Bivvy a month 2022

[fatbikephil]

Roseisle forest on the Moray coast after a lengthy day. Still but no midges A heavy shower later and a bit breezy the next morning but it was en-suite so actually a top spot.
More later....

[RIP]

Impressive erection there Phil.

I'll bet that stayed up all night.

Wish my Trekkertent DCF was camo. Ah well.

[Raggedstone]

September done but not the way I was hoping I have been working in Cornwall and am going back next week , i was going to do the West Kernow way towards the end of the week but I have done something unpleasant to my knee so had to resort to a local trip last night to make sure I got this month done. As it turned out it was a glorious evening/night and there is a great bivvy spot not to far from home which if it was further away I would have used more often . I decided not to take the short route and go a longer way with some good climbs to give the knee a test fortunately it's better when riding than doing anything else so maybe I will get to do next week's planned ride .
I rolled the bivvy bag , mat and sleeping bag before I left so on arrival at the spot it was tyvek down unroll the bed inflate mattress and in solidarity with the Equinoxers though a bit late a night cap of a bottle of Mad Goose and a bar of nutty chocolate was enjoyed , a good night was had and I saw quite a few shooting stars during the star gazing pre sleep stage .
PXL_20220924_053517450.NIGHT by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
PXL_20220924_051952681 by Kevin Hawker, on Flickr
A nice dawn with coffee then roll up and roll home a very good night .

9/12 for 22

[fatbikephil]

Impressive erection there Phil.

I'll bet that stayed up all night.

Wish my Trekkertent DCF was camo. Ah well.

It's a bit 'crinkly' in the breeze (hence my bad night's sleep in July) but I'm still suckered by it's extreme light weight....

[RIP]

Bit of a loose end tonight so as Phil's deputy I thought I'd help(?) him by prepping the three-quarters Scores On The Doors.... apologies if I've missed anyone's report....

Clear run January - September (so far):

Bearlegged
Blackhound
FatbikePhil
Frog
JimmyG
Raggedstone
Reg
Sean
SLarge
Summittoppler
Verena

Still awaiting September:

Benp1
GoneCaving
JohnAllan
Linkpin
NeilA

Awaiting August and September:

Chrisps
Edwellz

Awaiting July, August and September:

Bob & Cath

Other contestants:

Andiphim - January
Benconnolli - January
Boab - April-September
Boxelder - January
FLV - January
Dave Barter - January
JoseMcT - January
LuneRanger - January-March
Mandicky - January
PeterS - January and who knows what else!
Rapideye - May
RobS - May-August (awaiting September to continue run)
Scattamah - April ?!?
ScotRoutes - January-May, sadly "man down" in June
Shaf - May-June
Shewie - January
SR - March-September
Stu - January
Trep - Jan, March, May, June x 2, Jul, August
Turfroof - January
Woodsmith - January
Wotsits - February-August (awaiting September to continue run)
Zippy - all sorts of rule breaking outings in various months

Special Phil Awards so far:

Stupidest place to Bivvy - Reg has pulled out a tremendous lead in this category firstly with his bivvy on the side of a canal in full view of half of Wales, and then in someone's garden shed (without asking first, or indeed without knowing he had which gains bonus marks)
Culinary flair and class - Jeff / aka Summittoppler has forged ahead in this one with his February piece de resistance of toasted tea cake and steak au Stella hand cooked and served on a rustic slate plate with a side serving of rabbit dung. Jeff is also showing an near insurmountable lead in the high altitude stakes.
For the 'Most photogenic' category; in the lead is Scotroutes whose never afraid of posting a 'grizzled selfie' where most of us are content to hide our good looks under a bushell
Best Organ recital (Bachs Tocata and fugue in D minor I believe, clearly designed to inspire Reg to get up another huge Welsh climb) - Frog aka Lu
Best breakfast (and perfectly poured pint) John Allan on his Feb bivvy.
Daftest behaviour is Reg and Muddypete (predictably) with their solstice druidic celebration
Jeff nearly blew his altitude award by doing two at sea level but is back on track to the point where I'd say he has an unassailable lead unless he does the rest below sea level and we all get up mountains for the rest of the year.... I'm slightly suspicious that all his Welsh bivvies seem to be in the Sunshine, leading me to believe he's done them all in the costa del sol and used photoshop.
Dodgy coastal path / near death award goes to gone caving on his May bivvy
Machine shop skills - Sean
Providing valuable food for Scotlands ecosystem on a bivvy - me (my blood to lots of mosquitoes)
Bivvy furthest away from Wales (spiritual home of bikepacking) award inevitably goes to Steve large who went all the way to that America to get away from the bogs and tussocks. Looks like America provided something almost as bad though...
Best socks - Verena
Overall lead - me, in a kind of "its my party so I'll cry if I want to (if I don't get my way)" style of thing, although happy to be booed off the podium for this one.....

[fatbikephil]

Cheers Reg, quite a hardcore few this year.
It's the hard months now, so gird your loins (or whatever you have to gird) and get ready for autumn. Of course last year it was pretty benign so look forward to some weather 'challenges' this year.
Re awards, here's a few more...
Best sunset = Boabs July Bivvy
....which just Pipped John Allans on the YD300 so he gets 'shortest bivvy' as a consolation. Doing the YD300 sub 24hrs with a bivvy merits a special bivvie-ist award too.
Best Quarry - Edwellz
Oops I forgot my bivvy gear award is a tie between SR and Frog
Most introspective look on a bivvy - Bearlegged and Trepid
Least stuff taken, soonest up the hill award goes to Verena
Highest ice cream - Gone caving
Bunny hopping over a crack in the earth crust award - Redefined cycles aka Shaff
Best breakfast platter - Jimmy
Shopping whilst bivvying award (or is that bivvying whilst shopping?) - Benp1
Best socks - Reg although they look suspiciously like Verenas!
Scabbiest tarp - Jeff
Best bivvy view - Bearlegged's trig point
Most midges encountered - me. Can someone else take this award please?

Remember folks, we are looking for crap videos as well so get with the 16mm!
P

[whitestone]

We missed July - I got Covid amongst other things. Did August (NYM trip) and September (Cotswolds)

[RIP]

Your awards gave me good laff Phil . What a great place this is .

[Rob S]

RobS - May-August (awaiting September to continue run)

April actually Reg, on the WRT. Immaterial now anyway as I'm dropping out for a bit. Just got too much on at the moment, nothing to do with the colder evenings, honest!

Good luck to all the remaining BAM'ers.

[Boab]

Other contestants:
Boab - April-September

Still suffering the after effects of the crash I had nearly four weeks ago. Given I'm still sleeping poorly in my own bed, I'm not sure attempting to ride a bike and kip in a ditch would be wise. So I'm oot...

[Johnallan]

Still awaiting September:

JohnAllan

September BaM was a good one! Equinox(ish) night out on Saturday with a couple of work colleagues.

Young Lukas has just finished his apprenticeship and is moving back to Lithuania in a few weeks time. During his time here he took up cycling, sold his car, bought a lovely steel Ribble and openly declares his cycling journey as 'the best thing to happen to me in my whole adult life'. I'm happy to have played a small part in that journey and figured I could add a little extra by lending some gear and taking him out for his first bivvy



I rode from home, picked up Lukas and Carlos enroute, then pedaled a nicely social pace around 50ish km of lanes and tracks. We'd arranged to meet another ex-apprentice (all the good ones leave..) in the pub for a pint and some food before heading to apprentice B's local woods after nightfall.



It was cold but clear, everyone enjoyed it and nobody died. 'Apprentice A' can't wait to do it again and I suspect will soon be sleeping amongst the wolves in his home county



Another 50ish Km saw me back to Hebden Bridge for an afternoon of log chopping to help keep the family warm. There's worse ways to pass time

BaM 2022 9/12

[benp1]

Got back from my September BAM about 8am this morning

Met a mate for a chat and a little pootle last night. Then headed off into the woods for a bivi after that. Stayed in my local trail centre, in a wooden hut/shelter in a children's play area. Like a smaller, less good and more leaky/open version of Hagrid's hut. No rain and the spot, despite being a couple of hundred metres up, was nicely out of the wind due to the trees (and being in a shelter)

Slept much better than normal, not actually sure why. Sunrise is now around 7am so you don't get woken by sun in the same way, that must help. Woke up around 6:30, packed up and took an MTB trail down the hill. Actually needed my bar light on because it was so dark on the trail, it runs through the woods.

EDIT - I'm becoming increasingly lazy on my local BAMs. I'm fortunate to have my kit easily accessible and arranged but I often CBA strapping bags to the bike. I lobbed everything in a big rucksack last night. In fact it's a classic, the Golite Jam2, had the original but prefer this as it has hipbelt pockets. Find a rucksack so much easier to pack and unpack, so if I'm not actually riding far I definitely prefer a rucksack over bike bags.

[Rapideye]

Not a bam as such but just a short post on a night out. Tbh, it's been a sub standard year and struggling to get out so forced myself to leave straight from work and try a Friday night instead, get home reasonably early on Saturday and still have most of the week end left. Worked quite well.

Picked up Marriott's way at Norwich and took an hour or so to get to a spot I kept eyeing up every time I passed it. A little scout about and I settled on a spot, on the edge of a wood and a small field. Took too long pitching tent and struggled with short pegs and soft ground. Finished when it was dark and ended up losing 2 pegs in the process. How? I don't know. A couple of small beers later and I turned in before 10pm.

Night was disturbed by dogs on a farm or kennel, maybe a 1/2 mile away. Muntjac also barking away fairly close to the tent. At some point at around 4am, I heard a dèer get close to the tent, maybe even heard it sniffing until it got spooked and ran off. 10 mins later another one did the same thing.

Rain started at 4.30am and kept going until I packed up and moved out at 6.45am. Saw another 3 -4 deer on the way. A lovely young red one, crossed my path and bounded away over a field. That was a treat. Made it home for 8am. Really enjoyed the ride back and glad I made the effort to get out.

Apologies for the quality of the photos.

[Verena]

Nice one!

[NeilA]

BAM 29 September...
Not a lot of time or thought went into this month's trip but nevertheless i enjoyed a camp on the Malvern Hills, North Hill to be precise. So that's nine BAM wild camps already bagged for this year!
Used my Giant Trooper which is the nearest I will get to a 'gravel bike'. A mighty fine bike too, essentially my work/shop workhorse with large panniers.
Started my journey late in the evening, heading upwards all the way from home. Eventually found a flat spot high up. A quick set up with Alpkit Kloke bivi bag, Thermarest Air mat, Terra Nova Elite 350 down sleeping bag and Hi Gear flannel pillow. It was already 2330, I lay watching the sky, a full starlit night, caught a few shooting stars while drinking Kraken Rum Roast Coffee. Nice! The hills are a beautiful wilderness without a soul in sight.
There was little wind.
Enjoyed a good night. Am getting used to managing within the pokey confines of the Kloke. I thoroughly recommend this bag.
Morning came, the wind was stronger and with it the struggle to unravel from the warm nest! Made up camp before any dog walkers arrived!
I attempted a few videos, now saved, not sure how to get them onto this page, or is it the same as for the pics, will study further.
Gonna fix the rear disc on my mountain bike hub very soon and get back to some proper off road stuff!
Total distance: 18.7 miles
Ascent: 1849'

[Wotsits]

8/9

Couple of bivi's on the TNR, will add some details & pics laters..

[Verena]

Well, now that I've been handed that wonderful award....

"Least stuff taken, soonest up the hill award goes to Verena"

Looks like I may have been first out of the box for October's BAM last night....

Took just the bivvy bag as it wasn't forecast to do anything more than light rain coming in during the night...

Went out about ten, and back home early, so no decent photos I'm afraid, so these are just for evidence.

Nothing remarkable or particularly adventurous...just really nice to get out, and wanted to get out and make sure I get my October BAM done, in case other things get in the way later in the month...

I am still wanting to go to The Big Scary Quarry one night, but the problem for me is that I never get out until quite late, and to get there I have to ride past The Small Friendly Quarry, so that one tends to win...

Only little bit of excitement was when I turned off the road at a layby, onto the track to my quarry, and as my light swerved round the corner it found a car that was parked there... I guess I would've given the occupants a bit of a startle there, whatever they were doing - and it wasn't star gazing!

It is definitely my very favourite local spot, and I had a really warm and comfortable night, possibly the best night's sleep I've had on a bivvy...

IMG_20221014_060249 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20221014_070815 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[RIP]

Big Scary Quarry... Small Friendly Quarry... am liking this almost anthropomorphizing of bivvy spots... especially quarries... but what next? The Generally Affable But Occasionally Grumpy Quarry?

[ledburner]

Big Scary Quarry... Small Friendly Quarry... am liking this almost anthropomorphizing of bivvy spots... especially quarries... but what next? The Generally Affable But Occasionally Grumpy Quarry?

The middling mediocre quarry?


And err well done...

[GoneCaving]

Dodgy coastal path / near death award goes to gone caving on his May bivvy

If I'd known/spotted that there were sub categories, I'd have tried harder ;-) And the May (Sheep's Head) bivvy rather than the "don't roll in your sleep" AUgust biivy on the Cliff's of Moher? Oh well.

Sept & October are in the bag and just need a write-up.

[GoneCaving]

Right, so Sept's bivvy was a local one, on the basis that I didn't have a weekend free due to work travel and other commitments. So it was a local spin, and a nice spot with the sheep on the hill above the village.

BBBaM Sept - looking N towards the Mournes
the tent at dawn

For the October bivvy, I took last Friday off work, & took the bike down to Dublin on the train. I set off after work with the plan of riding the Grand Canal & the Barrow Way down to the SW corner of Wexford. The evening didn't get off to the best start after I fell over waiting for a crossing light having slowed down, and failed to unclip. Ego bruised, brake level slightly bent. The Canal route is a nice flat surface, mostly tarred or fine gravel, with the odd section that's no more than a grassy track. There was a brief pause for curry chips at Robertstown, and onwards to a stop just short of Rathangan, where I stopped at the side of the track for the night. The misfortunes of earlier were continued as I must have tightened down on the guy lines a bit much and split the carbon tent pole! Thankfully the weather was calm and I managed to jury bicycle something to hold it together and get me through the night. No pics of the campsite as I pitched up and took down the tent in the dark.

Not far into the ride on the Friday morning, I hit the first of a couple of unexpected diversions. The waterways authority is in the process of both dredging the canal, and also sanitising the paths. The signage was pretty abysmal. Path closed and well blocked off. No indication of how long it would be closed, how far the closed section was, or any suggestion of a detour. I hit several more of these over the next hour, and ended up spending a lot more time on the road than I would have liked.

canal works

Coffee and cake for breakfast in Athy, at which point I was off the canal section and onto the Barrow Way proper, following the Barrow river South. I really enjoy this trail, as it's really unspoilt. It's mostly grassed over towpath, so the going is a little harder than the flat gravel sections. It traces a route down through a number of small towns, one larger one, Carlow, and ends at St Mullins. From there it was another 30+km down to the end of my ride where I was staying the weekend with family.

The Barrow River

Tubeless FTW!

[Johnallan]

I had all the excuses in the world for not following through with last night's planned bivvy. Mostly though, the torrential rain all day which showed little sign of easing, despite the forecast.
I eventually set off in the dark at about 6:30pm in full waterproofs and OMW boots, hoping to keep the worst of it out. Rain eased after about an hour and finally settled on a spot at about 9:30 pm. Didn't ride far and had a nice, chilled night.



BAM 10/12

[ledburner]

BAM 10/12

I've got a hip flask like that. I hope it had something good in it..

[Johnallan]

I've got a hip flask like that. I hope it had something good in it..

Indeed! Glenmorange 10, the dregs of last year's Christmas present. Fortunately it's almost that time if year again

Whisky in titanium hip flasks seems to have an acceptable strength/weight ratio to satisfy TLS criteria

[JimmyG]

Real life stuff and OK, not a little lethargy, have conspired to keep me off the bike this month. It took the call of the BAM series to finally get me back in the saddle. Last Tuesday I drove out to East Lothian and rode along the John Muir Way to the John Muir Country Park and Belhaven Bay, an area in which I’ve bivvied quite a few times over the years. I’ve often thought I should spend a night in the dunes overlooking the beach and now was as good as any.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

I eventually found the perfect spot – a fairly deep hollow that would provide shelter from the strong wind and mask some of the noise the crashing waves were generating nearby.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Naively, it turned out, I’d decided to believe the Met Office’s prediction of a dry night and hadn’t brought any form of overhead shelter. As I was to find out soon enough, the Met Office had lied like a Kremlin spokesman. The first shower came in as I was eating my dinner (couscous and mackerel, seeing you ask) but my Outdry jacket plus my bivvy bag draped over my legs kept the elements at bay until it had passed. Later, almost as soon as I’d settled down for the night, another shower passed through and this on and off process continued into the early hours of the morning. My bivvy bag did a decent job of keeping me dry and the rain jacket draped over my exposed head provided improvised protection. Mind you, raindrops pattering loudly very close to one's ears aren’t particularly conducive to a good night’s sleep. Anyway, lessons learned – don't take the Met Office's word as gospel and if the weather’s unpredictable take a tarp just in case. If you haven’t got it, you can’t use it... but then you all already knew that!

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

In the morning I rode along the back of the dunes towards the River Tyne Estuary, hoping to see a group of seals lying on a sand spit, as they regularly do. On the way I passed the wreckage of a WW2 era Matilda tank that was used for target practice by the coastal defence troops back then.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Unfortunately, the seals were elsewhere and I had to content myself with a group of noisy seabirds who were in their place.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

On the way back towards my van I rode along a nice piece of coastal singletrack. In the image below you can make out the remains of the anti-glider poles that were laid throughout the estuary during wartime.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

I took a different route to my outward trip and crossed the Tyne further upstream, using an increasingly rickety bridge into the Tyninghame estate. Still, it saved me wading across!

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

That’s now 10/10 for this year and a run of 58 consecutive BAMs.