for a ticket to anywhere cheap tomorrow. Standard returns you'd be looking at the best part of 100 notes at this late stage, and there was nowt cheap left to Wales. My pal Eileen in the office (she says she now knows my phone number off by heart, which she's concerned about apparently!) suggested Manchester area, and we came up with good old Macclesfield. Which is a bit wierd because this is what I did exactly two years ago, although that was actually more stressful because I had to dash to the station for BaM on the last day of Feb after forgetting it only had 28 days! Macclesfield was cheapest then too, and I headed into the Peaks with no plan at all. Anyroad, using the clever "split tickets" ploy, we ended up with Leighton - Stafford for £4.50(!), and Stafford - Macclesfield £3(!). £7 for 130 miles. Not much more coming back next day. Almost cheaper than staying at home with the heating on. The only thing planned is a pickled onion at the possible pub. As you know, I'm easily pleased.

'Reg'

[darbeze]

Weather looking good, so I decided to head out before I ran out of February!

Set off after dinner to the far North end of the bay. Found a nice spot in darkest Brixham and after a poke around Berry Head and checking out the lighthouse, settled down for the night. Not as cold as expected and had a lovely quiet night. I think I only woke up 4 times, which is good going for me. Up early and out onto Berry Head again to admire the ethereal sunrise through the mist.

Quick brew of coffee (surprisingly good coffee bag) and a choccy bar to get me to work in Torquay, 11 miles ride away. Arrived at work, showered and brushed up, cheeky take away breakfast and set for the working day.

Lovely way to start the day.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuYS21Rjcpe/

Si