I’ve
finally found time to write up my Scottish Winter Bivvy experience. And an experience it certainly was.
As mentioned earlier in the SWB thread, I arrived in Ballater the day before the planned bothy meet. I then drove to the Spittal of Glen Muick car park and walked the 3 miles in to the bothy to stash a bag of dry firewood nearby. At that point there was a good covering of snow but it was barely a few inches deep.
Ballater Yarn Bomber strikes again by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Back in Ballater, the temperatures dropped as the evening wore on and after a belly-warming meal in the town’s Indian restaurant, I spent the night buried under two winter sleeping bags in the back of my (non-insulated) van. As it happens, I actually enjoyed a pretty comfortable night’s sleep.
Ballater Bedroom by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
In the morning I emerged to find a lot more snow had fallen overnight. After breakfast in a local caff I sorted myself, my bike and gear out in the comfort of the centrally heated public toilet! As I said in a previous post on this thread, I had my fat bike stolen a month ago so had no choice but to go with my hardtail MTB and its 2.2” tyres. In other words, I was just about to take a knife to a gunfight. Oh well…
Soon after the start by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Brief lull in the snowfall by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
I set off later than intended, at around 1 pm, and apart from a brief lull after a couple of hours, it snowed incessantly until I finally reached the bothy at 9.45 pm. Initially the going had been reasonably OK as long as I was riding on the A road from Ballater and then the minor road on which Glen Muick residents had recently driven. However, once I passed the last estate gate before heading into the glen proper, it became obvious that no vehicles had passed that way and I knew I had a long push (literally) ahead of me. It was at this point I began wishing I had my snowshoes and poles instead of a bike with me. That option would've actually been quite pleasant!
Un-Aero Wheels! by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
At around the 10-mile point I arrived at the northern end of Loch Muick and the boathouse that I knew from my previous visit to the area. I had my first real rest here and took a load of food and liquid on board. I also put on my Endura primaloft gilet under my Goretex jacket because as the temperature plummeted, I was starting to feel cold for the first time. Given that the snow showed no signs of abating and if anything was getting heavier and wetter, I did briefly consider spending the night here but it was too open to the elements and I really wanted to get to a fire to dry out my jacket, etc. In any case, I reasoned, it’s only another 2 miles to the bothy – how hard can it be? In the event, it proved to be very hard indeed.
The trudge along the lochside track seemed interminable and was made worse by wind-driven damp snow making it difficult to see very far. In places the snowdrifts were almost up to my knees. Anyway, I finally reached the bothy at 9.45 pm, a rather tired individual.
I should mention the ski tracks I’d seen ahead of me on the trail, left by one or maybe two skiers. However, on arrival at the bothy I saw that the tracks veered off to the right towards the tree line. I remember thinking “Surely they’re not camping in the woods instead of the bothy?” It was only the following morning that I saw that in fact one skier must have gone all the way round the lodge and skied back the way they’d come.
As I got closer to the bothy it became clear that there were in fact no tracks at all heading to the entrance, a discreet doorway down a little alley towards the rear of the royal lodge. So with me being the first to arrive, the welcoming fire I’d been looking forward to wasn’t to be. On the plus side, having the place to myself did mean I could festoon my kit all around the place in an effort to get everything dry. The wood provided by the estate turned out to be damp but I was able to get the fire started with the dry wood I’d brought in two days before. It wasn’t quite so easy next morning, though, when I’d used up my wood and had to battle for a bit to get the provided wood to catch alight.
Got there eventually! by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Next day I still had to finish drying some kit (which took a while) plus basically I was reluctant to leave the comfort of the bothy!
Glas-Alt-Shiel Lodge in the morning by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Loch Muick by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Loch Muick by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Grinch! by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Fortunately no more snow had fallen but nevertheless it took me 5 hours to trudge 3 miles to the Spittal of Glen Muick car park. I’d seen the snow plough the previous evening and reasoned that the road to Ballater option had to be at least easier than the snow-bound track I'd gone in on. It was a slow, laborious trek, involving being almost waist deep in virgin snow near the boathouse at the northern end of the loch. Unlike the day before, I was determined not to get a sweat on and content myself with just making gradual progress.
Here we go again... by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Untitled by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Reached Terra Firma by
Jimmy G, on Flickr
Finally, as I’d hoped, I arrived to find the car park public toilets were open and felt to me like an oasis in the middle of the desert! I lingered there for ages taking full advantage of the hot water and hand drier! As luck would have it, I exited the toilets at just the right time to bump into two friendly cops who happened to be there to investigate a fallen tree at the car park entrance. They offered me a lift back to Ballater and I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t battle long with the dilemma of whether to accept or not. “Yes, please” was my answer!
When I got back to Ballater the eating places had unfortunately closed but I was happy to make do with a couple of pints and a couple of packets of crisps in a pub. After that it was another night spent in my van. Not too bad actually and I was surprised to learn that the overnight temperature in the area had dropped to -15.
Well, that all certainly made for a bit of an adventure to round off this year BAM series. In summary, that’s 12/12 for this year and 60 consecutive BAMs. I’ve no reason to stop there and my intention is to crack on with more of the same next year.
I’ll post more tomorrow or more likely Tuesday but suffice it to say I’ve just spent my worst two days ever on a bike (or more accurately, pushing it through various depths of snow). I had the bothy to myself in the end. Nobody else daft enough, as my wife has just told me in no uncertain terms! 
If I had my time again would I have persevered? Er… No, I wouldn’t but once I’d committed and got so far in I had to bash on to the bothy if only just to get my soaking wet kit dried.
