Bivvy a Month 2017.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Didn't that big sign get on your nerves?

[BigdummySteve]

A late decision (IPA induced) saw me quickly throw kit together and head towards goring, i had to be back to attend court (jury service!) so logistically it was easier to ride the bottom section and back to the car. i finally got on the bike at about 2PM aiming to make Avebury, although Overton Hill is the official finish of the Ridgeway i always feel that Avebury is its spiritual home, besides who can resist the lure of a pub within a stone circle
Thankfully the recent rain hadn't left the surface too soaked with mainly good conditions, i thoroughly enjoyed the ride, its surprisingly remote in places, water sources are few ( i took my filter but unsurprisingly on top of a chalk ridge ) Luckily i managed to refill from a kind couple parked at one of the road crossings and a house but its something to be aware of.






Some sections have been 'upgraded' thankfully only very a very small section was like this, the 4x4 brigade will soon sort it out




Waylands smithy, one of the many prehistoric sites along the route "A Neolithic chambered long barrow, it was once believed to have been the home of Wayland, the Saxon god of metal working"




Some sections retain the character of an ancient byway


The official finish line you can however take another track right into avebury which is a much more fitting end


See, Big stones and a pub much better than a wooden sign


After reaching Avebury i headed back towards Marborough to pick up some overnight essentials about 10 miles from avebury i returned to the ridgeway and set up in a just harvested field. The rain started just as i finished putting the tent up and continued for most of the night, another night interrupted by drama! You may be aware that this area is famous for UFO sightings and crop circles, I put this down to hippys eating too many exotic fungi But during the night i was disturbed by a low rumbling until a beam of bright light illuminated my tent, a strange being entered the beam informing me in an almost human voice that it had located me with its night vision.The alien was obviously put off by this strange mud covered race and pretended to be the farmer shooting with the aid of IR scopes etc before beating a hasty retreat.


scene of failed alien abduction


After the nights heavy rain i headed back to goring via the road, if your in the area Aldbourne post office has a nice little cafe, cheesy beans on toast with an egg plus bacon for £3.75

A great route, mostly gentle climbing and stunning views over the downs. There is a real sense of the ancient both in the pathway and the various forts and long barrows, silbury hill and Avebury make for a stunning finale. Led Zeppelin is compulsory listening for the ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/16699708

[Mariner]

Brings back memories.
Worked at Diamond Light Source the big silver doughnut at Chilton many years ago and used to ride up to the Lindsay monument in the evenings.

[ctznsmith]

The GPX route on the ridgeway double ITT website had 'taps' marked on it. Some are actual taps, others appear to be people's houses.

Riding the Ridgeway again north to south in September so I'll have to look into that alternative bit at the end to the pub (Avebury).

[RayKickButts]

Enjoyed that scribation RKB - you seem to specialise in interesting 'character-building' outings . It was so beautifully described I felt I was actually 'there'. Although I must admit it was even more enjoyable because in reality I'm 'here' - in a nice warm kitchen whilst leisurely consuming a spot of tea and toast . With 'three fruit' marmalade as it happens. Am liking the 'ensemble' stealth livery too .

Cheers fella i do my best to make my trips hardcore

My thoughts on the Ninja stealth outfit is that should i on one of my solo adventures fall and hurt myself an am unable to to crawl away for help i will be easily visible to the search parties that will come hotfooting it to save me from near death.

I have a nice 10 day August bivi trip coming up i'm praying for dry not to warm and not to wet weather

[frogatthefarriers]

8/8 Am I in Holland?


46 miles and only 1080 ft of ascents?

For this months BAM I did a reccy for an introduction for two of my grandsons to bikepacking. Not wanting to put them off by giving them too hard a ride, I thought a 35 mile trip down the Langollen canal with a bivvy in the middle wouldn't be too much, without being "not enough". They live in Llangollen so logistics is easy too, but I wasn't sure if there was towpath all the way , so thought I'd ride it and see. My ride was the other way, cycling from home to the staircase locks at Grindley Brook, then up to the basin at Trevor, crossing two viaducts and three tunnels on the way. No need to go further - I know there's a towpath up to Llan from there.

I started out a little earlier than I could have done and would have arrived at my bivvy spot too soon, with nothing to do for an hour before bedtime, so detoured to the Sun Inn at Lyneal for a time-killing pint and a packet of crisps and be serenaded by one Ashley Vardey, a female singer. Before going in, I locked the bike to the fence, but on returning,I found this:-



Numpty me, I'd only left the key in the lock!!!

I'd had my Sunday dinner before leaving home so only needed a snack before dossing down. Cue a tin of beans. This is my solution for not having to wash the pot out after heating the beans and boiling water for a brew. Take the label off and heat both together, but separate. Neat.


Bivvy photo, the morning after, after a night of rain:-


A little tableau in someones garden adjoining the canal:-


By the locks at Hindford:-


A humongous bush of mistletoe in an apple tree in the lock keepers garden:-

[BigdummySteve]

8/8 Am I in Holland?


46 miles and only 1080 ft of ascents

Surprisingly I only clocked 3200ft over the same distance on the ridgeway.

[Zippy]

46 miles and only 1080 ft of ascents

Surprisingly I only clocked 3200ft over the same distance on the ridgeway.

I do have 12,000ft for the whole thing - so that does make sense.

[BigdummySteve]

46 miles and only 1080 ft of ascents

Surprisingly I only clocked 3200ft over the same distance on the ridgeway.

I do have 12,000ft for the whole thing - so that does make sense.

I assumed the bottom 46 would have more climbing.

[RIP]

August - tick. Ref "Quick overnighter in Brecon Beacons"....

[JohnClimber]

Looking pretty clean shaven there John for being out in the wilds of Iceland :)

Embarrassingly that is my 5 day growth stubble, I'll never be able to grow a beard

[JohnClimber]

Bivi a month 16th in a row
8 out of 8 in 2017

[Roobell7]

As I actually stopped this time, I can post here

Claire's mum lives down in New Alresford and I wanted a last test ride before the YD200. The SDW is slightly shorter and less climbing but has similar characteristics. An easy one to navigate with transport laid on to one end

I decided to ride it East to West to gain the headwinds and better judge my return to coincide with Claire's planned leaving Sunday evening. Friday's forecast showed there would be a stiff SW breeze and rain moving in on Sunday morning. I had garmin tracks for both ways but chose to man-up and stick with the plan

We arrived at Winall Tesco's around 10:30 Saturday morning and I dived in to pick up a power bank having forgotten my own. By the time I'd loaded up and gotten to the station the 11:19 to Eastbourne had gone. Still they are every hour so no great harm. That is until I got to my 1st change at Fareham to find that Southern Railways has cancelled the 12:56 connection Another hour to wait for the next one

What's missing from this picture?

Finally made it to Eastbourne for 4pm and headed out



And into the Airshow along the seafront



Weather was good with the temp around 15C and the requested headwind obliged at about 17kph from the SW . I made the first tea stop at Afriston just after the Singing Kettle Tea Room had stopped serving but the Ye Olde Smugglers Inne across the street was serving and it seemed rude not to

10 mins for a swift pint and a 2nd charge of the power bank helped nicely

I was treated to five sunsets as I chased them over the Downs. The 4th being the best



I arrived at Pyecombe around 8:30pm and spotted the BP service station shining in it's green glow. I resisted the temptation of the Plough Inn next door and stopped for a hot baguette and a coffee. I also took two scotch eggs and dark chocolate covered flapjacks to go

I'd set my target of riding to the 100km point before camping out. I'd expected this to be around midnight but because of the train issues it turned out to be 1:30am before I made it there. I was treated along the way to a firework display that lasted some time



It was a moonless night and I Jumped when I nearly ran into a black cow standing astride the track. The herd was settled for the night and they never moved as I rode through them laying down. At one gateway it was less than two feet from a whole bunch of them

Can you see me?

Camp spot was a bridleway gate on the SDW between Graffham and Heyshott Downs. The grass was good and it was level. The fields either side were nature reserves with no camping or fires posted on the gates. So figured the track was fair game

As seen at 2am

Same view at 5:30am

Sunrise just after heading on

And later at the top of the days first climb

I'd had porridge and coffee at my camp spot but still looked forward to a hearty breakfast to set me up for the day. I was mighty disappointed to arrive at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park visitors centre at 9am and 25km ridden, only to find that they didn't open for another hour . I thought I'd struck lucky on the other side of the A3 with some kind of show setting up but again I was too early

No coffee to be seen

Next cafe was the Sustainability Centre 5km further on. I arrived at 9:40 and had to wait until they opened at 10am. When I got in I ordered a strong Latte and looked at the food menu only to be told that they don't start sandwiches until 11am but then he said he could do a Panini though.... A second coffee and a flapjack whilst I waited for this and I was set

As I set out I caught sight of a rider heading the same way on the SDW. It looked like he was on a cross bike so I didn't expect to see him again. We dropped down a chalk shoot path and I saw them again, catching up at the road crossing. I was surprised when one called my name. It was a guy I met at the XTERRA World Champs in Maui in 2013 . I knew he'd moved close by and had sent him a Strava message from the Sustainability Centre complaining about the lack of coffee and that I'd seen signs to his village

Small world sometimes

We rode together for the next 12km and he tried the Mukluk loaded for a while. I think he got the better deal as his planet X MTB with 500mm bars was terrifying. He left me at the top of the White Way road climb. This is a steady 6% for 2.2km but I rode it well and we even kept the conversation going all the way up. The coffee must have kicked in well

From there it was less than 20km to Winchester and nearly all downhill. I passed through the Boomtown Festival site and there was still plenty of cleanup activity to do

Boomtown busted

I'd been impressed along the whole route about how well the trail was kept and that all the gates worked. Of course there had to be one bad spot and it was the unkept track alongside the A31 with overgrown stinging nettles everywhere. Nice one Hampshire CC / Highways agency

The end of the SDW was a bit of an anticlimax with the signs just stopping near the city centre. I took a selfie in front of the Cathedral and called it the finish. 21 hrs 22 mins after setting off

The Selfie

Resting stead. Again the Mukluk has been faultless

Pint and a toasty nearby and it was a steady 15km back to New Alresford and a last tea and cake at the heritage rail buffet

And relax

More pictures https://www.flickr.com/gp/150583371@N02/a4796f RidewithGPS https://ridewithgps.com/trips/17037088, or Strava https://www.strava.com/activities/1143082278

Hope you enjoyed the read. I certainly did the ride

[macinblack]

Not doing too well this year for a variety of reasons but never mind, time to up the ante.

Not too far from home where rabbits have been hard at work.

[sean_iow]

BAM 8 out of 8 for me. I'd planned to go out for this one a couple of weeks ago but even though I'd packed my kit the day before I just couldn't find the motivation to get out of the door. I then planned and failed to go on Friday and Sunday so with the end of the month looming it would have to be Monday night and be home in time to head to work.

Having recently finished my tarp tent (see MYOG) the obvious choice for this month was.... disaster style No tarp, no sleeping bag or quilt. So I packed the bivi bag, mat and pillow (there is a limit to how much suffering I was prepared to put up with) and for insulation I took a spare pair of socks, some synthetic insulated trousers, a lightweight insulated smock, gloves and a buff. I figured that if nothing else I'd learn how warm or not this would be for future ITTs where I was planning on riding through and this would be the back-up plan. Also, if I was cold it would be easier to get up in time to get back home for work.

A leisurely ride out of only 10 miles brought me to my spot about 20 minutes after dark. It was a warm night so I was confident I'd get a reasonable nights sleep. An out of the way patch of grass in amongst the gorse bushes, add my extra layers, blow up the mat (klymit inertia x lite so abut 3 breaths) and I was in my bag. The ground had looked pretty flat when I chose the spot, not dead flat but ok I thought. Lying on my back was fine, but if I turned on my side the combination of wearing garments with a shiny pertex outer from head to toe and being in the bivi bag meant I slid down the slope inside the bag Oh well, I couldn't be bothered to move and as a plus I was on the southern tip of the Island (furthest from the mainland and the light pollution) and it was a clear night so I had a wonderful view of the night sky.



My alarm was set for 05:30 but I was actually awake just before this, well I was awake many times before this as if I moved in my sleep I slid about, so I was up early. Packing took no time at all and I was on my way home. It was a nice morning which is often the reward for a night out.



I'm always surprised at the number of cars I see about even before 06:00 and the odd dog walker. I made it the 10 miles home to arrive at my door at exactly 06:40 which is the time my alarm normally goes off. So, despite my lack of mojo recently I'm still on track for the year and I've ticked off another grid square, SZ4070.

[RayKickButts]

August bivi trip 8 outta 8 ..... I was told while in training that all plans eventually go tits up when you hit the ground and so it was to be with my first attempt at getting Stu's Bi Bear route ticked off.

My mate had expressed a interest in coming along, he's never bivi'd before

So we decided to start at Llandovery as it made sense and get all the hard stuff done first off with the hope of a nice easy southward return home.

It wasnt long after leaving Llandovery that i sort guessed we would probably struggle getting round in the time we had.

So as my mate hadnt bivi's before we spent first night at a campsite so we could play with the tarps.

Morning came, we fed on duck and hens eggs and TBH i was buzzing very excited about getting going proper, my goal for the day was 33miles.

From the campsite we went along side Llyn Brianne and up over to Soar Myndd, and from there by Stu's route over to Strata Florida. Now ive ridden the Doethie valley loop more times than i can recall and had never gong past the left turn, so the valley we rode into was a pleasant surprise until we hit the hill out. It was at this point i heard Morgan Freeman narrating in my head " It was at this point in his life Tim realised that Stu was a sadist" ... tbh i was enjoying myself we'd found what i thought was our pace and i sorta enjoyed the climbs on my new Ramin, and after a big limb there's gotta be a good descent right?

Top of Soar Myndd



Well we were not disappointed a nice fast downhill chasing sheep until BOOM another big climb then another down to the big red phone box where we turned off to the Abbey ... now i'd started pushing the pace as i wanted to get to the Abbey cafe before it closed. The fire road descent from the top of Pen Y Bwlch was mental hitting close to 40Mph on the way down, grinning we dived into the cafe and stuffed tea and cake. Being a kind soul it was at this point i remembered the Bothy was just off of the route so that was to be our end point and close to 35Miles done for the day.




After a night trying to burn our body weight in logs we had decided to abandon the Big Bear route at Devils Bridge and i'd use some of my nav skills to get us back as my oppo was getting proper Fooked

The descent from the Bothy on the old mountain road is somewhere id never ridden before and woooop was it a fast blast a great way to get the blood flowing and some vaguely exciting views


At Devils Bridge we sat in the cafe and ate lots of food and decided we'd head back along the old mountain road to Elan Valley and do a tour around there and into Rhyader for some scoff

I have to say the B4574 was a great road, very quiet and some great views, and the old Lead Mines need a ride around and explore, we made pretty good time to Craig Goch res and plodded around to get onto bike route and a easy spin into Rhayader . We met this cool dude riding a Brompton no less


Another campsite and a tired riding butty meant i was sorting tea out so off to the Chinky and offy. Full of pear cider and Char Sui i drifted off dreaming of a proper wild camp

So for our penultimate day i gave my mate a choice a long 45 mile road ride or 21 miles but with a sting in the tail.... he chose the 21miler a choice he i think probably regretted

We headed back up towards Clearwen Res and turned off by the phone box and started the crawl up to Pen Maen Wern, after a good ole climb we reached the standing stone and it was clear from the look on my mates face not everyone loves bleak and barren moorland and a good ole fashioned hike a bike death march. We pushed our way for around 12k maneged short stints on the bikes and got to place on the map id seen and wanted to visit a small lake/pond marked on map as Llyn Carw, this would have been a magical spot for a bivi had it been later so we pushed on



I have to be honest at this point and say the route across the tops here rates in my top ten killer hike a bike death marches

After a few more hard fought miles we made it to the woods and some fire roads and then on along the road alongside Llyn Brianne, we had a quick stop for water here and pics


So at last the time had come for my wild camp and my mates first we headed off the road and up into the woods to the summit area of Cefn Fannog a area i've used before, we found a stunning spot between some felled trees and set up camp


I was quick to put this bad boy on


we got bitten to bits well when i say we i mean my mate as i wrapped up pretty good ;-) Rob made a valiant attempt at hiding


I have to say i had a cracking nights sleep and bar the bugs this was a cracking spot. We had a lazy start with only around 21 miles on the roads to do, the sun came up i was packed and waiting for my mate so had time to take a few pics and enjoy the sun

So out to the road and the long uphill climb, as we got near the Dam there was a sign for Coffee and cake... would have been rude not to stop, so we found a lady and her small van called Black Mountain Coffee .... her cakes are all home made and blooming stunning i ate 2 bits of apple cake and a choc brownie a tea and a coffee all for under a tenner bargain


A quick look at the dam as the overspill was running and id never seen it like this before and we were off ... weeeeeeell for a wee bit anyway



i say for a little bit cus about a mile later we got dragged in here kicking and screaming... the lovely Towy Bridge Inn


not much to say after this, a quiet road ride and back to reality

It wasn't what i'd planned for but it had been a ok trip 122 miles and 15000ft of climbing in 4.5 days, no major nav errors or bike issues and we got back with all limbs intact

I did ask my mate would he do it again, his response was not as hardcore.... i responded ... this wasnt hardcore it was easy ride in good weather with lots of food and drink and one wild camp ... i think there will be a bicycle 7 and some of stu's poles going up FS soon

[TheBrownDog]

Love your trip reports and pix RKB. There is always something of the spirit of discovery in them. Nice one.

[Bearbonesnorm]

A pretty big ask for someone's first outing Tim. Hopefully what you ended up doing will serve to encourage once the bad memories have worn away

[RayKickButts]

Love your trip reports and pix RKB. There is always something of the spirit of discovery in them. Nice one.

Cheers normally the discovery\s are food or drink related, i can give directions to most places by pub,cafe and snack van ... just don't ask me place names

[RIP]

Yep another corker there R. All you gotta do now is sort out the book deal pronto then I can have yours AND Stu's in my Xmas stocking .

[ScotRoutes]

Tonight counts for August, right?


BAM #8 by Colin Cadden - Flickr2BBcode
SM-A310F, undefined@3.7 mm, f1.9, 1/33s, ISO800

[Bearbonesnorm]

Tonight counts for August, right?

Yep

[Taylor]

I need some adjudication.
To finish off the school holidays I took the kids down to the bottom of Cornwall for a night of biviing, now, it was heavy showers all day which we soldiered on through, interspersed with sunshine. By early evening the temperature dropped off quite significantly and I had two very grumbly juniors with me so I semi abandoned my plan and found a woman with an empty yurt.
2x happy kids = happy dad.
The youngest had brought a quilt that wouldn't have been warm enough for sleeping outside, as it was, he was still cold overnight in the yurt.
No money changed hands, does it still count?

[RIP]

Deffo OK in Reg's humble view, but Stu's in charge obv & mind my own business . But the only reason I posted really is, er, "woman with an empty yurt", ermm, you wouldn't be able to remember the rough location at all, perhaps? Just in case I happened to be down that way, sort of thing. Er.

[Bearbonesnorm]

does it still count?

I think so ... not pre-arranged, so a simple case of lady luck (is that sexist), opportunity and initiative working in harmony.