Bivvy a month 2023.

[RIP]

A cracker that, Frog . Absolutely love the "water bed", you've raised the lunacy bar there. Not sure I'd've had the courage to actually go to sleep on it, what with all the sharp objects usually about my person. "Waking up to grab concrete".... arg! And good job yer phone wasn't still attached to the selfie stick... gulp....

[redefined_cycles]

What a beautiful bike Frog. That and mine are twins

[MuddyPete]

Genius, Frog. Pushing the boundaries of bivi innovation .

[gecko76]

That. Is. Brilliant.

[sean_iow]

Chapeau Frog, that's pushing the boundaries of lunacy, and coming from a man who's has conversations with a stuffed monkey on his BAMs that's really saying something

[Verena]

Absolute genius!

[psling]

You're an inspiration Frog - the Frog that thinks outside the box

[RIP]

Mad as a box of frogs more like.....

[frogatthefarriers]

Thanks for all the comments folks. I'm glad you liked it, but I feel a little guilty posting it in the BaM thread because it's not really (to my way of thinking, anyway) a BaM - more of a gimmick of the same ilk as Extreme Ironing. Remember that? A proper bivvy has a decent ride and a cooked meal before bed, and another good ride to follow, but I’d run out of time to get one in for May. Having said that, a goodly number of BaMs that I’ve posted over the years wouldn't meet those criteria either.

Incidentally, has anyone found a good way to carry an ironing board on a bike?

[JimmyG]

Got May’s BAM in on the night of 30th - 31st May, close to Grantown on Spey. Back home now and report to follow sometime tomorrow.

[gecko76]

A proper bivvy has a decent ride and a cooked meal before bed, and another good ride to follow

I need to up my game in that case. Thinks...

[RIP]

Extreme Ironing. Remember that?

Of course For an AGM of a society of which I'm a member, I once suggested holding said AGM on the 70' high Headstone Viaduct - the famous disused railway bridge at Monsal Head in Derbyshire. For no good reason I convinced everyone to take a chair and a random piece of furniture, which was quite a palaver because we had to cart them across the river and along the track bed. We ended up with a table, chairs, bookcase, a standard lamp and shade along with a 240v genny to power it, a few other furniture items, and I took the aforementioned ironing board and iron. The lamp and iron plugged into the genny. We proceeded to have our two hour AGM sat round the table, with people getting up to do a bit of ironing whenever they felt inclined. It was January so a hot iron was actually quite useful. The funniest part was numerous people walked past on this popular route but nobody made any comment whatsoever. Only one person stopped and that was to ask for some directions! I have a photo somewhere.

When the railway was built, John Ruskin famously proclaimed "The valley is gone, and the Gods with it; and now, every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton; which you think a lucrative process of exchange – you Fools everywhere". Goodness knows what he'd have made of our tom-Fool-ery.

Incidentally, has anyone found a good way to carry an ironing board on a bike?

Sticking out of your backpack? This sounds very similar to the elephants/Mini conundrum to me.

[Lazarus]

and I am out

No way that my ribs were well enough for a bivyy so rather than risk aggravating the injury and being unable to ride for any longer I went home

[Verena]

and I am out

No way that my ribs were well enough for a bivyy so rather than risk aggravating the injury and being unable to ride for any longer I went home

[Johnallan]

5/12, 17/17

I'd messed up slightly by riding this months long rides without stopping to sleep. The last day of the month was the only chance remaining so I nipped out between shifts.



40 mile route loaded, including a chunk of the Calder Divide Trail which I'd agreed to recce on behalf of the organiser





Pub



Sunset



Bivvy



And back to work for a shower and 7am start..

[RIP]

Bad luck Laz. Man down.

Stonking dinner there John. Frog would be proud of you .

[Wotsits]

May completed on the JennRide, will try to put a couple of piccies up when i get chance..

[Stinginglip]

Another Jennride BaM here for May entry. Best weekend I've had for a while. Rocked up Friday straight from work and parked up next to Raggedstone?(Kevin) ..was his t-shirt that broke the ice
Beer and pizza was the general plan but when TON is in the beer tent,things flow a little faster!
Wotsits appeared at one point and really cracked me up with the reason behind the name, Sam wise was also knocking about with Daz from Wigan(unsure if he's on here) Met Escape Goat and the Tour de Stoke fellas were in fine form.
Might of been others but by the time the tunes had stopped I was pretty pissed for me and climbed in the van well gone midnight
Found I was rather cold during the night , so decided the bivvy bag and summer mat were getting axed in favour of tent and insulated mat for the ride..weighted training for sure.
Weather was perfect all weekend, setting off at 8.20am I was in shorts and short sleeves ,which for an overdresser like me was quite adventurous( Beer thinking about it!)
Rode solo until Ambleside and refilled the water bottles at Alpkit then on the next trail (coffin trail/Rd?) started riding with a guy from Liverpool called Kevin who's bike I'd been admiring near the registration tent before the start,said bike being a Ti Moots softtail..rare beast indeed.
The rough plan was a camp about 60-70 miles in, Kev was on the same page and our pace both up and down very evenly matched so that's what happened..no dramas, just vaguely exciting trails and views ending just after the 70 mile mark with a decent flat camp spot.
Set up was faff free for once but eating tea with the midges heavily in attendance was a mare so we both retreated into our tents at 8.30pm Charged the phone & wahoo, made sure the midges in my bedroom weren't waking up then drifted off for my own battery recharge.
3.30am and the coffee and 1st brekkie was calling and didn't disappoint. An equally faff free pack up with both Kev and I not wanting to hold each other up(only mentioned at finish) resulted in us rolling /pushing towards a lovely sunrise at 5.20am.
Ambleside was our only hope for resupply being so early, Coop being the saviour with coffee and chocolate croissants for 2nd breakfast
18ish miles left from here, so steady away, knowing a top weekend would be over soon.
Route imho was the best I've done, this being my hat-trick.
Weather defo helped along with the general laid-back vibes and chilled people. Sorry, still not sussed photo attachments..might have to do a 12 months pic overload?
5/12..bring on June

[frogatthefarriers]

Extreme Ironing. Remember that?

Of course For an AGM of a society of which I'm a member, I once suggested holding said AGM on the 70' high Headstone Viaduct - the famous disused railway bridge at Monsal Head in Derbyshire. For no good reason I convinced everyone to take a chair and a random piece of furniture, which was quite a palaver because we had to cart them across the river and along the track bed. We ended up with a table, chairs, bookcase, a standard lamp and shade along with a 240v genny to power it, a few other furniture items, and I took the aforementioned ironing board and iron. The lamp and iron plugged into the genny. We proceeded to have our two hour AGM sat round the table, with people getting up to do a bit of ironing whenever they felt inclined. It was January so a hot iron was actually quite useful. The funniest part was numerous people walked past on this popular route but nobody made any comment whatsoever. Only one person stopped and that was to ask for some directions! I have a photo somewhere.

When the railway was built, John Ruskin famously proclaimed "The valley is gone, and the Gods with it; and now, every fool in Buxton can be in Bakewell in half an hour, and every fool in Bakewell at Buxton; which you think a lucrative process of exchange – you Fools everywhere". Goodness knows what he'd have made of our tom-Fool-ery.

Well done that man! I love this sort of silliness. Silliness makes the world more bearable..

[JimmyG]

This will definitely pale into insignificance when measured against the ‘Frog’s’ water bed wallowing but here goes anyway…

I had a pretty busy May on the family and social front and various potential BAM opportunities slipped through my fingers. The days seemed to fly by until Mrs G’s birthday was duly celebrated at home on the 25th. Next day we headed up to rental accommodation in Grantown on Spey for 5 days. This place just happens to be conveniently within minutes of Anagach Woods (where I’d spent two nights during my Speyside Way - Moray Coastal Trail - Dava Way trip last month). Funny that! Anyway, my very supportive other half kindly agreed that I could use our last night to tick* off May’s BAM mission.

After stuffing my face and pre-hydrating with a couple of beers, I mounted up and headed the very short distance to the woods, to a spot I’d checked out earlier in the day. Conscious that I should at least rack up more than a paltry mile on my ride in, I spun around some of the wood’s network of trails (for a massive 4.2 miles) before heading to a hilltop where I hoped the slight breeze would deter The Midge.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

In the event, the breeze dropped but thankfully midge activity was minimal. Certainly there were a few flying around but I didn’t get any bites. Down to the lashings of Smidge? Or maybe these were the (non-biting) male advance party? Maybe their blood-sucking sisters haven’t yet hatched or just fancied a night off but rest assured I was a relieved and happy camper that night.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

A pleasant night’s sleep ensued and I was up early and back to our gaff to help tidy up before handover.

Almost packed away then remembered... a pic! by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Nice descent to start off with by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

So... not my most exciting or demanding BAM for sure but I intend making up for it in June. I’ve some loose plans but all still TBC at this stage.

Anyway, that’s 5 from 5 this year, making 65 consecutive BAMs.

* No actual tick passengers on this occasion. Result!

[GoneCaving]

Before I totally forget about it, just a quick post to record that I did get the BaM in for May. Nothing too exciting, just a quick local midweek one, but t’was a nice clear and calm evening and probably the most restful night I’ve had so far. I’d post pics but I’ve run up against the limits of free Flickr and need to figure out an alternative.

[Blackhound]

Gone Caving: I had this issue and asked on here and imgur was suggested for inserting on posts. I still have not set it up but usually use Strava or Instagram for my pics.

[whitestone]

Imgur is easy to set up. You can set the default image size for your uploads (something like 640x480 is marked as “bulletin board” or something like that) then to add here you get the link (on desktop it’s via a right click menu, don’t know about on a phone) and just copy and paste it into your message.

[fatbikephil]

Right then!!
May - a total of 5 nights out
Night one - in the woods off the Great Glen Way a few miles past Fort Augustus - some top bivvy spots along here so if you are ever in the area fill your boots. I'd idly contemplated continuing until dark O'clock and bivvying on the next section in the woods above Invermoriston but this spot presented itself as being dry, sheltered and not too high - it was looking to be quite chilly so this was important as I only had the 150 quilt.



In view of the dry forecast I just used the borah bivvy. I'd the tarp handy if things changed. A few midges were about but no issue. Some 5 hours of sleep were had....

Night two was after a long one - 200k. Again I couldn't be bothered going until last light and knew of a good spot at the top of Glen Cassley which I'd bivvied at in July '21.



I put the tarp up as it was looking quite cloudy and an odd spot of rain had come in. Quite breezy but the gorse gave a bit of shelter. I was up at about 4 and off by half past. Just over the hill where the hydro electric road joins the A838 they were doing some work on the sub-station. I noted a welfare unit with the key in the lock. Cue a screech of brakes! The loo was most welcome and the kitchen area would have made a fab bivvy spot. I couldn't get the kettle to work unfortunately despite the lights coming on so I availed myself of the seats for a cold cup of coffee.



This is where Karl Booth kipped on night two of the 2019 wash out edition. I bet he would have like to have this there then!

For night three and after another lengthy day involving many rocks, bogs and hills (and a couple of pints) I revisited the open fronted tin shed I'd slept in on HT'21. It was dry but the midges were around and this seemed a better bet than the Schoolhouse bothy which would likely be full (it ended up full as three fellow riders did stop there)



The midges were about but I got in sharp enough to avoid them. 6 hours sleep followed...

Night 4 was after further battles with rock, bog, hills and now sunshine; along the shores of Loch Maree. Midges were writ large in my mind as this is the midge epicenter of Scotland. But there was a stiff breeze so I figured if I could find somewhere under pine trees (i.e. away from the bracken and heather that the midges would be lurking in) but right on the shore in the breeze, I'd be fine. And I did. It was next to the road but down the hill a bit so out of sight. And at 10pm there was BA traffic in any case. The spot was perfect - plenty of trees but a nice breeze blowing and fine views of the opposite shore of Loch Maree and the Postman's Path (which I much prefer to the bloody tollie path!)



Evening view - soft focus due to taking the pic through the midge mesh. The next morning (5 hours sleep) it was completely still and the midges were battering fruitlessly against the double layer of the bivvy bag mesh and my thoughtfully deployed nano mozzy tent. I didn't muck around, just shuffled into my clothes, got out of the bag with the mozzy tent draped over me like some ghostly shroud, put on full waterproofs and my head net and then quickly threw everything onto the bike and hared off. I stopped at the public toilet in Kinlochewe for a wash, loo use, breakfast and some minor bike maintenance.

The final night was more ad hoc. After a lengthy day of rock, bog, hills and sun (a pattern is emerging) I was cruising along the diverted Great Glen Way sifting midges from the air, for further sustenance. At 9pm I'd passed a similar welfare unit to the one I'd used the other day and it too was open. But it was too early so I cracked on until last light. I was hoping to push on until after midnight so I could claim this one for June but in the event I was getting weary after an 18 hour day and my knees were starting to hurt. There was a stiff breeze at times so all I needed was a level spot in it! Finally I came across a viewing area right on the path, near its highest point. The surface was crushed granite chips that were fairly small but sharp. To preserve bivvy bag and mat integrity, I therefore stripped off my (now stinking) clothes and spread them out on the ground to protect the bag from rips. Around 3 hours of sleep followed with fine views of Ben Nevis down the glen. No pics as I was in a hurry!

[whitestone]

Is night three the barn just off the trail between OBH and the schoolhouse bothy? Both your and Alan's trackers skipped between OBH and about an hour out of Ullapool so couldn't tell where you'd stopped.

We stopped at a tourist info spot on the side of Loch Maree - http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=200137&Y=865032&A=Y&Z=115. Initially I thought the "building" was toilets but it turned out just to be a shelter for the information leaflets.



Might be a bit midgey but if it was lagging it down you'd be able to get out of the rain.

A bit OT but they've extended the wide bit of road a couple of km towards Poolewe so there's now only a short section of single track road left.