Bivvy a month 2019

[RIP]

Salop Loons, winter bivvy.

Crap photo of chaps off to London charity ride on their ancient 1970s bmx's



Scotty already in Jemima's when we arrived, so 'twas rude not to join him. So much for forging ahead; still, brews are a serious business.

Off and away up Carding Mill, missing the first ford so had to go back and do it twice. Subsequent fords all ticked. Bit of HAB at the top then down to Wentnor, making it up (badly ) as we went along.





Various filthy bridleways, river-washing sessions and illicit hillforts later, we whiled away the evening in Bishop's Castle. Various spots were considered but in the end we fell back on the Mynd woods via a never ending slush-puppy hill. At least I got a grip this year and had the tarp.



Returned to Stretton this morning for breakfast after experiencing a couple of reasonably spectacular and playfully painful (and playfully expensive) prangs.

Along with BDS, Scotty, Pickers and Reg, it was brilliant to have the company of Taylor, Burty, Viv and Paramart.

12/12, 12/12, 47/47.

R

[RIP]

Very wacky train sandwich indeed - pomegranate and hommous wrap. How hipster is that eh?


very lurid but actually tasty sarnie

[Bearlegged]

How hipster is that eh?

What with the Cawston Press organic beverage multiplier, many hipster points there.
I'll wager you'll be riding some unfashionable and archaic wheel-size before you know it.

[RIP]

ah well spotted with the rhubarb drink - love that stuff!

'archaic' - I think you've just found me a new (and proudly-worn) nickname

[TheBrownDog]

Nice night out by the look of it Reg.

My Dec BAM was supposed to be the Chilterns Winter Bivvy but it dwindled to just me in the end. Still, my GF was very happy to meet me at Sam's field for a night in the round house. I'd booked the pub and prepped loads of gear for her and her son, packed my bike and was ready to roll, but it all fell apart Sat morning when we had to take her lad to A&E as he was struggling to breath. Got himself a nasty chest infection. So we baled and spent the night in front of the tele with a bottle of red and take away curry ....

So it's a Christmas Eve bivvi for me .to clear BAM for the 3rd (and last) year in a row. This won't be easy.

[whitestone]

Full report in the Yorkshire Winter Bivy thread but here's the bivy



That's 12/12 for the year and 26 in a row for me.

[BigdummySteve]

12/12 36 in a row

Winter Bivi ,Salop,peaks …It was emotional

The first hurdle was arriving home from working away in London to be informed the my wife had decided to bugger my plans by working, with luck both children were off out for the afternoon with friends so i managed to get away by 1 PM. chucked kit in the van and i managed around 500 yards before the the gear stick turned into just a stick, the AA arrived an hour later and towed me off the slip road. In true Bear Bones style he managed to repair the dodgy selector mechanism with a Zip tie I rolled into Church Stretton around five, of course this meant i was in the vicinity of Reg the rain god and it duly started to rain as i unpacked the bike''

As our table in the Three Tuns was booked for 6:30 i headed to Bishops castle on the road in the steadily increasing rain, gradually the rain turned sleety then as i climbed higher into a full on blizzard! At one point it was hard to see where i was going due to the reflected light from the falling snow, it was so utterly bonkers i was ridding with a big grin and the occasional giggle

The others has sensibly avoided the 'fun' by arriving at the Tuns early and i wasted no time catching up with the sports hydration and a big steak, off up the mynd for a cold bivvy i realised too late that i was missing my phone and wallet.
Calling my phone from the cafe in the morning ,i got through on a poor line and it seemed that it was all safe at the tuns.....

however when i called in they knew nothing about it and repeated calls to my number went unanswered, then i remembered about the 'find my iphone' feature and borrowed another iphone from the very helpful staff at the tuns, my phone was in Ludlow!!! and only had 1 % charge remaining. Although it was hopeless i rang it one last time and it was answered A rendezvous was hastily arranged and when i finally met the chap he explained that he found them both lying in the road, unfortunately the phone had been run over but i had my wallet and work cards back.
I must of shoved them in the pocket of my Paramo forgetting that the zippered hand pockets only lead to internal hand warmers and the stuff must of rattled around before falling out the hem..

A big thank you to the staff at the Three Tuns who were very helpful and most of all the the extremely honest chap who went out of his way to get them back to me, without a phone and my work stuff i would have been deep in it!

was fun, same time next year

[RIP]

Blimey Steve that's a great phone story, amazing someone had picked it up, and 1% last gasp to find it was lucky. Run over not quite so good .

[BigdummySteve]

Although it was a hard won bivvy i still loved it, the weather was great fun. Proper winter bivvy

[Taylor]

At least you got them back. damaged but back.
When I got to the Ludlow bit my eyes widened thinking WTF are they doing there.

[JimmyG]

I spent December’s BaM in the company of JamieP, Borderer, Htrider and Thenorthwind at Dryfehead Bothy in Eskdalemuir Forest. Jamie and I rode in from Eskdalemuir, arriving just before last light and were joined by the others later. As it happens, this was my first ever overnight stay in a bothy (and my first Scottish Winter Bivvy meet). The company was excellent, we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves and all in all the experience was a very enjoyable one. Special thanks must go to Borderer for lugging the bag of coal all the way there!

That’s 12/12 and 24 BaMs in a row for me now and I’m already looking forward to carrying on the sequence in 2020.

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Festive! by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Watching Bothy TV by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimmy G, on Flickr

Dryfehead Bothy by Jimmy G, on Flickr

[Borderer]

Nice to meet you and the others Jimmy. Yes that's a BAM for me too, but not Joe as he wasn't there for this one. Cheers.

[sean_iow]

12/12 That's me done

A night on Dartmoor for the winter bivi, despite the wind trying to blow the tarp over and the sound of the ponies eating grass just outside I slept well, in the gaps between the wind/munching anyway.



I was impressed the tarp stayed up as the gusts were blowing it hard enough to distort the rear wall into the inside space quite some way. I was also amazed the pegs held. This ended up as a 350 mile/3 night round trip so that more than makes up for the local bivis earlier in the year.

[Borderer]

Lovely shot of your pal having a wizz in the background there

[sean_iow]

Lovely shot of your pal having a wizz in the background there

Oh yeah, that's Lune Ranger, I'll assume he's packing something away. The wind was blowing from him to me so he wouldn't have risked pointing that way

When I got up there was someone with a tripod up on the hill above, I assume they got up early to capture the sunrise, I guess they were surprised/disappointed to have us spoil the pictures. They might not have got the sunrise picture but when Dave B got out of his bivi and got changed they would have been able to get a full-moon instead

[lune ranger]

Lovely shot of your pal having a wizz in the background there

Oh yeah, that's Lune Ranger, I'll assume he's packing something away. The wind was blowing from him to me so he wouldn't have risked pointing that way

Must have been putting my pole back in it’s harness

[javatime]

December done 11/12 for me, I started in February

I had mixed feelings about BAM… cheesed off with Brexit, Boris and also with winter coming to Syria it seemed a bit disingenuous to sleep out to get a badge. I had a few hours cycling in the woods at the weekend that lifted the spirits, so reminded of the benefits of the bike beyond the daily commute I decided to carry on. With 10 down already I would probably be even more fed up with myself if I sacked the year off incomplete.

Straight after work I headed out through the hinterland, Lawrence Weston, Avonmouth and the M5 bridge then on Sustrans 26 around the interminable car holding pens at Portbury Dock where it always seems that thousands of new white vans straight off the boat are awaiting their final homes. The commuting front light made this gritty section interesting, and the regular cyclists were better illuminated.

I turned the wheels for about an hour until Portishead appeared, and the warm anonymity of ‘Spoons where a pie and pint and a final catch up of the Sunday paper’s analysis passed a couple of hours.

Outside the architectural pot-pourri / pastiche of Port Marine was dripping with festive LEDs from every balcony, but no one around at ground level. Totally empty, all a bit eerie, and if J.G.Ballard was still alive I am sure he would have been inspired to set one of his semi-future dystopian stories here. I headed along the coast with the lights of Wales across the water to my place for the night and after a little faff zipped up warm in my thick winter bag, the wild fowl clucking nearby and the buzz of Portbury in the distance.

Awake early for a cold can cappuccino and sandwich breakfast and back out into the dark with a slight drizzle. No surprise from the 6.30 am dog walker a bit later on the path, and the M5 bridge was heaving even this early. Pretty much all uphill to an early arrival at work, shower and hot coffee.


So pleased I made the effort in the end, good to break out of the usual routine to do something different in the working week. It cleared my head, and I realised that a donation to UNHCR will help to do a little bit of good.

The whole trip was carried out in the dark, so just a very early morning Portbury view.

[JoseMcTavish]

A belated post as usual from me for November. I decided to do something a little more exciting last month - rather than my usual rides from the front door, I went for a ride to my front door. So, an early finish on Friday found me at the train station and on my way to Kyle of Lochalsh. I'd had a 200 mile ride planned out for some point over the summer which I'd not had the chance to do so I figured it was an ideal candidate for splitting with a sneaky bivy.

I set off from Kyle around 9pm, after stocking up at the Co Op.


The temperature was well below zero, even down at sea level. I started over towards Strathcarron, constantly climbing and descending to both heat and chill me. Once I crossed the Carron, I had a long constant climb up to Achnasheen where I intended to bivy, which would keep me warm as the temperature had dropped to about -8 by now. Once I reached my target, I popped over the train station bridge to get myself set up in the wooden shelter I had earmarked. It was perfectly clean inside, with a raised bench just wide enough to lie on. It had no door, but there was no wind to worry about.

Palatial accommodation.


I put on every item of clothing I had brought, before getting into my bag and having some food before settling in. It was a rough night, as my desire to be minimal had me using a -2 sleeping bag, which really wasn't cutting it. The occasional shivering fit seemed to keep me at a survivable temperature as I waited out the long night. I didn't want to be away too early to enjoy the scenery on this part of the ride.

Sunrise.


I strung out getting up until late, despite a short interruption around 5am, when the bloke gritting the station platform felt compelled to check if I was actually alive. I headed out around 0830 with another 250km to do before I was home. When I glanced down at the GPS, the overnight shivering began to make sense.



Then followed a long day of very frigid cycling down to Inverness, past the Cairgorms, over the Lecht and along Strathdon, with temperatures averaging -5 at best. I had a nice surprise out the back of Culloden when a mate and his family were waiting for me at the top of a hill with a cup of tea and some treats after following the SPOT tracking on my website.

White Cairngorms.


Snowy Lecht


Slow perseverance and several batches of ice coasting eventually got me home after midnight to try and thaw myself out over the next 24 hours.

More inane details here:
http://highlanddrifter.com/bam-2019-november

That is me now on 11/11 for this year and a 23 BAM streak

[Zippy]

Boom, 12/12 for 2019

As per: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16026&p=200616 and Bob’s photo:

Full report in the Yorkshire Winter Bivy thread but here's the bivy

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2939607303

Nice to have the shelter of the Barn and the snow in the morning.

[Zippy]

And some quick 'analysis'.

51 users pledges.
48 Reported bivvies in January
24 Reported bivvies in November

The following have 12/12 for 2019:

BigdummySteve
Borderer
Escape Goat
JimmyG
Landslide
metalheart
MuddyPete
RIP
sean_iow
whitestone
Zippy

The following are on 11/11 for 2019, so if they undertake a Bivvy in December, they’re in for 12/12 for 2019.

ChrisF
darbreeze
ericrobo
frogatthefarriers
JoseMcTavish
paramart
Raggedstone
ScotRoutes
TheBrownDog
TrepidExplorer
Borderer2

(All data as per time of this post!)…and assuming I haven’t miscounted somewhere!

[TrepidExplorer]

Mixed surface Decembivi for me, with Karl. My best hope for keeping up was a roaring tail wind so I rode the TPT to meet him on top of Royd moor to ride to the Humber bridge for sleeps.

3 hours later we packed up.
and got back out in the breeze.

The sun was shining which offset the other elemental issues. I spent most of the afternoon watching Karl's sock spinning in a vain attempt to stay in his slipstream as my emerging cold symptoms gradually got worse. Eventually I felt too rubbish and we rode into Gainsborough where I took the train home with 207k on the clock.

Karl continued on the route, not at his usual pace but substantially faster than in my company.

New years resolution: get stronger.

More words https://trepidexplorer.blogspot.com/201 ... mbivi.html.

Good job to everyone else that's made it. Same again next year?

[frogatthefarriers]

Ta Daaaa... another year of BAM done

Ride to station (does this count for From your door?), train to Caersws, lanes to Staylittle...


...then start Stus' alternative end to TCW.

Passed Glaslyn, over Tarren Bwlch-gwyn, Siambr Trawsfynyth and into the forest where I found a good spot to hang my hammock. The only thing wrong with this was that it was only 3:30 pm. It was starting to go dark, though, and a good spot might be harder to find later, so, a bird-in-the-hand etc..

Because it was early I'd pitched up and cooked my dinner early and I was starting to get cold, so nowt for it, I was abed at 7:15. It was a hard job, but I managed to stay snug and warm in bed until well after 8 o'clock. No point in rushing - my train from Aberystwyth wasn't until 17:28 and I'd only got twenty miles to go.

Hammock pictures:-



These were taken at 8:30. It was a grey day. It stayed grey all day, with wind strenthening to the point where I had to pedal downhill. It seemed an awfully long twenty miles, but a good ride (and push). Certainly it is a better end to the TCW than Dyfi Junction. I finally rolled in to the station at 4:15. Lots of time to call in at the Wetherspoons next door for ...


So that's another year done. Roll on 2020 and the winter event.

[RIP]

One of my favourite routes too Frog. Your Siambr Trawsfynydd spot must have felt very remote - it is very remote . Did the ghost of Owain Glyndwr wake you up in the night on his way to the fateful Battle of Hyddgen?

3.30pm - record for earliest BaM pitch?

[frogatthefarriers]

Did the ghost of Owain Glyndwr wake you up in the night on his way to the fateful Battle of Hyddgen?

Nah - not a hoof-beat or bugle was heard. Unusually, neither was an owl-hoot or pheasant or pigeon crashing about in the treetops which is what I usually get bivvying in the woods.

[paramart]

due to some unknown reason my pictures in photo bucket are not showing up correctly, so can't post a piccy for this month, but i'm sure reg or burty will vouch for me, I rode from home to bishops castle windy a bit of rain then snow at night,
the ride home was icy and it pee'd down for the last 7miles, great night out though,
this was my 13th consecutive bivvy I don't know what happened to my nov post, it's disappeared for some reason but reg commented on the outdoor school photo.