Bivvy a month 2020.

[Verena]

E..g.s of "tarp clips":



They're variations on the pebble-theme. I have some things a bit like buttons in my pack but can't remember what they're called or where I got them from.

so basically the same principle as suspenders and stockings

[RIP]

Gulp. That's an image to wrestle with on a Friday night .

[Verena]

Gulp. That's an image to wrestle with on a Friday night .

Wrestle away

[RIP]

Just get those suspenders, I mean clips, bought . https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk ... clips-p447

[Cheeky Monkey]

E..g.s of "tarp clips":



They're variations on the pebble-theme. I have some things a bit like buttons in my pack but can't remember what they're called or where I got them from.

so basically the same principle as suspenders and stockings

I wouldn't know. Any photographic evidence to the contrary is fake news

[fatbikephil]

November done 11/12
No messing with this one just a straight ride out to a spot I'd scoped a few months back above Dunning Glen in a forestry plantation that looked to be a nigh on perfect spot - level ground, sheltered, nearby water source and well off the beaten track. Needless to say the forecasted dry night wasn't - one of those annoying sprinkles that appeared to be coming out of a clear sky which left me somewhat damp by the time I reached the spot. Also as per the wind was around twice the forecasted strength so my sheltered spot was ideal. I managed three border crossings without the stazi catching me and got to the spot in about an hour and a half. Faffed the tarp up and then collapsed in my bag with a beer and a nip of the hard stuff. Had my longest sleep this year as a result - ten hours straight.




Looking down the burn from my spot. A few more likely looking ones down there.

Did a few extra miles on the way home including a large soggy moor crossing and a few (saturated) trails home.


Looking home from Seamab hill, rain on the way. For a change I missed the rain totally - this makes my first dry ride in about 4 weeks!

One more to go......

[Borderer]

Had my longest sleep this year as a result - ten hours straight.

Wow, I wish I could do that. My hips get too sore to stay in one position for long and so I always wake up after a bit. Alcohol doesn't help either - I sleep worse after a drink!

[fatbikephil]

Had my longest sleep this year as a result - ten hours straight.

Wow, I wish I could do that. My hips get too sore to stay in one position for long and so I always wake up after a bit. Alcohol doesn't help either - I sleep worse after a drink!

A full length mat (thermorest neoair) and switching to quilts helped massively, comfortwise and I sleep much better than what I used to with a bag and 2/3rds mat.

PS first use of toothpaste pills

[Borderer]

Had my longest sleep this year as a result - ten hours straight.

Wow, I wish I could do that. My hips get too sore to stay in one position for long and so I always wake up after a bit. Alcohol doesn't help either - I sleep worse after a drink!

A full length mat (thermorest neoair) and switching to quilts helped massively, comfortwise and I sleep much better than what I used to with a bag and 2/3rds mat.

PS first use of toothpaste pills

How did you find them? I hope they were ok for you.
Yes, I have just bought myself a quilt to try for that reason. I am a bit wary of it though as I do sleep very cold. Might have to try it at home with the windows open before I venture out!

[fatbikephil]

Had my longest sleep this year as a result - ten hours straight.

Wow, I wish I could do that. My hips get too sore to stay in one position for long and so I always wake up after a bit. Alcohol doesn't help either - I sleep worse after a drink!

A full length mat (thermorest neoair) and switching to quilts helped massively, comfortwise and I sleep much better than what I used to with a bag and 2/3rds mat.

PS first use of toothpaste pills

How did you find them? I hope they were ok for you.
Yes, I have just bought myself a quilt to try for that reason. I am a bit wary of it though as I do sleep very cold. Might have to try it at home with the windows open before I venture out!

Like an unsweetened extra strong mint Worked a treat! Not tried the de-odorant yet as I'm not socialising with anybody just now.....

I was using my cumulus 150 quilt under an unzipped cumulus 350 sleeping bag. Being a bit of a night time revolver this got a bit messed up at one point but was fine for the temps (min around 1 degree I reckon). I've previously tried the straps on the quilt but they just assisted in tangling me up in the thing. Being in a bivvy bag helps to keep everything in one place....

[Borderer]

I was using my cumulus 150 quilt under an unzipped cumulus 350 sleeping bag. Being a bit of a night time revolver this got a bit messed up at one point but was fine for the temps (min around 1 degree I reckon). I've previously tried the straps on the quilt but they just assisted in tangling me up in the thing. Being in a bivvy bag helps to keep everything in one place....

Yeah I will be putting mine inside my Tyvek bivvy bag. I used it last time we were out and I was really impressed at how warm it kept me. (not a sales pitch, honest )

[Ray Young]

[/quote]Yes, I have just bought myself a quilt to try for that reason. I am a bit wary of it though as I do sleep very cold. Might have to try it at home with the windows open before I venture out!
[/quote]

What quilt did you go for because i'm seriously thinking of buying one as I hate the confinement of my sleeping bag.

[Borderer]

Yes, I have just bought myself a quilt to try for that reason. I am a bit wary of it though as I do sleep very cold. Might have to try it at home with the windows open before I venture out!
[/quote]

What quilt did you go for because i'm seriously thinking of buying one as I hate the confinement of my sleeping bag.
[/quote]

Well, naturally mine was a second hand ebay bargain

https://sectionhiker.com/sierra-designs ... -2-season/
680g with about 320g down.

[Ray Young]

^^^

Looks nice. How much did you pay if I may ask?

[Borderer]

£137 + £4 postage.
More than I wanted to really, but a realistic price I think. Last time we were out overnight I just thought 'I can't keep doing this anymore, it's just too fecking painful' so I decided to throw money at the problem instead. I bought a thicker mat and the quilt and will see if it helps. I am fine in warmer weather, when I can just open the sleeping bag over me - it's just when I have to zip in when it's cold that I have problems. Old age I guess - I remember sleeping on the floor many times after parties in my youth and it not troubling me at all.
I have realised that at home I sleep with one leg bent so that my femur is at 90deg to the rest of my body. That's not possible when zipped into a sleeping bag and that's what is causing the problem I think.
My exped mat is 6cm thick and so I have bought a 10cm sea to summit mat to try, in the hope that might help too. We shall see.

[ericrobo]

Set off yesterday at 12:30pm, on the fatbike. There's so much mud and damp about I've been riding it recently.
My objective was to camp on top of Cowpe Lowe, which is where I can join the MTL (Mary Towneley Loop) if i'm doing it from home.
It is fairly tough riding, just under 16 miles and 2500 feet, and a good gnarly and rocky section of a couple of miles.
This'll give you some idea:
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

Always a bit paranoid about getting the tent up in the dark, I had another thing to worry about - water !!
Even though it was everywhere it wasn't suitable... I fill up my 2 litre platypus when I'm fairly near to my destination (2 litres = 2 kgs)
After leaving Edenfield it's a lot of uphill, on a wide-ish track, but the 'water everywhere' running on and alongside the track is full of mud... further up it's covered in pond weed.

I finally got some rainwater (6 inches deep, and clear) which had flooded the slabs of the packhorse slabs

Top of Cowpe Lowe was out of the question. Very very windy. So in fading light I rode down to the MTL (heading north towards Waterfoot)... found some decent ground, not waterlogged, and got the tent out, headtorch on, buffs and woollen hat on, even hood up it was blowing that strong.

It's my latest tent, Big Agnes , and I've only used it once, on October's BAM, before dark, and without a gale blowing.
I got the groundsheet pegged down, and manoeuvered the poles in position, but when it then uprooted everything I decided it was not going to go up

Shi-ite ! Not good. What to do ?
Go lower down and try again out of the wind... everything stuffed into my rucksack (I wasn't in the mood for pfaffing with the Sandro bags as it requires patience to get your stuff into them correctly and even more patience to get them on the bike, and in the dark...

Slithering down in the mud I did not want to come off, and get covered in mud and wet, ended up walking (sliding !) a bit.
I descended the horrible rocky section then found this spot which was not too windy:
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

That was taken this morning in daylight.

But that was 400 feet lower down.

Anyway I survived the night, and was away this morning at 8:17am:

This picture shows Waterfoot in Rossendale in the distance:
Untitled by Eric Robinson, on Flickr

It was a half hour push to get back up again (with a short section of riding), and when I reached my first attempt at pitching spot, I managed to find my shades which I'd lost last night in the dark

2 ryvitas for breakfast by the time I was 3 miles from home, my energy levels were depleted, so I had a gel and a flapjack.

All in all a hard ride. 32.3 miles and 4800 feet...

I enjoyed the going a lot more than coming back, apart from the last hour wrestling with mud and hunting for water, and trying to beat the dark, and being battered by that wind.

So that's 35 consecutives.

[RIP]

Brightened my brekkie up did that. Proper BaM reports seem to be rather thin on the ground these days presumably due to The Situation. Proper weather too. Bit of minutely fine detail always makes for a good read - Ryvitas for breakfast, but the nice touch was specifying 2 thereof. Guess about the only thing you could have added was the type - are you a 'standard' man or 'dark rye'? I fall into the latter camp. We're probably the only forumites who consume those ludicrous rectangular slivers of sandpaper. Lends an extra level of hair-shirtedness to the BaM proceedings. Nice one Eric.

[Ray Young]

£137 + £4 postage.
More than I wanted to really, but a realistic price I think. Last time we were out overnight I just thought 'I can't keep doing this anymore, it's just too fecking painful' so I decided to throw money at the problem instead. I bought a thicker mat and the quilt and will see if it helps. I am fine in warmer weather, when I can just open the sleeping bag over me - it's just when I have to zip in when it's cold that I have problems. Old age I guess - I remember sleeping on the floor many times after parties in my youth and it not troubling me at all.
I have realised that at home I sleep with one leg bent so that my femur is at 90deg to the rest of my body. That's not possible when zipped into a sleeping bag and that's what is causing the problem I think.
My exped mat is 6cm thick and so I have bought a 10cm sea to summit mat to try, in the hope that might help too. We shall see.

Let me know how you get on as I too like to sleep with a leg bent.

[TrepidExplorer]

Just to fan the shaped-quilt fire, I bought a Thermarest Vespa last year to complement the nano mat. Pricey because I'm a gear tart but I find it wonderfully comfy and don't miss a hood except on the coldest of nights (like the Novembivi to follow). I also got a Thermarest inflatable pillow after reading / hearing theories about getting a good night's sleep. The recovery position (one leg bent out to the side) gets its name for a reason and a lot of active people must sleep that way. Also, I'm often a side-sleeper so my head needs propping up. I no longer wake up achey in the mornings (see pic).



For November, me and Landslide did a traditional bivi - no racing or concrete shelters involved, just us, the landscape, fog, frost, the moon and a few aeroplanes passing for company.


There were brews from a stream, laughter and a lot of water.


Brilliant.

Full story.

https://trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/202 ... stals.html

[Raggedstone]

That's a good read Trep just what I needed sat in the warm trying to convince myself to get out for a practice this evening .
Now where is everything

[RIP]

And it convinces you to get out Kev?! We're mental in Here aren't we. That exploding ziploc bag would have given me one of those closed-eyes clenched-jaw held-breath two-second moments of oh-gawd anger followed by laughing my head off.

I like your 'just practising' explanation. It is nice and open-ended isn't it? Difficult to argue against. I'm going to try it out. Maybe add something else non-sequitur like "I've got some concrete setting at home".

[TrepidExplorer]

Oh I do hope you get out there. Practice* makes perfect.

* Results may not be immediate

[redefined_cycles]

Towel chucked in... managed 3 of 12 this time round. Think I managed more last attempt in 2018 or summat!. Hey ho, at least I'm going for a nice chilled out ride tomorrow with Ledburner and might rejoin the BAM aspirations for December or afresh from 2021 how sad. At least I get to sleep in cosy warmth tonight

[Charliecres]

I was fast running out of November, so dashed out last night to nab my ninth in a row. It was a Chuck all the gear in a rucksack, head out in the dark and just find a spot in the woods that’s not too muddy sort of a trip, but pleasant enough.

This was the first one this year where I’ve had to get up and pack up in the dark, which was made even less fun by a steady drizzle. Ah well. Now home with a cuppa, ready for a day’s work.

[benconnolli]

With the month coming rapidly to an end and me still zonked with some other illness for 18 days and counting I have a confession to make... The write up I did on Bonfire Night Bimble was in fact not a lie. I actually did it. On my own out in the splashy hills. Well, most of it, some of it, I definitely camped out with my bike. Some details may have been exaggerated somewhat.