Bivvy a month 2019

[whitestone]

Spoke too soon!

We have a common lizard for company

[BigdummySteve]

September is likely looking touch and go, obviously the pack raft weekend can’t count as we paid, but did I pay for accommodations or for the use of the facilities? (£18 a night ) hopefully I’ll sneak out this weekend for 9/9

[Alan63]

9/9 for Fraser and I. We were joined by my other son Lewis on his 1st wild camp trip. Fraser had an MTB race in Dundee today. We grabbed a trip to Tentsmuir Forest in Fife. Found a great sheltered spot amongst the dunes not far from the shore.

[middleagedmadness]

September is likely looking touch and go, obviously the pack raft weekend can’t count as we paid, but did I pay for accommodations or for the use of the facilities? (£18 a night ) hopefully I’ll sneak out this weekend for 9/9

Get upto Mach Steve and meet me and the others

[RIP]

. Must admit I rudely hadn't mentioned to Stevo, 'cos it was a mid-week caper and he's not an old-age-pensioner/layabout like the rest of us. Caersws station 1430hrs(ish) Wednesday...

[BigdummySteve]

Hmm pickers will have my Fargo anyway, besides that small inconvenience which is working for a living, waste of a life if you ask me.

[RIP]

We'll have one/several for you, fear not. Get yer thinking cap on fer Nov .

[whitestone]

Some piccies from last night's bivy.

General view of the bothy.


The cliffs of Arenig Fawr in the background


Corny nighttime shot


We shared the bothy with this little chap (or lass)


We finally got the fire going


As noted by others it's a very small bothy - there are two benches (we are sat on one with the camera on the other), one's just big enough for two people lying head to toe and the other has room for one. I'm 5'11" and I could just lie out so it's also a very narrow one!

[TheBrownDog]

Live bivvy in progress ... I have no idea how to post pix from my phone but if I could you would see the bowl of mussels that has just been delivered to the table I am sitting at in the pub at the top of my village. All my kit is in my backpack because It is raining nasty sideways rain and I dont want to be faffing with bags on the bike if I do actually make it into the woods .......... it's touch and go. Touch. And. Go.

[Bearlegged]

Go!!!!

You're not made of sugar.

[RIP]

Certainly Go. But who's doing the Touching, Tim?

[Raggedstone]

9/9
As the weather was so good and i finished work early on Friday i decided another trip to Wales was in order got bike packed and set off for Talybont on Usk for this months BAM traffic bad around Monmouth so didnt get there until 6 pm quick unload and away in 10 minutes . The sun was just going down behind the mountains as i reached the resevoir and i couldnt catch up with it .

I hoped to see the sun set over Pen Y Fan but i wasnt fast enough the glorious day i had strarted in was becoming an extremely windy one by the time i reached the gap just enough light for the steep climb up to Fan y Big i have wanted to see the diving board for ages and thought the other side of the hill may have been out of the wind it was dark when i got there and even windier so had to backtrack and descend the gap route towards brecon and found a bit of shelter for the night lower down , bit turned out to be the operative word .

Pretty wild night ensued but tarp stayed up must be learning something along the way, coffee and porridge and back up to Fan y Big well worth it amazing view and pretty obvious why its called the diving board

thought the early start would help avoid the crowds due to the cheeky nature of the route no such luck but everyone very friendly so carried on on an excellent track with the intention of finding the way back to the resevoir on a path that had been recommended to me by a local a while back but i turned to early so missed that but did come upon this which i knew was up there somewhere


I had quite a long quiet time there until some people arrived so left and worked my way down via some lovely waterfalls

and back to the cafe for a very large meal .

[BigdummySteve]

Certainly Go. But who's doing the Touching, Tim?

Did he or didn’t he? Will be watching the news updates eagerly throughout the day, probably upsetting the boss during my appraisal today

[TheBrownDog]

Did he or didn’t he?

No. No he did not. I think it’s one thing to keep going once out and it starts to rain. And another to just ride home and go to bed. Rather glad I did. Rained heavily all night. Raining heavily now. Gonna rain heavily all day. I’ll harden the f@ck up tomorrow and try again.

[RIP]

Fair enough Tim, as we know there ain't no judge n jury apart from yourself .

Good luck with your 'appraisal' Steve - used to hate doing/having them. My favourite story is about my good pal Jezzer; him/me used to have teams that worked alongside each other at one place. He was doing appraisal of Jenny one day - very very 'petite' lass, 5'-nothing, very nice, wouldn't say boo to goose. Things going ok but kept her coat on during proceedings, Jezzer assumes aircon is a bit high. Get to delicate subject of dosh and Jez obv not able offer what's hoped for. Tense negotiations continue. Suddenly Jenny yanks apart front of her coat and giant boobs pop out leaving Jezzer totally stunned and mouth agape. Jenny: "does this help?". But - false ones!!! Much hilarity all round and Jenny had been happy with the money all along, just fancied a larf. I loved that place.

R

[BigdummySteve]

All good reg, my boss is from Newcastle, very chilled out.. like. He is also the spitting image of Peter Griffin, in fact I have a picture if PG and surfing bird as a ring tone, every time he rings me I’m trying not to giggle

[frogatthefarriers]

For my September BAM, with a weather forecast of clear night skies, I thought I'd try sleeping under the stars to see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Cycle to Wrexham station, train to Llandudno Junction then ride a part of the Sarn Helen trail (that I'd found on 't web) to Blaenau festiniog , with a bivvy in the middle, somewhere high up. They're right, the stars are amazing where there's no light pollution. I fell asleep three times looking at them, because I had to get out of bed twice for a "comfort break" and by the time I'd wriggled out of the bivvy bag and then back in, I was wide awake.

Start


After Llyn Cowlyd


Bivvy, between Capel Curig and Dolwyddelan



Horrible boggy climb and descent Dolwyddelan over to Penmachno



With a nice view of the Snowdon horseshoe on the way


From Penmachno, up some mighty pushes to some abandoned industrial heritage


Up over the tramway ramp you can see just to the left of the chimney, then some notional track


and down a massive slate spoil heap to Blaenau Festiniog. Food in a caff then wait for a train to take me back to Llandudno Junction to catch another train home. This Pushme-pullyou train came in while I waited.


Fighting drunks on the train made it a long journey home. I'd miscalculated the time I'd be getting off the train and had to cycle 5 miles home in the dark, with exposure light up front, but just a tiny red light from my head torch to shine backwards.

[ScotRoutes]

For my September BAM, with a weather forecast of clear night skies, I thought I'd try sleeping under the stars to see if it's all it's cracked up to be. Cycle to Wrexham station, train to Llandudno Junction then ride a part of the Sarn Helen trail (that I'd found on 't web) to Blaenau festiniog , with a bivvy in the middle, somewhere high up. They're right, the stars are amazing where there's no light pollution. I fell asleep three times looking at them, because I had to get out of bed twice for a "comfort break" and by the time I'd wriggled out of the bivvy bag and then back in, I was wide awake.

Glad you weren't disappointed. Tentless camping can be fascinating.

[RIP]

Nice pics again Frog. That Dol - Penmachno thing is high up in the list of Nastiest Bways, compliments for beating it. Has a lot in common with the other ByG - it's a sod. "Cross Gap?" Yes I was bloody livid....

As a counterpoint to all these nice sunny bivvies, am just off to the station for a 5-dayer in BB Land. Tonight thunder and lightning are promised in Hafren. MaM says he has a cunning spot so maybe we'll live to post some piccies .

[Zippy]

@zippy: I bivvyed up Glen Esk in August.

Not being able to pick up a bbc code on my iPad I can’t manage to link a photo atm.

Scotroutes photo shows my leg and his text covers my September bivvy

So I’m 9/9 and 11 in a row.

I haven't got a July jotted down for you either - did I miss that?

[Borderer]

Friday and Saturday were rare September days of stunning weather here. Friday it was 22C and the sun was blazing, so you can imagine how thrilled I was that we wasted THE WHOLE DAY searching for my debit card which the boy had mislaid.

I had planned a trip to try some of the Fife Coastal path but by the time the card was located it was too late for that. We rode out to one of our favourite swimming spots instead.

Beautiful evening light just outside Roberton....



We camped by the river. Last time we were here the grass was waist-high, but it had recently been mown and was positively lawn-like.



We tried to go in for a swim but in spite of the hot weather it was bucking faltic. This was about as far in as either of us got...



We got the dinner on, then spent a nice evening by the river as the shadows lengthened.



We turned in for the night and lay and listened to a couple of Jenny Graham's round-the-world podcasts before bed. This would have been great except that Joe talks a lot in his sleep and so with his brain full of Jenny's exploits he chatted all night long about her (though thankfully not in that way).

Next day we lazed around on the river bank under cloudless skies, sunbathing and playing chess before heading home in the afternoon.



Only about 24km ridden but a good trip out none the less.
9/9 this year for me and Joe and 10/10 in total.

[ScotRoutes]

@zippy: I bivvyed up Glen Esk in August.

Not being able to pick up a bbc code on my iPad I can’t manage to link a photo atm.

Scotroutes photo shows my leg and his text covers my September bivvy

So I’m 9/9 and 11 in a row.

I haven't got a July jotted down for you either - did I miss that?

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13730&start=550#p187476

[Bearlegged]

bucking faltic

[Zippy]

@zippy: I bivvyed up Glen Esk in August.

Not being able to pick up a bbc code on my iPad I can’t manage to link a photo atm.

Scotroutes photo shows my leg and his text covers my September bivvy

So I’m 9/9 and 11 in a row.

I haven't got a July jotted down for you either - did I miss that?

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13730&start=550#p187476

Thankyou sir!

[middleagedmadness]

I missed July zippy ,I chose a afternoon with Nancy whisky instead