Hi Mike, pm sent.

Week and a half to go. I would like to arrive at Fingland for about 5.30ish so as to give time to go wood gathering, settling in etc. Rob, would you be able to be at mine for 12MD, I will PM you with my address. Jamiep, do want to meet at Bonaly Tower car park at about 1pm or at mine with Rob, I live at Clermiston and will also PM you my address. Distance from mine to Fingland is about 30 mile.

I'm still on, planning on loading up the crosser and heading over from Selkirk

I will aim to get there 5-6ish

Jamie, if your at Tollcross Rob and I can cycle to the start of the canal in town and meet you there, I'll ring you when we set off, should take 20-25 mins.
Mike, you gonna come on your crosser too?

Ray Young wrote:Jamie, if your at Tollcross Rob and I can cycle to the start of the canal in town and meet you there, I'll ring you when we set off, should take 20-25 mins.
Mike, you gonna come on your crosser too?

Probably. I stole a few bits from the on one to build the crosser. Unless I can sort out brakes and a new chain. Looking forward to this.

Ray, what's your route planned over Pentlands? I'd always been taking my HT but could take my home-built drop-bar CX/gravel-crosser thingy - would it be suitable?

Meet at the canal start at Cargo is fine

Hi Jamie, I reckon a crosser would be ok but you may struggle if it's muddy as I was thinking of going over the Bore Stane, the rest should be ok.

I suppose I should actually see if everything will fit on my cross bike and buy some rum

Hope it's not too cold in the bothy as I forgot to buy a sleeping bag liner

Don't count on it as it's only an idea at the moment but if I have the time I may take a walk up that way and stash a bag of coal nearby. It would mean we would only need to find kindling for the fire. Bank it up before retiring and it will burn well into the early hours.
Last week I bought a bottle of jura whisky with the plan of keeping half to take up on the night, none left now .

I'll bring my folding saw, knife and newly acquired bushcraft skills for wood splitting and fire making. Can bring a small axe unless there is one in the bothy.

Ray Young wrote:Don't count on it as it's only an idea at the moment but if I have the time I may take a walk up that way and stash a bag of coal nearby. It would mean we would only need to find kindling for the fire. Bank it up before retiring and it will burn well into the early hours.
Last week I bought a bottle of jura whisky with the plan of keeping half to take up on the night, none left now .

Jura is hard to resist.

Mike, axe and saw at the bothy.

Key for the bothy arrived today so i'm :D . Was worried it might not turn up in time.

How much was it in the end so we can cross your palm with silver?

Hi Restless, spoke to Mike Corbet (the key holder) and there is no fixed fee but donations of £3-£5 per person much appreciated.
Looking forward to catching up with you guys and meeting Rob and Jamie. I'll let you all know if I do a coal delivery.

Sorry guy's, wood gathering it is as I haven't had time to do a coal delivery.

No worries Ray. There should be plenty of wood to collect after last weeks high winds.

Just packing my bike, it's windier than beans here

I've packed my tarp in case I never find the bothy

Packing my stuff now too. Why do I decide to try new gear just 2 hours before I should be setting off..

Was at Inners yesterday - v windy at the top. Doubt it will be any better today

I hate to be a big jessie but is anyone else thinking it's to windy to cycle? We are getting battered over here, I almost lost a window out of the shed when I went out to my bike

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25371220

Sorry I am going to pull out, I've been hoping it will die down but it's just getting worse over here

It was windy and wet and muddy. Bothy was great. Fire was toasty. Whisky was warming and the company was grand. Ray and Jamiep put in the miles to get there. They should have the wind at their backs for the return leg.
How did the other Christmas bivis go? How was the weather down south?

restlessnative wrote:I hate to be a big jessie but is anyone else thinking it's to windy to cycle? We are getting battered over here, I almost lost a window out of the shed when I went out to my bike

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25371220

How's the shed Shawn? Shame you missed out. It was a good night. See you next time.

The wind was so bad one window broke into 6 pieces and went everywhere. Was gutted to miss out :(

On Saturday Jamie and I spent lot of time pedaling into ridiculous headwinds and it rained all day long. Watching Jamie slip sliding down grassy hills on his crosser saved me from having a sense of humour failure on several occasions. The last mile seemed never ending and I was convinced that we had missed the bothy in the dark but a perusal at Jamies GPS showed it was only another 200 metres. Nice bothy, nice fire, nice company, thanks lads.
The locals check out the new neighbours.

Bothy Bivi 001 by youngray50, on Flickr
Jamie packing up.

Bothy Bivi 002 by youngray50, on Flickr
Restocking the bothies wood supply, I was so glad we didn't have to go out to find some the night before.

Bothy Bivi 003 by youngray50, on Flickr