I had originally decided to travel to Ruabon (the nearest station to Llangollen, to meet Lu/FrogAtTheFarriers) via Birmingham because I could take a “local” train ("for local people") from here to Birmingham International then one more direct to Ruabon via Shrewsbury, making it just one change of train and less to go pearshaped. But it’s actually quite a bit faster to change to a main line one at Milton Keynes to get to B’ham Int’l so I'd then swapped to that as a plan. I’d managed to reserve my bike on the Ruabon train but not the main line one, and thought I’d wing that on arrival at the station.

I got to the station on Monday afternoon, bought my ticket, but the guy couldn’t do the bike reservation. I caught an earlier train to MK to allow some leeway and on the way there discovered that the line was shut at Coventry due to a landslide! On the fly I abandoned the whole route and caught a different train to Crewe, then another to Chester, and finally another to Ruabon, arriving from the wrong direction. And still managed to arrive 7 minutes earlier than I would have done the recommended way.

I love it when things go a bit wrong, it exercises the meagre brain cells trying to deal with the situation. A handy emotion to have because along the way I’d been letting Lu know my movements but receiving little in response which by the time I arrived was concerning me somewhat. Phoned him up on arrival. “Hi Lu, am I in the right place?”. “Erm, I thought you were coming tomorrow!”. Oops. I’d Whatsapp’d a week ago and offered Tuesday 13th as the best weather day for riding, but admittedly I hadn't been all that clear and Lu thought I’d meant arriving on Tuesday, not Monday 12th evening!. I’d Whatsapp’d a reminder but that had got lost in the conversation. What now? “Shall I come over to you at home Lu and see what happens?”, but no, Lu valiantly chucks a load of gear onto his bike and sets off to meet me anyway! What a top man.

We duly meet in the Telford pub at Pontcysyllte canal basin and laugh at our rank incompetence. Sarah, the landlady, remembered us from the same time two years ago, and came over to have a chat. She was dead impressed with my pandas and wanted to know all about them, and then offering that she had a pair of panda slippers. Well I’d had a couple of beers by then, so obviously had to see them. She didn’t bat an eyelid and went off upstairs to find them – success!



At one point Sarah said she was off out to the shops and did we want anything. Upon her return we found ourselves the proud owners of some croissants to add to our breakfast, so that was very nice of her!

Finally being booted out towards midnight we set up on the grass next to the aqueduct the same as our last visit, Lu with his Gatewood, and me with my BPL 10x8 flat tarp which I "secured" to the fence with a living-dangerously single slippery-half-hitch.

The night was pretty windy and wet but we slept well enough, although both of us found we were very cold underneath. This was even with my -9C sleeping bag and an Exped Winterlite mat. Very strange. The rain had stopped by morning so we enjoyed our breakfasts including the croissants on a handy bench.





Lu’s route was up and onto Eglwyseg Mountain, from where he was intending to head to Llandegla for lunch, then back via the radio masts at Cyrn-y-Brain summit at 565 metres. We were currently at 100 metres ASL so had a heck of a climb up from the canal, necessitating a water top-up on the way.



Still, near the top there was a superb view of Castell Dinas Bran, right across to the distant Arenigs.



Lots of tussocky heather and gungey peat bogs finally brought us to World’s End, which seemed appropriately well-named to me. On the distant summit are the radio masts that we were to [not be able to] see later that afternoon.



An interesting feature that Lu wanted to show me was the disused Hoffman Kiln at Minera Quarry, where they burned limestone to process it. Apparently it was a bit down the other side of the mountain but still on the way to Llandegla. He disappeared off down the steep lane while I was checking my bike, and after setting off again I realised the lane was very steep and I must have taken a wrong turn. A quick call to Lu and he explained he was at the bottom. The “bit down” turned out to be almost the same height as we’d painfully gained over the last four hours! Still, the quarry was fascinating (to me!) with many rare plants, along with the aforementioned Hoffman Kiln which we inspected with interest.





The climb back up finally brought us to Llandegla centre and a passable lunch, after which we continued up through the forest to try and find the radio masts at the summit. The weather started to get a bit playful at this point, with the fog closing in and heavy drizzle descending on us as we ploughed through the peat bogs and tussocks, with only a reasonably vague idea where we were going or indeed where we actually were either. Lu said the views from the top were well worth it. I’m sure they were usually . Reg looms out of the mist (great word that, “looming”)….



The descent down a rough track to the Horseshoe Pass was exhilarating and quite frisky to say the least but we made it in one piece, followed by a breakneck scream along the main road back down into the Dee valley, during which I’m sure I touched 100mph at one point.

Visibility, if not the rain, had improved by the time we arrived at Horseshoe Falls.



Lu’s idea was to grab some food somewhere then bivvy in the nearby graveyard, which sounded excellent to me, but somehow the plan changed on the fly and we headed down the canal to the bright lights of downtown Llangollen. There was certainly more choice of eating places there so that was good, and Lu dived us straight into the little café next to the river bridge. It was actually a bistro, by this time of day catering to the trendy set (is there one?) of the Dee valley, but I noticed an “all-day breakfast” on the menu so I thought I’d confuse the staff by ordering that at 5pm, at the same time hopefully gaining the Phil Prize for “latest eaten bivvy breakfast”. We were also pretty wet and reeked of peat bog so at least that was something to provide a topic of conversation for the Normals while they enjoyed their nice pizzas.



Now what? It's a wet Tuesday evening in February on a dark street in a sleepy Welsh town, it's only half past six and we’d now got no idea where we were going to kip. Unlike for most Normals, for me that's actually a perfect situation, wide open with possibilities . For a moment we considered going back to the same spot as the previous night at Pontcysyllte, but Lu mentioned that he knew someone who helped to run a bar in the town so why not pop in there for a quick one while we pondered what to do. Sounded good to me, and a short while later we arrived to find that they had a special event on, so would we be OK sitting outside so we didn’t disturb the ambience for the normal punters? Fair enough. Lu’s aquaintance soon wandered outside though and said would we like to finish off some of the posh expensive wine left over from the event. Yes we certainly would! Oh, and some leftover canapés to go with it? Yes please! I also decided that because this was my 99th BaM, it would be a good idea to actually have a “99” to celebrate. A couple of ice-creams duly appeared, to which I added chocolate flakes bought from Spar round the corner!



By this time we were all getting along like a house on fire, chatting about this and that. Not surprisingly The Usual Question got asked eventually, to which we replied “we don’t know”, and to be honest, after all the nice drinkies, we didn't actually care . After a short deliberation our friendly hostess pointed across the yard to the covered storage area and asked if that would do for us. Well that was an easy decision! After which we had to retire inside, after the event had finished, to sample a few more posh wines. It’s a tough hobby this bivvying but someone’s got to do it. Lu’s bedroom:



As it turned out, it was also an extremely lucky decision because in the middle of the night we both woke up to find that it was lashing with rain outside the verandah, and we’d have had quite a challenging repose either in the graveyard or at the aqueduct.

I’d asked to be up reasonably early since my train left Chirk at 09.50, so we woke at 7am to pack and think about breakfast. Our lucky streak continued because the chef arrived earlier than normal and offered to cook us full breakfasts specially. So we sat in the bar and enjoyed those, only to find out we’d been charged staff rates as well! What a great place.

The drizzle was steadily falling as we toddled back down the canal to Pontcysyllte and along to Chirk via the canal tunnels.





The station featured some nice topiary, one of which was the Bearbones Bear! It was the least I could do to shake her hand and give her a cuddle (well I think she’s a her anyway, even if she does look a bit fierce on all the BB jerseys and things).





After that Lu wandered off to a nearby café for a coffee and cake, leaving me to join the train to Chester for a quick 1-minute connection to Crewe, and thence to Milton Keynes, fortuitously with no problems this time.

It was only a day and a couple of nights but we’d managed to pack in all sorts of amusing happenings and serendipities, for which I must thank Lu for being such a top riding companion. As he likes to say, “silly is good” . I’ll second that.

‘Reg’

2/2, 2/12, 99/99

Bit of everything there chaps, good stuff!

Excellent work there Reg

The rain Gods may often be against you but the other deities seem to be on your side, like the God of being offered dry places to sleep and the God of unexpected breakfasts.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 9:37 am The rain Gods may often be against you but the other deities seem to be on your side, like the God of being offered dry places to sleep and the God of unexpected breakfasts.

After all this time I've got a finely honed way of saying my prayers. Oh, and the sacrificial offerings probably help as well .

Remember I like the Rain God too - we're best pals. As mentioned before, a good thing about fixing a date (*) to go out - by needing train bookings etc - is that you have to go and have to deal with what's thrown at you. Much more interesting than simply waiting for a sunny day. Learn more as well.

(*) yes even if that date is 24 hours too soon!!

Great stuff you two shame I was busy .
What day is it ?

Saturwedthursday I think?

Not as exciting as Reg's recent exploits but I did go on the correct day Another school-night bivi, I sleep as well (if not better) on the bivis as I do at home so no issue with going to work the next day. I left home just after 8 which even after all these times still feels a little bit naughty to be heading out at this time when most people would be heading home. Just round the corner from my house was a sign at the side of the road, it's been there all week but I've not gone over to read it, having more time I stopped, it says the road will be closed all day on the 16th... well I've outsmarted you as I'm going out on the 15th and I'll come home a different way and after you've finished, so your efforts to make my ride to work harder have failed

Uneventful ride through to Newport, much less traffic than my morning commute on the same roads. It was about 17 degrees warmer than it was on January's BAM! Luckily I'd realised on my ride home from work that it was time to swap the thermal bib-longs for shorts and knee warmers. Town was quiet, but it was a Thursday evening in February. Saw several other cyclists but they were all carrying large cubes full of fast food on their backs, off delivering excessive calories to those who need them the least

At Carsibrooke I spotted this



I've never noticed it before. I guess it's something to do with Carisbrooke Castle which is just round the corner but googling 1293 didn't give any obvious results of significance. It was the year the Island stopped being in private ownership so perhaps that's it?

The climb out of Carisbrooke is steep so zips were lowered but soon enough it's over and I'm out in to the countryside. It's the second time I've ridden this way this week, on Tuesday it was horizontal rain into my face but thankfully tonight is clear and still. Just before I arrive at the forest I stop at a lay-by to check the time to decide if I should go the short or long way into the wood. Someone has forgotten this



I will often pick up rubbish I find on the way but unfortunately there was no room for this. Headed into the wood and I had several spots in mind. The trouble with having the whole woods to choose from is you keep going thinking the next location will be better. To be fair, the first locations were covered in dead branches that had come down and looking up there were plenty more available to fall on me in the night. As I had the hammock I 'only' needed 2 trees that were the right distance apart and not about to kill me, is that too much to ask. Having bush-wacked my way uphill across most of the woods I rejoined the main track and promptly rode to an area I'd used before, albeit on the ground in a bivi previously. It's a section between two tracks and I could see to both of them from my location.

I was conscious that the time it takes to set up the hammock and tarp is much longer than to just get the bivi out, but I didn't see anyone go by. I had gambled and took the 150 quilt which I'd never consider in a bivi bag in Feb but I was plenty warm enough, it only got down to 8 degrees. I was woken in the night by the tarp flapping, the wind had changed direction I could reach the offending bit without getting up and hold it to stop it but this wasn't really a viable long-term plan to silence it I got up and adjusted the guy on that corner which just about stopped it. Before I knew it my alarm was going off and it was time to get up for work Why is it that any bed (hammock/bivi/bed) is at its most comfortable just when you need to get up



My spot was actually on a bit of a slope, so the extra faff of the hammock is justified by the fact I could use an area not suitable for laying on the ground, although I could obviously have just moved up to the top of the slope where it's flatter



No sign I'd ever been here. It took 45 minutes from the alarm going off to being packed up ready to go so not to bad. It had rained overnight and the tarp was still wet. This was the first trip with the snake-skins on the tarp. Although they add to the bulk they did enable me to pack it up without getting wet or dragging it on the floor

Headed off for work which was mainly down hill. I was just thinking how inconvenient it would be to have a mechanical when the hiss of a puncture and the fift-fift-fift of stans spraying out was heard Fully flat in no time. I had plugs but the hardest part was being able to see the hole in the tyre to insert the plug.

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Manged to sort it and get going. There are worse places to break down I guess.



It wouldn't be a BAM in Brighstone Forest if I didn't call past a post box on the way back.



This one has been up for a few weeks, I was struggling to work out what it was depicting... then I suddenly realised it's Valentines Day. As Jane would say to me 'for someone so clever you aren't half thick at times'

Once at work I took advantage of the easy to deploy tarp





It should hopefully be dry by the time I go home. The wall in the background is a thin single-skin stone wall and on the other side is the store room of the bookshop next door so the warmth comes through. Let's hope the damp from my side doesn't go back the other way.

2/12, 48 in a row (4 full years) and 47 for Ralph.

I'd've been tempted to cook up a nice BB breakfast with that propane cylinder!

Good work gents.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:08 pm

Wot? No Ralph?

Berwyn tour with Reg - Supplemental.

Reg very kindly skirted around my little mix-up re start date. Mea Culpa. There, I’ve said it - but anyway, moving swiftly on….

Here are my few pics:-

The night before….


Just to prove we did spend the night.

Reg-on-the-moor…


With fine wine and fancy canapés after a hard days pedalling…


And finally….


A goodly slab of Bara Brith and enough tea for two, before heading back to the car.

As an aside, I’ve been saying for a while that a job that’s left until the last minute, only takes a minute. That night bore this out. I was sitting in front of the telly when Reg phoned to say “I’m here”, but what he meant was “Where are you?

I’d got the days mixed up and thought I had all day to get packed and ready. Not so, obviously. Instead if faffing around for most of the day, it took me twenty minutes to get packed up. OK, so it wasn’t just a minute but was a lot quicker than usual.

So that’s 2/2 for 2024 and many thanks to Reg for a great ride.

Live bivvy in progress- after a long day doing some very big climbs. 5 grs down, 5 to go. And its dry! Dry I tell you!!

Lucky you it's forecast for two days rain whilst I do mine over the weekend. ( pretty bad 7 ish onwards and over night).

Well done sir! And sorry about the climbs. It looked flat on the map.

February done (and NOT at the last minute!) on the AWE - see https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpB ... hp?t=24332
Top spot in Glendevon Forest that I've been meaning to stop at for a while, but it needs the wind to be from the east....



2/12...

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 9:55 pm February done (and NOT at the last minute!)

About 8 out of 33 done so far in February then, so maybe there will be a nice crop of 'Last Minuters' .

Hopefully some were out last night. Down here at least the forecast from now until the end of the month is rain, he says smugly having managed to get out last week when the rain was only in the middle of the night

On the plus side, when it's raining you're pretty much guaranteed to have the woods to yourself. Normal people stay indoors in the dry.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 12:38 pm Hopefully some were out last night. Down here at least the forecast from now until the end of the month is rain, he says smugly having managed to get out last week when the rain was only in the middle of the night

I thought about last night, but it was absolutely hammering it down, all night. Everywhere around here is super saturated, might have to go and find a bird hide, or another bridge tunnel...

Just back from the winter JennRide - 150km of winter wonderfulness

Come to the Lakes they said.

It'll be picturesque they said...
There'll be wonderful views they said...
It'll be lovely they said...

They lied!

Got to the ODG at about 1830 and decided to have tea there. About 2030 we headed out and up the Blea Tarn road, including a priceless comedy moment where my bootlace simultaneously got caught in the chainring and wrapped itself around the pedal axle and pins It took Cath a good few minutes with a set of pliers to pull open the knot and extricate me, doubt I could have done it on my own.

We bivvied in the woods near the outfall of Blea Tarn. Chucked it down for most of the night but had cleared out by this AM.

Let's see if we can get a 12 month run.

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 7:42 pm Just back from the winter JennRide - 150km of winter wonderfulness

Come to the Lakes they said.

It'll be picturesque they said...
There'll be wonderful views they said...
It'll be lovely they said...

They lied!

Got to the ODG at about 1830 and decided to have tea there. About 2030 we headed out and up the Blea Tarn road, including a priceless comedy moment where my bootlace simultaneously got caught in the chainring and wrapped itself around the pedal axle and pins It took Cath a good few minutes with a set of pliers to pull open the knot and extricate me, doubt I could have done it on my own.

We bivvied in the woods near the outfall of Blea Tarn. Chucked it down for most of the night but had cleared out by this AM.

Let's see if we can get a 12 month run.

Well done with seeing that out, our trio reached the checkpoint at the end of the coach road and then stayed on the road back to Staveley..went home after grub at Hawkshead Brewery and got in bed

Well done with seeing that out, our trio reached the checkpoint at the end of the coach road and then stayed on the road back to Staveley..went home after grub at Hawkshead Brewery and got in bed

Sun was out today, and no rain. Good to bump into you again, and I remembered the other time we'd met as my mind was churning away, trying to ignore the rain - F300 (your 'gravel' bike was the only one with 3" tyres )

We need BB username badges! I hope I spoke to all of you doing the JennRide—Whitestone, we spoke on Walna Scar Road today—but I wish I'd been able to put names to faces at the time.

February done here too - pre-Jennride bivvy near Kentmere with Andy. Probably no photographic evidence because my phone's currently in a bowl of rice: that probably tells it's own story

Well done Bob and Cath for heading back out after the pub... It was hard enough going back to an already erected tent in that!

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 10:29 pm It was hard enough going back to an already erected tent in that!

Playing floodplain chicken …