Bivvy a month 2019

[ericrobo]

Hey up Chris (Zippy !)

With December 14th bivvy done (I think I took the barn picture), I’ve completed 12 out of 12 for 2019, and I did 12 out of 12 in 2018...

So I’m 24 bivvies out of 24 months

Just putting the records straight you know

New cassette AND front chainring + granny ring now on Big Jon. Nice and clean, I’m reluctant to get it dirty again

What a game..!

[RIP]

"Reg or Burty will vouch for me" - we certainly will, you're in the corner of the bivi pic that I took

[ScotRoutes]

Solstice bivvy in progress. When I wake up tomorrow it'll be Winter but the days will be getting longer again.




FWIW, currently -2C

[redefined_cycles]

FWIW... I'm out of this 12 month rolling self challenge. Managed to hit around 7 consecutively but this month been too busy and had to do enough work to be able to afford taking days off (car and house debts to pay to friends/family) for this coming weeks charity orphan sponsorship ride*

Gonna reset and start again in jan though and hopefully earn the full 12 months. Well done everyone thats managed to push on through...

[ScotRoutes]

A couple of shots from this morning.

P1060227 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060230 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060233 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1060234 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr


My decision to camp at the top of the wee hill was well founded. Although it got down to -4C overnight, it was easily 2C colder riding home through the cold mist in the Strath.

DSC_0868 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr


12/12
37 consecutive
62/72

[darbeze]

December BAM done...

I have to confess that I have struggled to muster the willpower to get on the bike and out of the house on more than one BAM this year.

A local spot 2 miles from home that I have used once before. A little light rain and breeze to start, but then it all settled down nicely. Rather fortunate considering recent poor weather around here. It did manage to start raining as soon as I rode home this morning though!

Back home to bake today's bread, deliver some of it and then go to the day job.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6aMfbVJCE8/

12/12

Happy Christmas Boners!

[TheBrownDog]

Live BAM in progress.

With my kids in Austria skiing with their mum, and My Very Active Girlfriend skiing in France with her son, I figured I'd be better off skipping work, going for a ride and sleeping in a damp windy shed at the horse yard. My Christmas morning will involve shovelling sub standard, lugging 30kg buckets of water and stuffing hay into big nets.

So Im heading out in 15 minutes on a 20 mile loop to the shed at the horse yard where Ive slept a couple of times. I think I may have cheated, having popped in this morning and left 20kg of wood up there for my fire. There's a lot of wood. It'll be a big fire.

Will report back tomorrow.

[Rich3rd]

...... and left 20kg of wood up there for my fire.

Ahhh, the Yule Log (or are you saving that for morning )

Knackered finger a long way from fixed and still off the bike, will give you a shout in NY when I'm out next.

früh weihnachten

[Raggedstone]

12/12

December done , I have to agree with darbeze about the motivation thing these last two months i have struggled last month was definately a box ticking exercise as i felt this months was going to be . I set out into the longest night on Sunday and 5 minutes into the ride i got right into it warmer than i thought i felt good and clear sky for company i had had a look for a good spot on a walk on Saturday and found somewhere off the beaten track on the Malven Hillls. As i was enjoying the ride i went past the place and returned later, i got set up and lay down to a brilliant display of shooting stars which was the remnants of the Ursid meteor shower i found out in the morning so pretty lucky to have a clear sky the way the weather has been lately !



12 months of bivvy bag with or without tarp depending on the weather its been superb though the sound of places with fires ,roofs etc does sound appealing so maybe try some of that next year along with the Hill Forts and Long Barrows.

Happy Christmas Boners

[TheBrownDog]

...... and left 20kg of wood up there for my fire.

Ahhh, the Yule Log (or are you saving that for morning )

Knackered finger a long way from fixed and still off the bike, will give you a shout in NY when I'm out next.

früh weihnachten

I actually forgot the Yule log ... bit of cake instead. But I did manage to burn all the wood last night forgetting that it's also quite nice to have a fire to gaze into in the morning as the sun comes up.

I left home fully intending to cover the 20 miles that Ben and I did in February, but 10 miles in the mud and innumerable gates got the better of me and I hit the roads getting to the shed just after 6pm. This included a 200m slog along a path at the top of the horse yard that took 10 minutes. I know I bang on about Chilterns mud, but it's worse now than i've ever seen it. Two days without rain and what was just slippery gloop has become a thick sticky relentless clag. Urgh.

I was very happy to get to the shed. Out with the sleeping kit, on with the fire and a nip of brandy (it's Christmas after all) while my one pot meal of chorizo beans and rice scorched itself onto the bottom of my pan. Very tasty and followed by a chunk of Christmas cake it made a pretty nice meal.

Then disaster .... I'd forgotten the ginger and lemon tea bags. Then another disaster. i'd brought the wrong book !!! So I just sat in my lovely chair and kept chucking logs on the fire till they were all gone and the coals burned down. By this time it was about 9.30pm and time for bed. Climbing into my bag I suddenly felt extremely tired and the next thing knew it was 5.45am ... I've never slept through while camping unless in a hammock.

I had a quick coffee and some porridge then made my way down to the stables and spent a fun few hours of yard duties before heading home. All in all, a good night out.

So, there it is: 12/12 and 36/36. I will be ordering a third BAM badge from Stu but have to say, that's it for me an the BAM challenge. Next year I'll be going out when I feel like it, preferably with company. As ever, the most fun times bikepacking this year have been riding with mates: Reg, Muddy Pete, Big Dummy Steve, Rich3rd, middleagemadness and everyone else I've turned a pedal with this year, thanks and see you all in 2020.

[ChrisF]

December bivvy done, that's 12 out of 12 this year

My plans were to take a few days off mid-December to give myself a chance to do a decent ride and bivvy in contrast to the last minute box-ticking that I did in November. Plans were laid waste by me getting a bad dose of 'flu that put me out of action for 10 days or so

Fast forward to 21st Dec and my last chance to get out before Christmas lands in our household. Feeling much recovered but still with a Capstan 40-a-day cough, I set out after dark with plans for a couple of hours ride and camp up in the quarries on Chinley Churn. The first climb makes me realise I'm not going far, coughing and wheezing all the way up the hill, so I change plans and head 2 miles to the same spot as my November BaM. Tent up and a look over the lights of Manchester:

BaM Dec by Chris Farley, on Flickr

Then retire to the tent for pasta and chorizo when the rain started:

Untitled by Chris Farley, on Flickr

I was feeling a bit peeved at doing another 'box-tick' just to get the BaM done, but once I settled in and got warm I realised that I was really enjoying the evening. That's the beauty of this exercise - it pushes you out of the house when you might not otherwise bother, and every time it's a good experience and worthwhile (so far at least! ). So thanks Stu, and Bearbones for helping me get off my arse

[MuddyPete]

As ever, the most fun times bikepacking this year have been riding with mates: Reg, Muddy Pete, Big Dummy Steve, Rich3rd, middleagemadness and everyone else I've turned a pedal with this year, thanks and see you all in 2020.

Wow! Cheers Tim, I'm genuinely chuffed at such praise .
Sociable bivis are the future for me, too . See you in January.

[RIP]

Still got very fond memories of the Three Lions Tour, Tim, but - sit down and grip the arms of your chair tightly here - today we went past the White Lion and...... it's closed and boarded up !!!

[TheBrownDog]

Still got very fond memories of the Three Lions Tour, Tim, but - sit down and grip the arms of your chair tightly here - today we went past the White Lion and...... it's closed and boarded up !!!

That’s sad isn’t it? Another decent local pub gone. We’ll have to come up with a new jape next year, something with a bonfire perhaps.

[RIP]

bonfire - burn the sad remains of the White Lion down?! Mmm, that probably wouldn't leave no trace...

[gallowayboy]

Well, Ill be finishing the year with another no-show. November and December have been devoid of bivvy motivation.
I know BAM is supposed to be the motivation when the other reasons to bivvy are failing BUT....Ive struggled with being able to face it when its pishing doon, as it has for much of the past two months.
Still managing night rides, but arriving home covered with mud and somewhat damp is one thing, getting a bivvy, even a tent sorted out by torchlight and keeping the clag on the right side of the threshold is daunting. Pleased to have managed 10/12 though, with a motley assemblage of kit. A bit of fine tuning, minor spending and.....I'll start again in January!

[Asposium]

Updating my year of BaM, but i did complete

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=13730&p=171546#p171546

[Borderer]

I already had a Dec BAM in the bag from the Scottish Winter bivvy gathering, but Joe didn't. He has finished BAM already as we started last Dec, but I am trying to persuade him to do a year of camping BAM's with me (ie no bothies as it feels a bit like cheating - they aren't very hard and are often warm and cosy!) Anyway we now both have Dec BAM (13/13) and 4/4 of our camping BAM's scored. Not expecting Zippy to keep track of that - writing it more for my own records.

I managed to persuade Joe to accompany me on a completely bonkers trip to spend Hogmanay up an extinct volcano. It was bucking faltic and windy enough to knock you over if you weren't careful, but we still had quite a few laughs and a great view of the midnight firework displays in towns all over the Scottish Borders.

We left home just as the sun was setting for the final time in 2019...



It was below freezing and very frosty but only -1C so I wasn't worried - our November BAM has cured me of any anxiety about camping in the cold.



We started the ride just as the sun dipped below the horizon.



We turned onto a slightly busier road and both got a bit freaked out by a couple of close passes from cars. Although I had mapped out a route we were grateful to bail out off-road when we saw a sign to our destination along the way.



With a cloudless sky there was a gorgeous sunset as a backdrop to the ride. There was a time when I would have felt that heading off into the dark was a failure of planning or preparation somehow, but now I just feel that it is a kind of fun and magic all of its own. It has certainly lost its fear for me and that is entirely down to our BAM trips.



Joe absolutely loves frozen things of all kinds and will happily mess with frozen puddles for hours. There was no way we were going to be able to pass this frozen trough without a long delay and a fair bit of ice breaking going on.



We made it up the ridiculously steep hill, cooked some dinner and lay in our bags til it was time for 'the bells'. I don't have any pictures from that time as everything was happening in the distance. We did have a good, if distant, view of several different firework displays though. It was too cold to stay long, so we were back in our toasty beds by 12.30.

I had hoped that the basalt outcrops on the top of the hill would provide shelter, but instead they had created a wind tunnel and no shelter was to be found. We did our best with a small hollow but the tent still got quite a battering from the wind. While this didn't do much for our quality of sleep, the tent was at least undamaged, much to my relief. Viewers on a big screen may be able to see the way that the tent is getting bent in at the side here:


This was where were at midnight the night before - huddled in the inadequate shelter of the trig point. Great views though.



Joe packing up whilst getting quite a buffeting from the wind.....



Looking back at the summit of Ruberslaw - we were camped just in the notch below the arrow.



Joe pausing to admire his achievement. Because of our unscheduled detour the night before I made a navigation error in the dark and also took us up the 'false' summit on the right of the main part of the hill.



A tired but happy boy pushing the bike over the last claggy bit before the road.



Back home again for a fresh start and a new year.



Happy new year and new adventures everyone x

[JoseMcTavish]

That's my kind of New Year's party above!

Just polishing off this year's series, I went for a short excursion from home to the nearest forest:









http://highlanddrifter.com/bam-2019-december

That's 12/12 for this year and 24 in a row, so I might as well keep going next year. It's amazing how many people say you must be mad for doing it, without having tried for themselves. Nothing like a night out in the woods to restore the soul.

[Borderer]

Couldn't agree more. I want to keep going now too.

[RIP]

Yep, a good year. Not quite as vintage as 2018, but rode with many different Boners and had many larfs. Forgive me for a mini-review but it's an aide memoire as much as owt.

No gigpacking last year . Rectified this year .

All tarped, no bivibag.

J = Drizzle. Closed scout camp near Mach.
F = Rain. Disused woodshed near home
F2 = Drizzle. Graveyard in Peak District.
M = Drizzle. Willow plantation near home.
A = Drizzle. Slagheap in Forest Of Dean.
M = Drizzle. Hillfort and forest on WRT.
J = Overcast. Woods near home.
J = Rain. Pigsty in the Fens.
A = Drizzle. Woodshed near home.
S = Rain. Toilet block, visitor centre, village green; Dyfi area
O = Rain. Toilet block, kids playground; Peaks.
N = Rain. Pub marquee near Banbury.
D = Rain. Woods in Shropshire.

Loved every hour, minute, and second; and most importantly - the company of fellow Boners without whom it would all just have been bike rides. I salute you all.

'Reg'

[redefined_cycles]

Yep, a good year. Not quite as vintage as 2018, but rode with many different Boners and had many larfs. Forgive me for a mini-review but it's an aide memoire as much as owt.

No gigpacking last year . Rectified this year .

All tarped, no bivibag.

J = Rain. Closed scout camp near Mach.
F = Rain. Disused woodshed near home
F2 = Drizzle. Graveyard in Peak District.
M = Drizzle. Willow plantation near home.
A = Drizzle. Slagheap in Forest Of Dean.
M = Drizzle. Hillfort and forest on WRT.
J = Overcast. Woods near home.
J = Rain. Pigsty in the Fens.
A = Drizzle. Woodshed near home.
S = Rain. Toilet block, visitor centre, village green; Dyfi area
O = Rain. Toilet block, kids playground; Peaks.
N = Rain. Pub marquee near Banbury.
D = Rain. Woods in Shropshire.

Loved every hour, minute, and second; and most importantly - the company of fellow Boners without whom it would all just have been bike rides. I salute you all

'Reg'

Looking forward some day to riding with you Reg... not sure if I'll be able to keep up

[RIP]

Cheers Shaf, no doubt 'twil happen. Keep up? You're a BB200 man; I'm just a B2 man, possibly BB20 with a tailwind. Nah, MaM, SteveM and meself are competing for the position of slowcoach of t'forum. May as well just chuck the bike in the hedge to be honest - quicker to walk. I think our average speeds are negative, if we could even be bothered to record them .

'Reg The Flaneur Bikepacker'

[redefined_cycles]

Cheers Shaf, no doubt 'twil happen. Keep up? You're a BB200 man; I'm just a B2 man, possibly BB20 with a tailwind. Nah, MaM, SteveM and meself are competing for the position of slowcoach of t'forum. May as well just chuck the bike in the hedge to be honest - quicker to walk. I think our average speeds are negative, if we could even be bothered to record them .

'Reg The Flaneur Bikepacker'

Reg (and many others on here) you're too humble and kind...

[middleagedmadness]

Reg you’ve missed March 2 outdoor classroom over the chase , no rain involved for once