RIP wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:29 am

I think the bar just got raised!

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 2:09 pm
I think the bar just got raised!

That's me blown for the year Phil, will be back to lurking around after dark by the swings and slides in the local park soon enough, not forgetting the local cricket ground, now also on my repertoire

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:38 am

Beer can for pole stability? Ingenious .

It looks like most of the snow has hidden under your tarp, to shelter from the....erm... .
Perhaps you should treat yourself to a "winter camouflage" tarp, just to confuse it

Nails.

Looks like I'm in for another year

I can't compete with Neil's snowmagedaon but that's only because of lack of snow and not lack of fortitude.. well maybe

The kit was all out ready to go on New Years Eve but a severe weather warning for high winds meant that would be unwise so I bailed. The right decision as the winds were gusting at 65mph so a night in the woods would have been noisy at best and could have ended very badly. It would have to be a quick school night overnighter to start the year. Back to the same woods I went to last January but didn't think I'd get the same -4 as last year

Checked the calibration of the ice warning signs on the way past.



Yep, they're working fine, the garmin says -3



Soon at the woods but it seemed to tale me ages to get set up, like about 30 to 40 minutes. Maybe I was just being methodical or maybe I was slower due to the cold. The trees were farther apart than I normally select which might have added to the time as I had to adjust the tarp ridge line. I had thought about bringing an ale, I bought a 7% one for the NYE trip that I still have, but opted in the end for hot chocolate



The was the first proper night in the EE quilt. To make it a fair test meant changing out of the warm cycling kit into cold base layers so I would have the same clothes on as I normally sleep in. The worst part is putting the cycling kit back on in the morning as by then that's even colder. My pillow is a micro-fleece stuffsack and I put the cycling base layer and leg warmers in it so at least they are warm in the morning. I slept really well but that's no surprise as I always do on a bivi, well when I'm not half under a bench in a pub garden in the rain anyway

All to soon it was time to get up The cycling kit was as cold as predicted. The thermometer only recorded a low of -1 overnight. It was 0 when I got up. The garmin seems to read about 2 degrees lower than the thermodrop, but I have long thought the garmin was a bit low.



It would be tricky to find room to sleep on the floor here, the photo doesn't do justice to how many bits of tree and branches are lying about. It's quite a bush-wack to get in and out of this part of the woods but the plus side is that no one is going to wander past in the night. It's only about 50m from the road but so dense that it's easy to stay out of sight. I have changed the guys on the tarp to use some dutchware hardware which now means the loop is at the peg end. This enables the loop on the guy and the loop on the top of the peg to be threaded through each other so there's no chance of loosing a peg in the undergrowth. This does mean the way I used to attach the poles to hold up the porch would no longer work. The triangles on the corners of the tarp are sized for the tips of walking poles. After much thought I came up with the idea of some top-hat pole toppers



These worked really well, I just need to make sure I don't loose them. I did make 3 whist I was on the lathe to have a spare.



Ignore the dimensions on the sketch, I changed those as I went

All that was left was to pack up and ride to work. Nice sunrise as I rode along next to the river, mist slowly rising off the water.



The third piece of kit being trailed was the fixing for the fork cages. These are only held on the fork by double-sided tape and cable-ties. Seemed secure enough. They allow the tarp and hammock to be carried on the forks which frees up space for the bulky winter quilt and under-quilts in the bar bag.



I did have one gear failure, the piece of groundsheet material I stand on to get changed is letting the water through, so I''ll need to replace that. Hopefully it's failed as a result of going through the washing machine? The floor of my inner tent I made for the Deschutes is the same material so it will be a disaster if that starts leaking. The ground didn't look too wet but as I stood on it water came up through and got my socks wet

Next month will be 5 years straight so I should try for something more exciting.

1/12 for 2025 and 59 months in a row (48 for Ralph who started a month behind me)

A flying start there our Sean.

Two hours later I'm still trying to get my head round this though: "This enables the loop on the guy and the loop on the top of the peg to be threaded through each other". My brain must be frozen up!

My guy lines have a spliced loop on one end, this used to be used to attach the guy to the triangle on the tarp. The loop is now at the peg end.

The pegs have short loops of line on the tops to assist with pulling them out. If I thread the guy through this loop then thread the peg back through the loop on the guy the two loops are now joined together. I still hook the guy loop over the peg but if the wind pulls the peg out it is attached to the guy so cant get lost.

Probably mush easier to demonstrate than describe I'll see If I can remember to produce a sequence of photos showing it done. Which reminds me, I'm nearly out of space on Flickr, so other than paying for a pro account (£££) or deleting old photos (which will mess up old posts) is there an alternative free hosing site anyone can recommend?

Yeah I need one of those animated gif thingies like on netknots.com. That would much make it much clearer - knot! I mean "not!" .



Talking of lines I'm fiddling around with some 1.2mm luminous dyneema for the DCF tarp. Next experiment is got some graphene line on order, single carbon atom thick, very expensive, 0.01g/km so is crazy light.

1.2mm line: (hosted by Flickr , 1000 stored free so I just bin the earliest 100 now and then which tend to be years old)

I use imgur Sean. You can set things up so photos are resized on upload and the site/app gives you ready made links for forums etc. Not sure if there is a limit.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:26 am My guy lines have a spliced loop on one end, this used to be used to attach the guy to the triangle on the tarp. The loop is now at the peg end.

The pegs have short loops of line on the tops to assist with pulling them out. If I thread the guy through this loop then thread the peg back through the loop on the guy the two loops are now joined together. I still hook the guy loop over the peg but if the wind pulls the peg out it is attached to the guy so cant get lost.

Probably mush easier to demonstrate than describe I'll see If I can remember to produce a sequence of photos showing it done. Which reminds me, I'm nearly out of space on Flickr, so other than paying for a pro account (£££) or deleting old photos (which will mess up old posts) is there an alternative free hosing site anyone can recommend?

Possibly easier to push one loop through the other then put a stick of some sort through the first loop. Certainly that would be much easier to undo. It would remain together if the peg came out unless it properly pinged out. The other alternative is to use a Marlin Spike hitch around the peg - the only downside to this is if you need to move the peg you have to redo the hitch.

MuddyPete wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 6:26 pm

NeilA wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:38 am

Beer can for pole stability? Ingenious .

It looks like most of the snow has hidden under your tarp, to shelter from the....erm... .
Perhaps you should treat yourself to a "winter camouflage" tarp, just to confuse it

NeilA. You're more mental

ie. Than many of the others. Which takes alot

He's as sane as I am Shaf...

whitestone wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 1:52 pm Possibly easier to push one loop through the other then put a stick of some sort through the first loop. Certainly that would be much easier to undo. It would remain together if the peg came out unless it properly pinged out. The other alternative is to use a Marlin Spike hitch around the peg - the only downside to this is if you need to move the peg you have to redo the hitch.

The joined loops aren't taking any strain, the one from the guy is over the peg and the one from the peg is loose on the guy. As I said, easier to do than explain

RIP wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 2:31 pm He's as sane as I am Shaf...

I've just been out on a -7 commute (real feel of -7, maybe it was only -3 really) and the client was slightly concerned about me. But, many of you lot scare me

May as well chuck my Kask into the ring...

January 2025

The wintery weather has made commuting this week much less enjoyable than usual due to been forced onto the main roads with the other traffic. It was nice to get out somewhere quieter and enjoy it.

I left home after dark last night and (mostly) rode the 12ish miles of frozen, quiet lanes and tracks to a plantation I've bivvied in before. Riding conditions were challenging with large areas of bottle ice, but thoroughly enjoyable when you're not in a rush.

I located a shelter of sorts in the woods which seemed to make a nice enough home, although I doubt it would provide any weather protection if needed. The Wahoo was displaying -9c when I stopped it for the night.


A comfortable night followed under a bright moon, with 2x summer bags, out of date snacks and a nice single malt.


So comfortable in fact that I rolled over at 7am and didn't wake again until 9!! That would never happen at home.



The following day (today) was simply sublime. I met Herself for breakfast together at Craggies farm shop before she returned to the horses, and I continued the beautiful, slow, steady, plodding around the lanes and tracks. Clear blue skys and enough snow-melt to provide some grip. Only about 35 miles in total, never far from home, and absolute bliss. Just ace.

Ahh well, other commitments have precluded my chance at a -6 bivvy, out with the Cumulus 150 for next weekends attempt....

RIP wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 2:31 pm He's as sane as I am Shaf

Johnallan wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 5:22 pm
I located a shelter of sorts in the woods which seemed to make a nice enough home, although I doubt it would provide any weather protection if needed. The Wahoo was displaying -9c when I stopped it for the night.

Looks pretty amazing John! And does Eeyore know you borrowed his house of sticks??

It looks like I'm in again. BaM 1/12 for '25

It was going to be on the W.E. but you know ...

So, some months ago, I was trawling the internet to find the location of Kynaston's cave (near Nesscliffe ) when I came across these not too far away. Well, 27 miles actually. Close to Frodsham.



So I had to go there and see for myself. As it happens, they were very close to a house I lived in for a year while an agricultural student on a year's practical. Its still there (obs) but has an enormous extension added to the front.

Anyway, back to the topic - I pedalled from home after lunch and followed a track supplied by Cycletravel, arriving at the cave around 6:30. Said track led me through the Delamere Forest, where a fair bit of snow covered the paths.




Setting up, prepping/cooking/eating dinner (Cullen Skink again) took 'til nine o'clock. That seems a long time but what else is there to do when all alone and it's too dark outside.

So, the bivvy. There's a nice dry nook close to the back, with a dry and level floor. Perfect...




Morning pics...



The Eyes.. are watching you...


With not very far to go to get home and all day to do it in, I had a leisurely pack-up and (first) breakfast, then set about finding a caff to get a fry-up. I'd passed one on the way in so thought to track back and eat there. Found it, locked bike up, went in and took warm gear off, ordered the fry-up but then found that they only take card payments and I'd only got cash, sorry. Oh well, it is what it is, and there's another visitor centre not far away (20 mins). Found it, but there's an enormous queue, and they've finished serving breakfasts. There's just the usual generic frozen stuff on the menu that I didn't fancy, so off to find another.

Dunnit! The Station House cafe, just a few hundred yards away provided this, albeit at 12:30 so lunch, really...


More forest trails...


... before descending to tarmac and following Google Maps home.

Another corker, and more high-bar-setting. Really going to have to sharpen my act up.

Love the eyyyyyyyyyyes photo. Most unnerving having those watching you all night I would imagine.

frogatthefarriers wrote: ↑Sun Jan 12, 2025 9:51 pm It was going to be on the W.E. but you know ...

It struck me last night that that is still an option, with the Saturday being the 1st Feb, thereby making the additional Friday night the....... last day of Jan . Feel mildly sheepish contemplating a rare invocation of Rule #3 but it's on the table so why not. Assuming it doesn't get deferred again in which case there'd be an undignified last-minute scramble for a local January one.

whitestone wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:55 am I use imgur Sean. You can set things up so photos are resized on upload and the site/app gives you ready made links for forums etc. Not sure if there is a limit.

Turns out I already have an account there, and there are 4 photos from 7 years ago. Not only did I forget had an account, which is worrying enough, but I have no idea what the event the below photo was taken at Looking at the mud I'd say it was on the Island in the springtime